How Does a Cell Phone Number Get Assigned?
Other People Are Reading
-
Obtaining a Block of Numbers
-
All telephone numbers in the United States and Canada are administered by Bellcore/Telcordia and the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA). These organizations assign sets of telephone numbers in blocks of 10,000 numbers at a time (and entire prefix), though some smaller companies may qualify for "thousand block pooling" in which only 1,000 numbers are allocated for a smaller fee. The area code, or NPA, and the prefix, or NXX, are traditionally tied to a geographical location, though this practice may be changed by local number portability and the emergence of Voice over IP (VoIP) technology.
Assigning a Random or Nearly Random Number
-
When a customer signs up for service, mobile phone companies assign a number from a pool of available numbers. Generally, these numbers are assigned at random, though sometimes a helpful employee may offer a choice of numbers to the customer. The available numbers are drawn from the blocks of numbers assigned through Bellcore/Telcordia and NANPA and consist of numbers not currently in use or which have not been used within the preceding 90 days.
-
Porting Your Old Number
-
For customers who already have an existing telephone number and do not wish to release that number, the number may be reassigned to the new mobile carrier through a process known as "porting." If a customer chooses to port her number, employees of the new cell phone company will complete paper work to have the number released to their company.
-
