Porting numbers for Zendesk Talk

What's my plan?

If you have an existing phone number that you use for support calls, you might be able to port this number for use in Zendesk Talk.

The most up-to-date information can be found in our regulatory requirements article. If there are porting guidelines for a given country, then porting is possible.

This article contains the following topics:

• Before you start
• Information to submit when porting a number
• What to expect after your request
• Porting a number out of Talk

Before you start

To get this process started, we need some information from you about your current number and your provider. Before initiating a port request with us, keep the following in mind:

• You must have a valid subscription to Talk. You can't port numbers while you're on a trial plan.
• You must be a paid subscriber to Zendesk Talk for us to port a number. We can't port phone numbers for customers on a Zendesk trial. We are unable to make exceptions to this.
• Porting US and Canada numbers can take between one and four weeks. Other numbers can take 6 or more weeks. During the process, consider forwarding calls from your current provider to a phone number in your Zendesk Talk instance to provide a smooth transition.
• After a porting date is set by us, changing it can be difficult and cause potential issues. Don't initiate ports until you are ready.
• Notify your current carrier to not disconnect the number until you tell them it's OK.
• Zendesk Talk is compliant with Canadian CRTC regulations.

To understand if porting is possible in your country, see Zendesk Talk and Zendesk Text number regulatory requirements and look for the porting guidelines in your country's section. If no porting guidelines exist, then porting is not currently available for that country. 

Information to submit when porting a number

When you are ready to port your number, contact Zendesk customer support with the following information:

Note: We recommend not initiating the port until your go-live date to prevent porting early. If requested, we can initiate porting prior to that. However, we cannot choose a date and time for the port to happen, though we can ask that a port be delayed until a certain date.

• The phone numbers you would like to port.
• The current carriers for the number(s) being ported.
• Relevant regulatory documentation for the phone number/country being ported.
• Does the current carrier of that phone number use 'Twilio' as their provider? If so it's a number move, not a port, this is good as it's much quicker!
• The country and type (local/national/toll-free) for the phone number.
• Your most recent billing statement for the number is dated within 3 months.
• If you are porting a US-based number, include this filled-in Letter of Authorization form. If you are porting from a different country, our team will reach out to you for any additional documentation we may need.
  Note: The date on the Letter of Authorization must be be no older than 30 days.
• If you are moving a number from another Twilio-based carrier and have your Twilio account SID from the current carrier, please also include that. If you are moving from a current Zendesk account to a different Zendesk account, give us the subdomain the number is currently on and the one it is being moved to. 

• If the number to be ported is a cellphone number, you'll need to submit your account details and PIN number in the porting request.

• If the number is going be used for outbound text messages, check you have submitted all of the necessary Regulatory Documentation.

  Note: If you have already submitted the necessary A2P documentation for outbound texting - when submitting the porting request, confirm that the number will be used for outbound texting to ensure the new number is added to your campaign.

• Confirmation from the Zendesk account owner to start the porting process.

What to expect after your request

We will keep you up to date throughout the porting process. We might reach out to you to obtain additional documentation or information if specific countries have different requirements. If at any point in the process you have questions, let us know.

Porting a number out of Talk

There are a few steps to port a number away from Talk, the porting process involves different carriers and parties. Here you have a breakdown of how this process works:
 
1. The port request is submitted by you to your gaining/new carrier.
2. The gaining carrier submits the request to an underlying carrier, who then submits the request to our voice partner, Twilio.
3. If everything looks good on our partner's end, Twilio will notify us to approve or reject the port.
4. We will review the request and, if your account is in good financial standing, approve the port.

Zendesk is not in control of the timeline of port-out requests, this is controlled by the gaining provider. The only role Zendesk plays in a port-out request is to approve it, which we do within 24 hours of receiving the request. 

For help moving your Zendesk Talk number to another provider for any reason, contact Zendesk Customer Support. Typically this is initiated on the gaining provider's side first by the Zendesk Customer who wants to move their number(s), the new provider asks us to release it and we automatically approve (if your account is in good financial standing) when your gaining provider attempts to move the number from Zendesk Talk.