Do I Get a Local Phone Number with a Hosted PBX and What’s a DID?

Switching from a traditional PBX phone system to a hosted PBX is reasonably seamless.

However, a common question we’re asked by small business owners is, “Do I still get to keep my same phone number(s)?”

Established businesses often have one or more phone numbers published on websites, printed materials, business cards and even vehicles. Having to go through the process of reprinting and changing all of these numbers would be a pain in the butt. Thankfully, that isn’t required.

You can keep your phone number.

Porting Your Number

There are a couple of ways a cloud PBX phone provider can use your same number(s).

The first method is porting your number to the cloud.

If you were a brand new business without a phone number, your virtual phone system provider will provision a brand new number (also known as a DID) for your business. When someone calls this number it routes through your hosted phone system and then rings locally in your office.

As an established business that already has a phone number, you virtual phone system provider must get your current number transferred from your current service into the cloud, so that the same process can occur. It’s very similar to when you switch cell phone providers, only the paperwork is slightly different.

This isn’t an expensive procedure, doesn’t take much time to complete, and we walk you through all the steps to ensure it goes smoothly. You can speak with us during a Phone Conversion Consult to better understand how we will port your number to our service.

You will be able to port pretty much any number, from old-school analog lines to PRI-based DID, and of course other cloud-based VoIP DIDs should be portable as well.

Forwarding Your Number

The second option, albeit ideally only a short term solution, is forwarding your old number to a new DID from your hosted PBX provider.

Forwarding your old number means you will not need to port it.

The downfall is you are now paying for two phone services. This creates an unnecessary expense for phone service you aren’t technically using each month, as well as extra complexity, since there’s now an extra link it the chain that connects your callers to you.

What if I Don’t Have a Phone Number Yet?

No problem. Your cloud phone system provider can provision a DID number for your local area (or, in fact, for almost any area you wish to have a phone number for).

In most circumstances, when you decide to switch providers, you can port the number to another provider (most jurisdictions have laws that ensure you are able to do this). Normally you own your phone number, so you

What’s Next?

Schedule a phone conversion consultation with a representative from ClearlyCore to get the rest of your cloud phone system questions answered. Simply complete the form on this page or give us a call at 877-253-2716.