How to port a number to AT&T Wireless

In this article:

You are looking to port your number to AT&T and we are committed to walking you through the entire process. Good news! Our team has experience successfully porting many, many telephone numbers to AT&T.

In this article, we aim to assist you with:

• Understanding how the port away process works.
• Gathering the information required to port your number from NumberBarn to AT&T.
• Providing you with practical advice on porting to AT&T.
• Equipping you with the tools to overcome common porting errors and issues.

With this information, you should be well on your way to a successful number porting experience. Let’s dive in.

How porting works

With porting in general, AT&T will initiate a port request for your phone number and send it to the current/losing carrier (NumberBarn). Learn about each step in the port out process here:

Step by Step Guide: How to port a number away

It’s important to remember that AT&T must submit the port request with the exact porting credentials that are listed in your NumberBarn account. Once approved, it’s the responsibility of AT&T to complete the porting request. 

Gathering your port out information

The following article guides you to your porting information including your Account Number, PIN, End User Name, Billing Telephone Number (BTN), and Service Address:

Find my port away information including account number and PIN

Be sure to provide this information to AT&T and instruct them to use it to submit the port order. If we receive a port order that contains different information or no information, it may be rejected.

5 Tips for porting to AT&T

1. Make sure AT&T can support your number 

If you plan to port your number to AT&T, click this link to ensure that the number can be supported by AT&T. Definitely check this before you initiate the port to AT&T. It’s also a great idea to check before you purchase the number from NumberBarn to ensure that it’s compatible with your desired provider.

2. Make sure AT&T knows this is a wireline port so they can choose port settings appropriately

All numbers purchased from NumberBarn are classified as wireline or landline as opposed to wireless. To learn more about this important distinction, check out this article:

Is my number wireless or wireline?

3. Make sure AT&T is filling in all available fields on their port form

When submitting a port out request to AT&T, it’s important that the request is submitted with all of the essential porting information. In addition to the porting information we mentioned earlier in this article, it’s especially critical that AT&T include the following information in the porting request:

• Authorization Name
• Authorization Date*
• Wireline-to-wireless port

*Note that the authorization date needs to be completed by AT&T and typically isn't a field that you can edit. As you speak with their porting department, simply ensure that they do not leave this field blank on their porting request.

4. Bypass AT&T support and contact the porting department directly

If you want to contact AT&T’s Porting Department directly, dial 888-898-7685 or 866-895-1097. We’ve had great luck working with them in the past.

5. Once NumberBarn approves the port, contact AT&T to confirm the date they will port the number

If you do not receive confirmation from NumberBarn that the port out has been completed on the date provided by AT&T, reach out asking them to “activate” your number to complete the port request.

Once the number ports to AT&T and leaves our network, we will email you to confirm and remove the number from your NumberBarn account. At that point, you will no longer be billed for service through NumberBarn.

Note: In some instances, we've found that AT&T may activate partial service before the port is complete. If you haven't received confirmation that the port is complete even if some services are working with AT&T, we suggest that you still contact AT&T's porting department to be certain that your service is fully activated with them. 

We’re here to help

If there’s an issue with the request we receive from AT&T, we will contact you by email. For more information on overcoming common port out rejections, the following article will help:

How to fix a port out rejection

If you continue to run into issues porting your number(s) to AT&T, we are here to help in any way we can. Contact customer support for more assistance.