How to port a number to Tello Mobile

In this article:

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

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 Tello.
• Providing you with practical advice on porting to Tello. 
• 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

In general with porting, Tello and their underlying carrier 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 Tello must submit the port request with the exact porting credentials that are listed in your NumberBarn account. Once approved, it’s the responsibility of Tello and their underlying carrier 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 Tello 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 Tello

We’ve learned a few important things about porting numbers to Tello. Here are five tips to ensure that this process is as smooth as possible.

1. Make sure Tello can support your number

Contact Tello to first confirm they can port your NumberBarn number to their service. If you’re planning to port a number to them, it’s not a bad idea to check that they can support your number before even purchasing one from NumberBarn.

2. Make sure Tello 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. Tello will need to select a porting date accordingly (1-3 business days in the future).To learn more about this important distinction, check out this article:

Is my number wireless or wireline?

3. Make sure Tello is filling in all available fields on their port form

When submitting a port out request to Tello, 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 Tello include the following information in the porting request:

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

4. Bypass Tello support and contact the porting department for their network partner T-Mobile directly

Tello runs on the T-Mobile network, so this means that all ports go through the T-Mobile system. If you want to contact T-Mobile’s Porting Department directly, dial (877) 789-3106 and then ask to be transferred to the Number Transfer Resolutions Team. We’ve had great luck working with them in the past to get numbers ported to Tello.

5. Once NumberBarn approves the port, contact Tello 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 Tello, reach out asking them to “activate” your number to complete the port request. Once the number ports to Tello 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.

We’re here to help

If there’s an issue with the request we receive from Tello, 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 Tello, we are here to help in any way we can. Contact customer support for more assistance.