How to port a number to Twilio

In this article:

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

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 Twilio.
• Providing you with practical advice on porting to Twilio. 
• 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, Twilio 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 Twilio must submit the port request with the exact porting credentials that are listed in your NumberBarn account. Once approved, it’s the responsibility of Twilio 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 Twilio 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.

4 Tips for porting to Twilio

1. Make sure Twilio can support your number 

If you plan to port your number to Twilio, it’s always a great idea to make sure they can support your number. You may have an option within your Twilio account to check if they support the number you want to purchase from NumberBarn. If you do not see this option, contact Twilio support to confirm portability.

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 Twilio knows this is a wireline port and has its own unique porting credentials

Twilio may want to submit port requests for other customers on the same request as yours, but it’s important they submit each number on its own port request. Unless Twilio will specify the PIN, Account Number, and address for each number on the group port request, it will cause a rejection if they group other customers' numbers on the same port request as yours. If you are porting multiple numbers from your NumberBarn account to Twilio, they can likely be included on the same port request.

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

Once the number ports to Twilio 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.

4. Contact Twilio’s Porting Department directly 

If you receive a rejection email from us stating that the information included on the port request is incorrect or missing, contact the Porting department at Twilio for help. They may need to contact their carrier partner to manually update and submit the port request with your porting credentials if their first attempt did not include all the necessary information.

We’re here to help

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