ipcomms
Moving numbers from a provider doesn't have to be a nasty.
5 Easy Steps to Transferring Your Phone Numbers (LNPs)
Sure, you and your old carrier had some good times, but you've made up your mind – the love is gone and it's time to take your numbers and move on. However, the separation doesn't have to be nasty or drawn out. What follows are five simple suggestions of things that you can do, in preparation, to ensure that you have a smooth and relatively painless separation from your ex-provider.
Here are some hints to help your transition go a lot smoother.
1. Call your new (and much better looking) service provider (Verify the number can be transferred):
The first step is simple.Before you do anything, first check to see if your phone number is portable. This will let you know if your new service provider is actually capable of moving it over to their network.
To do this, just provide your new service provider the phone number or group of phone numbers you plan to move. They'll be able to check and to verify its portability. This step alone could save you weeks.
2. Speak with the loser…oops, I mean losing provider (The port-out procedure):
As uncomfortable as it may be, call your future ex-provider and ensure that everything is in place to begin the porting process. Ensure that you don't have any outstanding orders or unpaid invoices that might get in the way or delay the process any more than necessary.Get all the information you'll need to accurately fill out the necessary paperwork.
If you have phone numbers that are assigned to multiple accounts with the losing carrier, you might have to submit multiple porting request documents – one for each account.To be sure, just check with them and ask how they want you to submit the request and be sure to ask for the correct Billing Telephone Number (BTN) for each.
3. Properly complete and sign the "separation papers" (The Letter of Authorization):
Moving phone numbers from one service provider to another is a process that has rules that are strictly enforced by "Big Brother". Understandably so, or anyone could just snatch phone numbers all willy-nilly!
Your new carrier will require that youproperly and accurately complete and return a Letter of Authorization or LOA. This letter will asks for detailed information regarding your existing account with that loser of an ex (carrier that is…). Your LOA is a vital part of beginning the Local Number Porting (LNP) process.
Be warned, this is where ninety-percent of mistakes are made.Typo's or data entry errors can stop the whole darn thing.Attention to detail is of upmost importance.So, be sure to provide the exact name, service address and billing telephone number (BTN) as it appears on your account.Be sure to include any capitalization, punctuation and/or abbreviations that may be needed.
To help your transfer go as quickly as possible, double… no, triple check your information carefully before you submit your Letter of Authorization to your new carrier. Don't make this separation any harder than it needs to be.
4. Be ready to go when the time has come. (The cut-over process):
It's finally time for this whole thing to be over.Your separation paperwork (LOA) has been successfully processed and your new provider has given you confirmation that your transfer will take place at a specific date and at a specific time. If done correctly this process up to this point has taken no more than 15 to 30 days in most cases.
When the pre-arrange date and time arrives, make sure you're ready to leave.Remember, when you leave your old provider, you are, in effect, not their problem anymore.So, the last thing you want to do is make a dramatic exit, walk out, and realize that you forgot something important.Be sure that you plan ahead.
It's also a good idea to go over both your network and hardware to be certain that they are fully prepared to receive calls from your new service provider.Things like firewalls, access lists and NAT translations and even bandwidth capacity can be very easy to forget. It's a good idea to schedule time to test your new connection and configuration with your new provider and make sure everything works well before the cut-over date.
Also keep in mind that some features and/or settings you had with your previous carrier, may not be brought over with your new provider.Features like distinctive ring, voicemail and caller ID blocking will have to be setup again if they're even available at all. Again, this is where testing can certainly come in handy.A little planning goes a long way to ensure that your transfer goes without issue.
5. Handling and understanding rejections
Even if you do your best, not every number transfer will go smoothly.Numbers can be rejected by your losing provider for any number of reasons.Typically they are not rejected for spiteful reasons, but rather to protect your account or simply in an effort to abide by government regulations (remember Big Brother is always watching!).Here are some of the common rejections you might run into:
- Authorized name/signature mismatch: This occurs when the name or signature provided on the LOA form doesn't match the name or signature on the losing carrier's account information.
- Address mismatch: Your address must match exactly.Simple items like leaving the street direction (South, North, SW, NE, etc…) or not putting the street type (Ave, Circle, Lane etc…) can be enough to trigger a rejection.
- Phone number no found: did you transpose numbers, write the wrong phone number to be transferred down?
- Pending order on account: if there is an open order for the old account, your transfer could be rejected.Be sure to cancel any pending orders or wait long enough for the order to complete then resubmitting the transfer request.
- Incorrect Billing Telephone Number (BTN): The BTN is primary phone number used in a service provider's billing system.It is used to identify your account.If numbers are dispersed across several accounts, they could have different BTNs for each. Check with the losing provider to be sure you use the correct BTN.
- Unsatisfactory Business Relations (UBR): If there are any outstanding bills or payment related issues with the losing carrier, they will reject the transfer request. You'll need to contact the losing carrier and sort out the issues.
Remember that the process of moving your phone number from your old service provider to a new one doesn't' have to be nasty.Simple planning and understanding can make your transition much easier and let you move on with your life.Communication is the key.Heck, you might still be friends once it is all over with.You never know!
IPComms Partners with Inextrix
KENNESAW, GEORGIA —October 8, 2015 — IP Communications, LLC. (IPComms), a leading global IP based service provider of SIP based local, toll free & long distance services and Inextrix Technologies Pvt. ltd., a Next generation IT based company, and project leaders and maintainers of ASTPP, an Open Source VoIP Billing application for Freeswitch®, today announced a technology partnership and integration agreement. The partnership provides users of ASTPP with access to IPComms SIP trunking services, rates and DID configuration from within ASTPP. The partnership also provides IPComms customers with direct access to Inextrix services and support.The partner ship also provides IPComms customers with direct access to Inextrix services and support.
“We are excited about our partner with Inextrix”, said IPComms' chief executive officer James Doneghy . “We believe integrating IPComms services directly into ASTPP is a an added benefit for the open source community. A large percentage of our customers choose open source VoIP systems like ASTPP as a foundation to their service offering. This relationship will help simplify and shorten the setup and configuration time for ASTPP system administrators and will also provide easy access to IPComms SIP trunks and phone numbers", said James.
For more information about IPComms' technology partner program please visit http://www.ipcomms.net/partner
About IPComms
Based in Kennesaw, Georgia USA (metro Atlanta) and founded in 2002, IP Communications, LLC. (IPComms) is a voice over IP (VoIP) based service provider of local, toll-free and international telecommunications services to SMBs and other VoIP and application service providers. The company delivers clear, fast and affordable voice communication services to its customers using an all IP based network infrastructure. It provides quality inbound phone numbers (referred to as direct inward dialing, or DIDs) from more than 8000 rate centers throughout the United States as well as many locations worldwide and enables both businesses and communications services providers to extend the reach of their voice services quickly and more efficiently. For more information, visit www.ipcomms.net.
About Inextrix
iNextrix Technologies was founded in 2010 by two young and dynamic entrepreneurs Mr. Arpit Modi and Mr. Samir Doshi with the goal of to provide the best service and development in industry at a competitive rate with 100% client satisfaction. Initially, the company was mainly working on VoIP based technologies and then later, in 2011, adopted more technologies such Web and Mobile development and started building team of talented and creative resources.
With years of experience in Open Source softswitch platforms such as: Asterisk®, Freeswitch®, Opensips® and Kamailio®, Inextrix uses the knowledge gained to build software applications to enhance these platforms and assist Service Providers in offering carrier grade VoIP services built on open source standards. Their core platform is ASTPP, which is an Open Source VoIP Billing application for Asterisk and Freeswitch. Inextrix provides commercial installations, configurations, support as well as custom applications development. For more information, visit http://www.inextrix.com/.
Note: IPComms, ASTPP, Inextrix, Asterisk, Freeswitch, Opensips and Kamailio are trademarks of their respective owners.
11 Steps to Secure Your PBX?
11 Steps to Secure Your PBX?
(don't be a victim to telcom theft)
An ounce of prevention...
If you are reading this, you're probably like most of us... after many hours, or even several days of downloading software, setting up servers, configuring trunks and cracking open firewall ports, you finally achieve success - your PBX is working, and calls are passing. So, you wipe the sweat from your forehead, push away your ergonomic mesh-backed office chair with lumbar support and walk away pleased - not giving a second thought to security. Until one day, you log into your PBX and see the skull-and-bones call sign of some hacker that has decided to pay you’re perfectly running PBX a visit.
As a SIP trunking provider, our support team at IPComms sees this very scenario many more than we’d like to. For those PBX owners who are lucky, they’re only faced with hours of down time and a complete system rebuild. However, unlike getting your personal computer hacked, hacking into a PBX’s offers instant access to your wallet for anyone who enters in the form of free phone calls. Giving a well-informed hacker just a single night inside your unsecured PBX, and you could easily loose thousands.
PBX security - is not rocket science
Hopefully, you’re here proactively, and not after the damage has been done. But, if not, at least you have learned your lesson and plan to do things right this time.
While PBX security, like most other security, requires constant attention, and is a continuous work-in-progress, there are some basic common sense steps that you can perform that will safeguard your system from the most common of attacks.
As mentioned in our “What is Telecom Fraud” blog, most hackers are not looking for a long drawn out hack and would much rather move on to easier targets if you would only put up a little fight. So we’ve put together a list of “11 steps to secure your Asterisk® PBX”. While this list speaks directly to Asterisk PBX owners, many of the steps can easily be carried over to most other IP PBX (VoIP) manufactures.
11 Steps to Secure your Asterisk PBX
-
BE SURE THAT YOUR IP PBX AND ACCESS TO YOUR NETWORK IS SECURE AND LIMITED ONLY TO THOSE WITH APPROPRIATE ACCESS PERMISSIONS.
Physical security is very important and commonly overlooked.
- NEVER, NEVER, NEVER USE THE DEFAULT PASSWORDS ON ANY SYSTEM.
This is probably the most common way hackers enter IP PBX systems. When installing your IP PBX, the very first step should be to replace both the username and passwords of any account with administrator access. Secondly, when creating user accounts, be sure not to use or allow easy to guess passwords like “1234”, “password”, “companyname1” etc.
- NEVER USE THE SAME USERNAME AND PASSWORD ON YOUR EXTENSIONS.
This is another VERY common issue especially within the Asterisk community. Using password 101 for extension 101, is asking for big trouble. DON’T DO IT!
Example of what NOT to do on your extensions:
; sip.conf
[101]
username=101
secret=101
host=dynamic
- PLACE YOUR PBX BEHIND A FIREWALL
Lets’s face it, working on your PBX from home or allowing co-workers access to the system remotely is necessary and often unavoidable. However, doing it correctly can be the difference between security success and total and utter failure. VPNs are a good way to limit access and enable co-worker remote management. Placing your PBX behind a firewall and Restrict remote access to your IP PBX to specific IP Address will greatly discourage even the most determined hacker. While hardware firewalls typically provide the most security, software firewalls can be just as effective and much cheaper (many are free).
Firewalls, of course, are only as good as the rules defined within them. So be sure to only activate ports that are absolutely essential to run your PBX. Block anonymous WAN requests (P-I-N-G). Lets face it, if they can find you, they can hack you.
- MAKE IT PRIVATE – NAT IS YOUR FRIEND!
When possible, place your IP PBX on a lan with Network Address Translation (NAT). NAT basically gives your IP PBX a private IP Address and makes it much more difficult to gain access to from the internet.
- KEEP INBOUND AND OUTBOUND ROUTING SEPARATE (Asterisk)
This is probably the biggest cause and source of toll fraud. By keeping your inbound call routing in a different context than your outbound routing, if an intruder does happen to make it in to your system, he can’t get back out again.
- LIMIT REGISTRATION BY EXTENSIONS TO YOUR LOCAL SUBNET.
Restrict the IP addresses your extensions can register on to the local subnet. Asterisk PBXs can use the ACL (permit/deny) in SIP.conf to block IP addresses. This can fend of brute force registration attempts.
- DISABLE CHANNELS AND SERVICES THAT ARE NOT IN USE
Disable channels that you aren’t using like skinny and MGCP. For Asterisk PBXs, you can “unload” these modules in the /etc/modules.conf file like this:
noload => chan_mgcp.so
noload => chan_skinny.so
noload => chan_oss.so
- MAKE IT HARDER FOR SIP SCANNERS
Set “alwaysauthreject=yes” in your sip configuration file. What this does is prevent Asterisk from telling a sip scanner which are valid extension numbers. Install a SIP port firewall. This will block “scanning” of port 5060 and can disable the attempting endpoint for specific time when it detects a violation.
- LIMIT AND RESTRICT DIAL PLANS
Restrict calling to high-cost calling destination and don’t allow calling to 0900 + Premium numbers)
- AUDIT YOUR SYSTEM SECURITY REGULARLY
Once you’ve reached this point, its not a bad idea to put your Hacker hat on, and have a try at your own system. Think like a hacker and try to look for weaknesses or holes in your system security. It is a good idea to review your system security regularly. Don’t sleep on security… you can guaranty that thieves aren’t.
The above steps mainly focus on PBX calling and traffic security and does not cover topics related to software protection (e.g. protection against Spyware, Trojans or viruses). These are also very important and should also be taken into consideration when securing & protecting your PBX.
Your Satisfaction Is Our Priority!
If you are unsatisfied with your IP Communications service for any reason, in the first 30 days after signing up , you can cancel and we will give you a full refund, minus any usage fees. All we ask is that you call customer support to obtain a cancellation form and return it before the 30-day period has expired.
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*E911 service operates differently than traditional 911. See Emergency Calling - 911 for important details and restrictions. All rates listed are per minute and in US Dollars. Rates are subject to change without notice. Rates & service applicable to calls made from SIP URIs. International calling may require service approval before activation. IPComms does not guarantee service quality for any service delivered via the public Internet. All outbound (long-distance) calling plans and Toll-Free inbound (800 origination) services exclude Alaska and the Yukon Territories. Unlimited calling and other services for all IPComms plans are based on normal business use by a single typical business. A combination of factors is used to determine abnormal use, including but not limited to: the number of unique numbers called, the average length of call, calling patterns, minutes used and other factors. All services are subject to our Reasonable Use Policy and Terms of Service. All prices exclude applicable taxes and fees.