Local Number Portability (LNP) is made possible by the Location Routing Number (LRN) associated
with the telephone number upon porting. The LRN is a unique 10-digit phone number that is allotted to a specific switch. The LRN approach made it conceivable to present LNP without drastically changing the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). It permitted the current routing platform to stay set up, allowing a progressive transformation of the system to deal with LNP traffic.
Before LNP was introduced, the NPA-NXX of a phone number distinguished the state and rate center where the number was initially assigned, the service provider, and the carrier type (wireline or wireless). Today, since phone numbers have been ported amongst wireline and wireless service providers, the NPA-NXX of a phone number just reflects the state and rate center where the number was initially assigned. The LRN’s NPA-NXX currently fills in as the network address that enables communications service providers to cost-successfully route calls and traffic to their legitimate stopping points.
Calls are routed based on the initial six digits (NPA-NXX) of the phone number. The NPA-NXX is
the address of the switch serving the phone number. At the point when a number is ported, the
10-digit LRN is tied to the ported number. Calls to the ported number are then routed in light of
the NPA-NXX of the 10-digit LRN.
NPA Number Plan Area (Area Code)
NXX Prefix (Central Office Code)
XXXX Line Number
N Can be any number from 2 to 9
P & A Can be any number from 0 to 9
X Can be any number from 0 to 9
(425) 941 – 0507
425 is an area code assigned in Washington
425-941 is an exchange assigned to Cellco Partnership dba Verizon Wireless, associated with the Bellevue rate center and served from the switch STLLWAZUCM3
0507 is the line number assigned to the iconectiv PBX
When porting a number to another service provider, there are three scenarios that define why
telephone numbers are ported: intercarrier/competitive porting, intracarrier porting, and number
pooling (in the United States).
Porting Type | Description | Why It Matters |
Intercarrier or Competitive | Moves the number from the carrier currently providing service to the carrier that will be providing service. | Changes both the switch where the number resides and the carrier providing service to the end-user. |
Intracarrier | Adds a record in the NPAC; may also move a number from one switch to another within the same carrier’s network. | Used when a carrier that holds the number puts it in the NPAC for reasons other than competitive porting. There is no change in carrier. |
Number Pooling | Numbers are assigned to a new service provider in 1,000 blocks to create an inventory of unassigned phone numbers, e.g., 425-941-1000 through 1999. | These number blocks are put in the NPAC. Calls to a telephone number in the block must be routed by the block’s LRN unless the block is in the same switch as its NPA-NXX. |
To further understand Local Number Porting, let’s look at the steps that are required to complete
a wireline port in. Below is a summary of the processing steps and essential porting process
for a common local number port. In this particular example, the end-user is switching to a
new service provider and wants to keep his/her existing telephone number.
Barring any mistakes or issues with validations and notifications, the time in which LNP occurs varies greatly across the industry. Those carriers that leverage automated solutions for processing requests can usually do so inside minutes. This is especially true for wireless ports, as most wireless carriers are interconnected through a single LNP gateway, and very little information is required to validate wireless ports. However, for wireline carriers that do not have automated solutions, the LNP process can take weeks or over a month to fully process (depending on the quantity of numbers porting), due to the manual labor required to parse and administrate the changes.
In an attempt to simplify porting of services of a single line without features, the FCC implemented
simple porting rules. These rules state that a simple port (a port that only has a single line
associated with the account, does not include features, and does not involve a reseller) must be
completed within one business day as long as the porting information is accurate. (This is often
debated. Some VoIP carriers often get single TN port requests (simple) but take a few days to
process it as the architecture is different than TDM, and they often rely on other providers/resellers
to get network access).
At the point when a call is made to the ported phone number, the originating service provider
switch dispatches a query to its LNP call routing database to decide if the phone number has
been ported. If it has, the database reply gives the switch the LRN necessary to legitimately route
the call. If the number isn’t ported, the database reply makes known that the call ought to be
routed based on the phone number. At the point when various switches are engaged in the call
path, the second to last carrier has the obligation to perform the LNP database query if one has
not been made (the FCC has since eliminated this “N-1” rule on July 12, 2018).
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