To port... or not to port.... that is the question! Before you commit to porting your existing telephone number to Zendesk, there are a few factors that need to be considered which will determine if you proceed with porting your existing number, or simply forwarding it into your Zendesk account.
- Porting a number from an external carrier can take approx 4 - 6 weeks. There may be instances where it could take longer.
- Zendesk Talk does not support outbound calling from a Toll-Free number
Forwarding an existing number to a Zendesk Number
This option requires you to do the following:
- Purchase a new local number within Zendesk Talk
- Configure the Zendesk number
- Forward your existing number to your new local Zendesk Talk number
Pros:
- Quick & easy set-up
- No number downtime
Cons:
- This results in 2 numbers - one on the Zendesk platform and the existing number(s) with your current provider
- You will incur 2 lots of call costs for the number(s) on each platform
Porting your existing number to Zendesk
If you do want to truly bring your number over onto the Zendesk platform, you can certainly proceed with porting the number in. It can take approx 4 - 6 weeks to port a number into your account.
Important: Zendesk Talk does not support outbound calling from a Toll-Free number on Zendesk. In the event you are porting in this type of number, you will need to ensure you also purchase a local number that your agents can use to make outbound calls.
You can follow our two guides in the link below for porting your external number to Zendesk.
- How do I migrate a telephone number from an external carrier to Zendesk?
- How do I migrate a number from Freshdesk to Zendesk?
Overview of Porting:
- Submit porting request to Zendesk Support with all the required documentation - we can help you with that!
- You can request a specific port date and Twilio will try its best to accommodate.
- Twilio is located in the USA so please keep this in mind regarding timezones & dates when you are requesting a specific porting date
- Zendesk Support will submit the porting request to Twilio (the Zendesk Talk carrier).
- Twilio will do their magic in the background and co-ordinate the number port with your existing carrier
- Zendesk Support will keep you in the loop throughout the process and let you know if the port was successful or not. They will help you with a solution if the porting is rejected to ensure it gets ported successfully.
- Once the number is ported, configure the number inside your account
- Your number is now ready to use on Zendesk.
Pros:
- If you are porting in a non-toll-free number, you will only pay for one set of call costs
- The existing number remains active until the date it is cut off at the current provider and transferred over to Zendesk/Twilio.
Cons:
- The timeline to port a number can be lengthy
- Documentation required for number porting e.g Copy of existing utility bill, letter or authorisation to be completed
- Further documentation will be required if you are porting in a mobile number e.g ASIC Business registration document. See this guide here: Zendesk Talk Regulatory Documentation