It’s a common enough occurrence these days. Someone announces that they’ve dropped their landline. Many people just assume that in doing that, they’re indicating that callers should use your cellular phone number. Somehow, over time, anyone who calls the “old” number will eventually learn about the “new” number. That’s an interesting assumption, but there are some other things that you might want to consider to make your move easier for everyone involved.

Your decision to drop your landline is more than just about discontinuing use of a telephone handset. You have a telephone number that is associated with you, your family, or your business. Sometimes, when dropping the landline service, people don’t even think about what will happen to the telephone number itself.

If you drop the landline service outright, you’ll effectively lose your telephone number. Callers will hear a message telling them that the number is no longer in service, or some such wording. Getting a message about what alternative number should be used is often very difficult and confusing.

SOHOTelco can help by virtualizing your telephone number so that you can drop the telephone service. Virtualizing the telephone number allows you to pay for the telephone number’s use, and makes the number separate from any service. If the telephone number is simply being held onto while there’s a transition or a period of inactivity, the number can be “parked.” Parking a telephone number reserves a telephone number so that it will not be reused.

SOHOTelco offers parking services that include features so that you don’t lose touch with callers. When you park your number with us, you get the ability to include a recorded message that can alert the caller about the change. For example, the message could announce a store closing, and direct callers to call the main store for more information. Or you could advise callers about an alternate phone number that they can use. More enhanced parking features could redirect the caller to another phone number automatically, or take a Voice Mail message.

Losing a telephone number that you’ve had for years doesn’t have to be part of the landline drop process. In most cases, with a little bit of planning and some help from SOHOTelco, you and your callers can transition smoothly.