Some companies steal your numbers...

Why is it important to get your number from an independent company like ours? Quite frankly, it’s scary what some small companies think they can get away with. Here’s a quote from a representative at Telecenter Voicemail, an enhanced voicemail service.

COA Network owns of all of it's numbers. We do not let numbers go and any number that is transferred to be on our service becomes the property of COA Network and will remain so even after the subscriber cancels.

If that’s not stealing, I don’t know what is. That was their policy about a year ago. When questioned about it, they refused to budge. Now a year later, they say they’ve changed their policy. Then the president said that wasn’t their policy.

I asked him if he was a democratic politician because they’re the only ones I know that can defend a policy one day and then a year later, say that was never their position.

I could go on about how horrendous this is, but I think it stands pretty much on it’s own and is obvious. This is why you should always get your number from an independent source and then transfer your number over to the service you want it with. That way you’ll be guaranteed to be able to transfer it away, no matter what their policy changes to next year. And if anyone ever has a problem with the ownership of any number I’ve gotten them, I will personally defend my customers. You still have an obligation to pay for the service you’ve received, but outside of that nobody will be able to steal any number we get for you away like this.

Nationwide coverage?

Vanity number squatters usually want to rent out numbers by area codes because they make a lot more money that way and maintain control. But when you don't own the number, the more you advertise the number, the more you wind up at their mercy. Your ability to change carriers is also your ultimate guarantee that you'll always have decent service and a competitive rate too. It's much more important than most new customers realize.

That's why every number we get for anyone is always nationwide. Actually you can also add Canada and a few territories too if you want. You can block calls outside your area if you want or need to. But I usually don't recommend that unless you're getting a lot of wrong numbers from other areas. You don't want someone local that uses a cell phone, skype or a voip service with a number outside your area code to be blocked. The ability to be sure where someone is calling from by their number is fading with new services and local number portability.