Federal number portability rules generally let eligible consumers keep their telephone number when changing providers, subject to the applicable requirements. Contact the new provider to start the transfer, and don't cancel your existing service first or you may lose the number. You'll usually need your account number and a transfer PIN from your current carrier.
Portability is worth understanding precisely, because it is often assumed to mean more than it does. Porting moves a telephone number. It does not move the carrier credentials, registration, device configuration or Wi-Fi Calling entitlement attached to that line.
When a number ports from one carrier to another, the receiving carrier re-provisions its own credentials and native calling continues. When a number ports to a non-carrier, the complaint alleges the subscriber loses native integration, because the non-carrier cannot obtain those credentials. The number is portable. The native telephony features are not.
An MVNO, or Mobile Virtual Network Operator, provides wireless service without operating its own nationwide radio network. MVNOs buy wholesale access from the major carriers and sell their own plans, often at lower prices. Coverage priority, features and service terms can differ from the underlying carrier's own plans. Examples include Mint Mobile, Tello and Visible.
Wi-Fi calling lets your phone place and receive calls over a Wi-Fi network instead of the cellular network. Most modern smartphones support it, and the major carriers include it with qualifying cellular plans. It can help where cellular coverage is weak. If your phone and plan support it, you can usually turn it on in your phone's settings.
What you can't do today is buy that Wi-Fi calling service on its own, without the cellular plan. That is what VoIP-Pal's lawsuit is about.
There was. In 2015 Republic Wireless and FreedomPop sold Wi-Fi-first plans for $5 a month. The complaint alleges that the carriers' conditioning of native Wi-Fi Calling on a cellular subscription, combined with the loss of an independent wholesale host after the 2020 Sprint–T-Mobile merger, foreclosed the category. VoIP-Pal is suing to reopen it.
Third Amended Complaint ¶¶36–38, pp. 9–10 · ¶¶80–84, pp. 21–22
VoIP-Pal is pursuing four Sherman Act claims against AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. It seeks damages and an injunction barring the carriers from conditioning access to native telephony on carrier affiliation. Related cases involving Apple and other platform companies are pending in the same court.
VoIP-Pal does not sell a consumer product today. It alleges it is prepared to enter this market if the barriers are removed.
