Originally Posted by alanwarwic:
“I've no idea what the number originator gets for the lifetime of the number.
Until today I never even knew it existed but one has to assume it needs to be taken into account.
When I left 3 a year ago they surprisingly never attempted to retain me at all. Just maybe the lifetime 'port in' fees was a factor.”
Bear in mind that half of what appears on The Register is either rubbish or outdated. I've found they often try to bend facts to suit the spin they want to put on stories and their information on mobile number routing in that article is a good example.
While it is true that in the early days of mobile number porting calls to ported numbers had to be directed to the original network and then forwarded to the current network Ofcom have been doing a lot to change this.
From 1 September 2009 all mobile to mobile calls are required to be routed directly to the current provider. Only calls that originate from other sources (i.e. landlines) are still permitted to be routed to the original network and then forwarded to the current provider, and these calls must be directly routed by the end of 2012, which is also the date when the same direct routing system must be in place for ported land line numbers.