How to Transfer Your Home Phone's Landline To A Cellular Plan

You've probably had your home phone number for years or even decades ~ that's why you should transfer it, not lose it. Many billing accounts (not to mention: friends, family and even business associates) are probably tied to your home phone number. Going cellular requires PORTING your landline number to a cellular number, not getting rid of it!  Whatever you do, follow my #1 rule of going cellular:

TRANSFER YOUR HOME PHONE NUMBER TO A CELLULAR LINE!

Because we've had our home number for a long time, we didn't want to lose it.We ported our home phone number over to our cell phone plan. We had three cell phone lines before, and now we have four ~ one for each member of our family. Even if you keep the "home" cell phone as an extra line, you will probably save money on a monthly basis. Why? Because an extra cell phone line costs about $10 when added to a cell phone plan, but costs about $30 using a traditional landline service. (Read more about saving money below).

THE CELL PHONE COMPANY WILL PORT YOUR HOME NUMBER. DO NOT TRY TO PORT IT BY CALLING YOUR HOME PHONE COMPANY!!

After my home phone number was ported to a cell phone, we now had four cellular lines, one for each member of our family. I traded my cell phone's SIM CARD with my daughter's, so that I could have the home number and she took my old cellular number. This required saving all my contacts to my phone's internal memory and recording a new voice mail message for the ported line.

The Easiest Way to Port Your Home Number to a Cell Phone

Here's the scoop. First, call your Cell Phone Company and explain that you will be porting your home phone number to another cell phone line. That may require you to modify your service to accomodate a new line. Then, I recommend going to your Cell  Phone store (like AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile) and tell them you want to port your home number to a cell phone line on your account. Your Cellular Company will set the process in motion for you, with some information about your landline account. Notice, you did not need to call your landline company! Your Cell Phone Company Does it all for you.

What Happens Next?

After you buy your new cell phone and get your landline number ported over, you need to be patient and WAIT. Why wait? Well, there's a certain process for the two companies to talk to each other and work out your number and line transfer. Be AWARE ~ it may not happen in one or two days, or even a week. It could take over a week for the PORTING PROCESS to happen completely. There were a few snags in my porting process, and I received several error messages which needed to be taken care of. But eventually, it all got ironed out and now my home phone number rings on my cell phone.

WHAT ABOUT MY HOME PHONE RECEIVER SYSTEM AND ANSWERING MACHINE?

Bad news, your current answering system and handsets will probably not work anymore, because they are designed to plug into a landline. They do make a new type of receiver system with handsets and an answering machine that works with bluetooth-enabled cell phones. Basically, this new system costs from $100 to $150, and is supposed to connect to your cell phone when you enter your home. Then, if your cell phone rings, the bluetooth enabled receiver should ring and allow you to talk on the handset, instead of your cell phone. You will need to synchronize this system with your phone's bluetooth to get them talking to each other.

Some examples of Bluetooth Answering Machines and Handsets are shown above. The main problem with these is that you need to read the reviews very carefully, as some do not work as they are supposed to. I will update this guide after I've gotten a system that I like and works for my household.

SAVING MONEY BY GOING CELLULAR and DITCHING YOUR LANDLINE

Is it possible to save money? Probably not, but you may break even. For example, my home phone line cost about $30 per month. My new cell phone line costs around $20 per month ~ $10 for the line and $10 for the plan upgrade charge. Also, we never had a texting plan, so that cost me an additional $30, blowing any chance for savings.

Overall, I'm glad we went Cellular. We all have our own phone line, and I will soon buy a bluetooth device so I can talk on a cordless handset when I'm at home. I thought I would miss my landline, but surprisingly I'm OK with the result. And my daughter LOVES her new phone and texting plan ~ what more could any mother wish for?

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