Change of Existing Sprint number to a local number in new town -- Help!

I have been a Sprint customer for almost eight years. I have had the
same phone number with Sprint for all of this time. I use to live in
Lawrence and work in Topeka. Using the same phone in both locations
without any problems. My number is distinct in both locations with a
785 area code.

I was told by friends that I could contact Sprint and make my number a
local number in Topeka. For the past eight years if work or friends
from Topeka want to call me they have to call long distance. Lawrence
and Topeka are only about twenty minutes apart for a land line phone to
call the other city it is a long distance call.

I have contacted Sprint on about ten separate instances.... via phone
support and stopping into the Sprint store in Topeka. I have talked to
people on the phone that tell me that this is possible but they were
not able to do it at the time because their computers were upgrading.
The Sprint store in Lawrence (although still working to be a cooperate
store) told me that all I needed to do was go to the Topeka store and I
could change my number to a local number in Topeka... I would not have
to change my phone number. The Topeka store told me that this was not
possible and that I would need to change my number.

My Sprint PCS phone and my wifes are the only phones that we have. We
do not have a land line phone and are not planning on getting a land
line phone. We have our phone numbers on business records, checks,
work, friends know our numbers, etc. We do not want to change our
phone numbers.

>From what I have found on the Internet this is possible and I have
talked to people at work in Topeka that have changed their numbers
(Cingular) from a Lawrence to Topeka number making it a local call
within Topeka... without changing their number.

Has anyone else done this type of change? The second agent that I
spoke with when calling Sprint that told me it was possible, but that
their computer systems were being upgraded said all I needed to do was
ask for a "change in coverage". So the next time I contacted Sprint I
told them I wanted to change my coverage and that I did not want to
change my number. Depending on the day/time it seemed that I called
they would tell me that this was possible but they could not do it at
that time because their computer systems were being upgraded.... or
that it was not possible to change coverage without changing our phone
number.

One day last week I was so frustrated after stopping into the Sprint
Topeka store that I drove across the street to Cingular to see what
they would say if I told them I wanted to keep my existing number and
make it local in Topeka if I became a Cingular customer... they told me
no problem. I told this to Sprint and they told me that Cingular was
not providing me accurate information and this could not be done. When
I told the agent that other Sprint agents had told me the same thing I
was told that they were providing incaccurage information.

After the first week of dealing with Sprint and trying to resolve this
I thought I was going to change providers. I have enjoyed being with
Sprint and like their services. Now that I have spent additional time
on this problem I have decided that I do not want to change providers
and instead try to resolve this problem. As I mentioned earlier I have
friends with other cell providers that have done exactly what I am
wanting to do without any problem. One guy told me he made this change
in the store went out to his car and the change had already occured.

I am looking for any help, advice, suggestions, people to talk to, or
people going through the same problem. I did do a quick search for
this topic and I did not find it in this group. So if I missed it in
another thread please point me to that thread... but help me get my
number to be local in Topeka without changing my number.

Thank you!

John

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› See More: Change of Existing Sprint number to a local number in new town -- Help!

John Haverty <[email protected]> wrote:
> I am looking for any help, advice, suggestions, people to talk to, or
> people going through the same problem. I did do a quick search for
> this topic and I did not find it in this group. So if I missed it in
> another thread please point me to that thread... but help me get my
> number to be local in Topeka without changing my number.
>

This is not something any carrier can do [so your friends must not have had it
done either]. It is all based upon area code. If a given area code (i.e.
785) is local to you, then dialing it does not have a toll. If it is not
local to you then dialing it does have a toll.

Now, there is a fuzzy or gray area here. In my neck of the woods, 763 is my
local prefix. 763 covers a pretty broad area NW of the Twin Cities. There
are place within the area code where calling another portion of the area code
is considered long distance. There was a rule at one time that allowed mobile
phone operators to make their 763 phones local to all callers in the 763 area
code. This might be what you are talking about. However, I do believe the
FCC (or was it the local PUC) has repeeled this and it is no longer an option.
Originally, it was available to allow wireless phone systems to gain a
competitive edge over land carriers to encourage expansion.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

John Haverty" <[email protected]> wrote in message

For the past eight years if work or friends
from Topeka want to call me they have to call long distance. Lawrence
and Topeka are only about twenty minutes apart for a land line phone to
call the other city it is a long distance call.


I think you are confusing two unrelated factors:

1: The exchange you are in is a long distance call for people that call
you. That is not anything Sprint can change, that is how the callers' phone
companies tariffs read. It may be possible for you to get another phone
number, which would be a local call for them, but that would involve
changing from the number that you have now.

2: It is probably free for YOU to make OUTBOUND calls to them from YOUR
Sprint phone, but that does not impact their being able to call you for
free. As an example, I can make free long distance calls on nights and
weekends, but if someone calls ME, from a landline, they will probably be
charged by the minute for the call, unless THEY have a calling plan that
offers free long distance.

If it is really important for your family and friends to call you for free,
you'll probably have to change your number to one that is in an exchange
that is not a toll call for them.

Let me try to see if I understand what you are asking...

John Haverty wrote:
> I use to live in
> Lawrence and work in Topeka. Using the same phone in both locations
> without any problems. My number is distinct in both locations with a
> 785 area code.

Makes sense. Sprint will dial any call to any area code, but you may
have to dial the area code plus the local 7-digit number. When I place a
call to a local 940 A/C number from my 940 A/C registered Sprint phone,
I only need to dial 7-digits. When I place a call from the 940 A/C to
the 214 A/C , I have to add the 214 first. When I'm driving within the
214 A/C, I always have to use all ten digits, even when calling back to
home in the 940 A/C.

Most likly you have to do the same thing. When working in Topeka, all
your calls have to have the A/C dialed.

> I was told by friends that I could contact Sprint and make my number a
> local number in Topeka.

Nope...that's not a cellular's carrier ability.

If your friends have a Lawrence number, that can be called toll-free
from Topeka, the callers might have an extended metro service out of
Topeka. But they would have to dial ten digits.

I once had two numbers on my farm, a one with a 972-843- and 972-844
number. The 843 could call anywhere into the 972 and 214 exchanges, but
the 844 could only call within a ten mile or so radius. Calls to my 972-
Sprint phone were local from the 843- number, but L.D billed from the
844- number. Of course, the Sprint phone had to always dial then 972-
first regardless where I was calling from.

Bottom line, there is no way anyone can dial a 7-digit Lawrence number
from Topeka - when they dial the seven digits corresponding to your
7-digit Lawrence phone, it will ring a Topeka phone. They CAN dial a
10-digit Lawrence number if calling from a metro Topeka line. If it
isn't a metro line, then they'll need to dial 1+ first.

Paul Miner wrote:
> The only clarification I would add is that you should always be able
> to dial 'local' numbers with just 7 digits.

I could be wrong and not remember, but seems to me that I had to dial
10-digits when roaming.

I could be in the west part of the county and call a small town in the
940 *local* calling scope (the whole 30x30 mile county here is a local
call), but when I crossed over the county line and still in 940 and
tried calling the same number only a few miles behind me, it needed a 10
digit number.

Thank you everyone for your replies. This helps a lot! I am going to
check with my friend to see what he did with his number to supposedly
make it a local call here in Topeka. My frustration is that each of
the times I called Sprint I would get a different story that either it
was possible but they could not do it at the time because their system
was being upgraded or that it was not possible the other agents did not
know what they were talking about.

It looks like I will need to change numbers... Thank you!

John

I can't believe to too such long repies to your question.

1. you can't do what you were thinking you could, and as mentioned neither
did your friends. You can't take a phone from one area code and have a
cellular company make that phone number local somewhere else.

2. What your friends did and what you need to do, is just add a second
number to your account from the appropriate area you need. You can add a
number in any city in the country that Sprint has service so that when
people call that number it's local to them. This way you'll have two phone
numbers that both go to your phone.


"John Haverty" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Thank you everyone for your replies. This helps a lot! I am going to
> check with my friend to see what he did with his number to supposedly
> make it a local call here in Topeka. My frustration is that each of
> the times I called Sprint I would get a different story that either it
> was possible but they could not do it at the time because their system
> was being upgraded or that it was not possible the other agents did not
> know what they were talking about.
>
> It looks like I will need to change numbers... Thank you!
>
> John
>

It is extremely likely that Sprint, or any carrier for that matter,
does not have the same exchanges in different area codes. Therefore, if
your phone number is (785) DEF-GHIJ, you may not be able to change it to
(KLM) DEF-GHIJ because the exchange DEF in area code (KLM) belongs to
some other carrier/service. You can only change it to an exchange in
area code (KLM) that is owned by Sprint PCS.

That is because you were not local any more. You had left the local
area. The across the county line community you were in has it's own
local area. You could make calls to exchanges in it with 7 digits.

Jerome Zelinske wrote:
> It is extremely likely that Sprint, or any carrier for that matter,
> does not have the same exchanges in different area codes. Therefore, if
> your phone number is (785) DEF-GHIJ, you may not be able to change it to
> (KLM) DEF-GHIJ because the exchange DEF in area code (KLM) belongs to
> some other carrier/service. You can only change it to an exchange in
> area code (KLM) that is owned by Sprint PCS.

In Denton, TX (972) *and* Decatur, TX (940), Sprint is 399- and Cingular
is 398-. Also in several other Texas towns.

Newsguy wrote:
> I can't believe to too such long repies to your question.

We wanted to cover all bases as he was getting so many conflicting
answers to his question. Specific examples are great illustrations.

Paul Miner wrote:
> Roaming? I thought we were talking about traveling. Never mind.

Roaming...as in traveling outside my home area.

Jerome Zelinske wrote:
> That is because you were not local any more. You had left the local
> area. The across the county line community you were in has it's own
> local area. You could make calls to exchanges in it with 7 digits.

Already knew that...wass using it as an example.

DecaturTxCowboy wrote:
> I could be wrong and not remember, but seems to me that I had to dial
> 10-digits when roaming.

To clarify that...

When I had Sprint -

a) When placing a call while in a different code, I had to use ten digit
dialing.

b) When placing a call in the same area code, but roaming on Verizon, I
had to use ten-digit dialing. I found that out when at one particular
location I would go in and out of Sprint and Verizon depending on which
side of the building I was. Some 7-digit calls would go through, some
wouldn't. Then it realized what was happening.

Paul Miner wrote:

>> When I had Sprint -
>>
>> a) When placing a call while in a different code, I had to use ten digit
>> dialing.
>
> Seven digits will work if you're trying to call a local number. It
> doesn't matter which area code you're in.

So when I had my 972- Sprint phone and working in the 940- area code,
why did 7-digit dialing not work and 10-digit dialing did? That would
tell me it did matter.