Moving a phone number is mostly forms. Then one morning, it's just done.

Can’t I just forward it?

The first question in September was the lazy one: could I leave the number in Google Voice and just forward everything to Telnyx? No. Telnyx won’t attach its texting service to a Google Voice number. To own the texting, I had to own the number. That meant porting.

The 10DLC boss fight, round two

This round, Orion (ChatGPT’s Codex) drove the paperwork with me. On September 8, in one long evening:

1. ID check. Telnyx verified my identity with a photo ID and selfie, which unblocked the account.
2. Business details. We caught that a draft of my business info didn’t match my actual IRS letter, threw it out, and used the real paperwork instead. Mismatched tax details are one of the most common reasons a 10DLC brand gets rejected.
3. Brand submitted at 4:51 PM. Verified at 8:47 PM.
4. Website pages. The carriers want to see SMS terms and a privacy policy on your site, including how STOP, START and HELP work. Those went up on my business site the same night.
5. Campaign submitted at 9:02 PM as “Customer Care,” which is exactly what my texting is: talking to people who already know me.

The fees, so you know what you’re in for: $4.50 for the brand, $15 for each campaign review, and $10 a month for the Customer Care campaign. The campaign sat in “pending” with the carriers for two days, then went active on September 10.

The letter

Porting a number runs on a Letter of Authorization (LOA). It’s a signed statement that you own the number and want it moved, plus proof, usually a screenshot or bill showing the number on your account. Google Voice also has you unlock the number for transfer first.

By September 11 the port order was filled out and waiting on one thing: my signature. We asked for the earliest activation slot: Tuesday, September 15, at 10 AM Mountain.

Port day

There’s no fanfare when a number ports. Nobody calls you. At some point in the morning, the old carrier lets go and the new one picks it up.

Here’s the message I sent my AI teammate at 10:42 that morning:

Ten years in Google Voice, gone from the app in one quiet refresh. Texts to my number were now landing on Telnyx and getting passed to my server. The first test texts went in and out. It worked.

The 2FA scare

One thing did rattle me that afternoon. A service I use refused to send a login code to my number, with an error saying it doesn’t send codes to VoIP numbers.

That’s a real thing to plan for. Some banks and apps won’t text verification codes to internet-based numbers. If you do this, check where your two-factor codes go before port day, and move the important ones to an authenticator app.

Six hours later

The number was mine. The texts were reaching my server. There was just one problem: I had nothing good to read them on. That afternoon I asked the question that started the second half of this story.