As one of the leading IVR companies responsible for building and maintaining both cloud-based and on-premise IVR solutions, Plum Voice has achieved the status of a responsible organization (or RespOrg), according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Companies that are RespOrgs have access to the database that controls appropriation and routing for toll-free telephone numbers.  Per Wikipedia, RespOrgs were “established in 1993 as part of the FCC order to institute toll-free number portability.”  If you are an individual or a business that has a toll-free number, you can contact your carrier organization to request number porting from one RespOrg to another.

Toll-free numbers, which are qualified by the North American Number Plan Administration as numbers with area codes beginning with 800, 888, 877 and 866, are managed by a responsible organization.

A variety of businesses and organizations can achieve RespOrg status.  Landline telephone carriers, technology resellers, IVR or call-center vendors are among many examples of independent companies that offer outsourced telephony services like resporging.

Resporging is a process regulated by the FCC and is put in place to favor the end user.  The practice was created to enable customers to move (or port) their number from one company or carrier to another with minimal service interference.  All Resporging agencies have access to toll-free numbers and can work within the Service Management System to port numbers to and from their organization.

All agencies are regulated by the SMS/800 Number Administration Committee, which establishes detailed guidelines for the resporging process.  To port a number from one organization to another, end users must submit a signed request of authorization to both their current and desired RespOrging agency, after which point the number exchange will commence.

While it may seem a bit confusing, end users are the true owners of 800 numbers in this process.  RespOrging agencies facilitate the procurement and maintenance of these numbers for their clients, but customers have the final say in who retains their number and their patronage.