WMartin@SIMTEL20.ARPA (William G. Martin) (10/01/87)
I'm the executor of my mother's estate, and it occurs to me that I may be remiss in my duties if I don't explore this possibility: The home telephone number she had for decades is one I would expect a business would want -- it is repetitive, easy to remember, and would look good on a business card or letterhead -- it happens to be "771-1020". If I just cancel this telephone service, that number goes back into the pool of unassigned numbers and would eventually get assigned by the telco (I don't know what procedure they follow -- anyone have any idea? Do they hold given-up numbers for "n" months, and do they charge you extra if you request a specific available number?). I would think that the estate should profit somehow from the value of this number -- that it should be able to offer to turn it over to a new business that is in that exchange area (or do such geographic restrictions on an exchange no longer apply?) for some finanial consideration, so the estate gets the benefit rather than the telco. The telco would just be presented with a request to terminate the existing serice and install the business's service with this number and only charge the normal installation fees. Anyone ever hear of such a thing happening before? Is it a reasonable thing to do, or totally off-the-wall? Any suggestions, comments, or advice? Regards, Will Martin "wmartin@almsa-1.arpa" -------
edw@ihlpf.UUCP (Ed Windes) (10/08/87)
> ... I would think that > the estate should profit somehow from the value of this number -- that > it should be able to offer to turn it over to a new business that is in > that exchange area (or do such geographic restrictions on an exchange no > longer apply?) for some finanial consideration, so the estate gets the > benefit rather than the telco. The telco owns the telephone number, this is explained in your phone book (at least it's in mine). You can't sell it.
dbb@aicchi.UUCP (Burch) (10/12/87)
Well, Will, you do not own your telephone number. It may be changed at will by the phone company. When you give it up, any business in your exchange area may request it, and the phone company will finally decide who gets it. The phone company would probably not allow you to sell the number to anybody else, and need not honor the say if you did. Sorry for quashing an otherwise good idea. -- -David B. (Ben) Burch Analysts International Corp. Chicago Branch (ihnp4!aicchi!dbb) "Argue for your limitations, and they are yours." - R. Bach