Well, here goes:
Early November I called Verizon to arrange for my current phone # to be switched to my new apt by the end of the month, once I moved. Verizon checked my new address & advised me that since I was not moving within my zip code, that I could not keep my number. I then asked them why do I pay for number portability, monthly, if the number is not portable; Verizon's reply is that the number is portable within a zip code, not if you move out of the zip; even though I'm moving 20 blocks. I then asked Jewel Gaddy (customer service rep, Verizon), if I could keep my # if I was willing to pay a fee & what would that fee be. She said that I would be able to keep the # for a fee, but she did not know what the fee would be. She said that a Verizon "troubleshooter" would call me with the details. Approximately 2 days later the "troubleshooter" called & left me a message, telling me that they would move the number for a one time fee of $558.00 and a monthly charge of $96.04 (every month for each month I use the #).

The next day I called MCI and asked them about # portability, they too said that since I was moving out of my zip code, that I could not keep the #, not even for a fee. I then told them that the only reason I wanted to keep my # was because I wanted a 212 number, and I had already been told by Verizon that "all new numbers were 646; if I wanted a 212 I would have to be wait listed, and it may take over 1 year to get a 212 #, I would have to call periodically to see if new 212 numbers became available". I told MCI that I would like to become their customer if they could give me a "212" #. They placed me on hold to check if any were available; 3 minutes later they came back & said "yes, we can give you a 212 # , it can be activated within the next 2wks, you'll have to call back 1 week before, so we can advise you the date service will be available". They told me my new # would be 212 396-9154, so I signed up with MCI in mid-November, expecting that my new # would be activated by the end of November when i moved.

Approximately an hour after I signed up with MCI, I received a voice message from the Verizon customer service rep; Jewel Gaddy, "Ms.Moore, I was just notified that you left Verizon for MCI, please call me when you get this, we can talk about reducing the fees for keeping your # . Please call back to talk about this". I did not call Jewel Gaddy back.

On November 21 (I week before I moved), I called MCI to find out when the line would be activated. The customer service rep said "we are having trouble activating 'cause we can not verify your address, so please repeat your new address", well I repeated the exact info they had in their system, they then ask if "I could be incorrect in my new address & that maybe my address is on the border of another city & it may be listed in another city" I tried rationally explaining that I lived on Manhattan Island & that the building I'm moving to does NOT border another city/town. Well, they needed to contact Verizon & recheck, 'cause Verizon was telling them that my address did not exist. The next day, they were still telling me that the 20 story building I was moving to, did not exist. They told me that they always have trouble with "212" numbers in NY and they can't give me the # until Verizon verifies my address. I should call back in a few days to recheck. Now it's the end of November & I'm living at the address ("that does not exist") without a phone.

So, I hung up with MCI and called Verizon. I told the Verizon rep the whole story of how I became an MCI customer, only because they had promised me a "212 #" & now they were not delivering on their promise & how they could not find my address in their computer system and that I'm living without a phone, and all i really want is a NYC # that begins with "212", and if they could give me one I would return to Verizon. Verizon said that they do occasionally have 212 #'s and they thought it was typical that MCI could not find my building; "since MCI is in Arizona, they are not familiar with NYC, like Verizon is". They put me on hold to check if they had a 212 # available for me; and they had one available for me (what luck!!!), so I re-signed with Verizon & service would be activated with in 36hrs!!! and it was. I've had service since December 4th at 3:30pm.
Well, that's the whole story.