Port a Number to Another City or Province: Rate Centres

Short answer

Usually yes if you are moving across town, often no if a regular landline is moving to another city's exchange, and sometimes yes if the number ends up on a wireless or internet-based (VoIP) service that will take it.

A North American phone number is tied to a place called a rate centre (US: rate center). Porting rules in both countries were written around switching carriers while staying in that place. Moving the number to a new place is treated differently, depending on the type of service.

The rest of this article gives the rule numbers, as of October 2026. It is educational, not legal advice.

Why a phone number is tied to a place

A ten-digit North American number has an area code (NPA), a three-digit central office code (NXX), and four line digits. Each NXX belongs to one exchange and one rate centre. The CRTC notes that wireless carriers "use North American Numbering Plan (NANP) geographic-based numbers that are associated with a specific rate centre that uniquely locates a telephone exchange" ^[1]. US rules work the same way: number blocks are allocated "separately within a rate center" ^[2].

The rate centre decides how calls are billed: "all calls to a number associated with an exchange are deemed to have terminated at the rate centre of the exchange," including wireless numbers ^[1]. So "normally, wireline-based carriers require that a customer be assigned a number associated with the exchange in which they reside, primarily for rating purposes" ^[3].

Three terms to keep apart:

• Number portability: keeping your number "at the same location" when you switch carriers ^[4].
• Location portability: keeping your number "when moving from one physical location to another" ^[4].
• Exchange or rate centre: the area the number belongs to. It is often smaller than the area code.

The rules let you change carriers. They do not give you a general right to change places.

Moving across town

Inside the same exchange, moving is a non-event for the number. The FCC's consumer guide: "If you're switching service providers and remaining in the same geographic area, you can keep your existing phone number," and this works "between wireline, IP and wireless providers" ^[5]. In Canada, porting in is mandatory when "the new service location is within the home exchange" ^[6].

The trap: "across town" is not always the same exchange. In the Canadian exchange list, Montreal is one exchange area in the 263/438/514 complex, while Laval-Ouest and Laval-Est are separate exchange areas in the 354/450/579 complex ^[7]. A short drive can cross an exchange boundary. Check before you sign a lease.

Moving to another city or area code

The FCC's guide: "If you are moving to a new geographic area, you may not be able to keep your current phone number when changing providers" ^[5]. Note "may not": it depends on what kind of service the number lands on.

A traditional landline carrier has to serve you from the number's exchange, which usually is not possible once you are somewhere else. Landline-to-landline moves across exchanges usually end in a new number.

Wireless and VoIP services reach your phone wherever it is, so the provider can keep the number assigned to its original rate centre while you use it elsewhere. In the Metro Vancouver proceeding, TELUS said customers "may transfer their number to an access-independent VoIP service provider or a wireless carrier and continue to use that number in the new location," and the CRTC noted the number "retains the characteristics and location of its original exchange, and not those of the customer's new location" ^[6].

That matters for callers. Because calls are rated to the original rate centre ^[1], if you move from Ottawa to Toronto and keep an Ottawa number, Ottawa callers still dial a local number, but Toronto landline callers may pay long-distance, depending on their own plan. Decide which customers matter most.

How wireless and VoIP numbers behave differently

United States

The FCC's porting-interval order, adopted May 13, 2009, restates intermodal rules set in 2003 ^[8]:

• Landline to wireless: landline carriers must complete the port only where the wireless carrier's "coverage area" overlaps the location where the number is provisioned, and the wireless carrier keeps "the number's original rate center designation following the port."
• Wireless to landline: carriers "are not required to complete wireless-to-wireline ports where the location of the wireline facilities serving the customer requesting the port is not in the rate center where the wireless number is assigned."

The order says that second question "remains pending before the Commission" ^[8]. As of October 2026 no later rule has settled it: the FCC's rules codify only the landline-to-wireless side ^[9], and the FCC's nationwide number portability proceeding has so far only removed some technical obstacles ^[10] without requiring ports outside the rate center. So treat a landline carrier's refusal of an out-of-area number as normal, and ask before you order.

Canada

The CRTC set the Canadian rules in Telecom Decision 2005-72 (20 December 2005) ^[1] and restated them in 2016 ^[6]:

Two takeaways:

1. A number on a wireless or VoIP service can follow you, but a later move back to a landline in a different exchange can be refused. Consumer groups described this one-way trap to the CRTC ^[11].
2. "Discretion" means a VoIP provider can say no, and it needs coverage in the number's rate centre. Twilio, for example, says that "in rare cases, Twilio may not have rate-center (geographic) coverage for particular phone numbers" ^[12]. That is one provider's statement, not a rule.

Canada: exchange boundaries and the Metro Vancouver zone

On 26 August 2016, the CRTC approved a special location porting zone across 17 Metro Vancouver exchanges so "residential and business subscribers" can keep their numbers "when moving to a new address within this extended area" ^[6]. The exchanges: Bowen Island, Cloverdale, Fort Langley, Haney, Ladner, Langley, New Westminster, Newton, North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Richmond, Vancouver, West Vancouver, Whalley and White Rock ^[6].

How the zone works ^[6]:

• Carriers must port out numbers within the zone.
• Each landline and wireless carrier decides whether to port in a number for a new address outside the home exchange. Inside the home exchange, porting in stays mandatory.
• Carriers may assign new numbers anywhere in the zone.

The numbering guideline was updated for the zone in Telecom Decision 2019-23 (29 January 2019), which noted the zone "had no impact on calling rates" ^[3].

The same day it approved Vancouver, the CRTC refused to widen portability elsewhere: "it would not be appropriate to expand location portability in Canada, aside from in the Metro Vancouver area" ^[11]. The large incumbents said they had no other qualifying groups of exchanges and were not planning applications ^[11]. Outside Metro Vancouver, assume the exchange boundary applies to landlines.

How to check your number's rate centre

Canada

1. On the CNAC CO Code Status page, open your area code's table. It lists every NXX with its exchange area, province and the carrier it was assigned to ^[13]. Find the three digits after your area code.
2. Find that exchange in the CNAC Canadian Exchange Area Listing, which shows the rate centre name and a "Portable" indicator ^[7]. In the file published 28 October 2026, 151 of 2,996 exchange areas were marked not portable.
3. Search the town of your new address the same way and compare.

CNAC's own caveats: the data is "derived from Canadian service providers' tariff documents," CNAC "makes no claim as to its current accuracy," and the tariff wins if they disagree ^[7]. The CO code table also shows the original carrier, not necessarily who serves a ported number today. Treat both as a first check and confirm with the gaining provider.

United States

We did not verify a public lookup tool for this article. Ask your current carrier for the rate center on your account, then ask the gaining provider, in writing, whether it can port that rate center to your new address.

Cross-border and province changes

Another province. Canadian rules are about exchanges, not provinces. A move from Ontario to Alberta is a move outside the number's exchange: a wireless carrier can take the number regardless of where you live, a landline carrier can refuse, and a VoIP provider decides at its discretion ^[6]. If it works, the number still belongs to the old exchange for rating.

Another state. US porting is defined around staying "at the same location," and landline-to-wireless ports keep the original rate center ^[4][8]. The same logic applies.

US to Canada or Canada to US. The rules above are national: FCC rules in the US, CRTC decisions in Canada. This article does not cover cross-border moves. If a provider offers one, get the details in writing before you cancel anything.

Toll-free numbers are the exception. Under US rules, "the toll free subscriber's specific geographic location has no bearing on what toll free number it can obtain" ^[14]. They move between providers through a different process; see our toll-free numbers guide.

Workarounds when a number cannot move

For a new number, a short recorded message on the old one helps; our moved or new number template has wording you can adapt.

Pre-move checklist

1. List every number you need to keep, with its carrier and service type (landline, wireless, VoIP).
2. Look up each number's exchange or rate centre, and the exchange for the new address.
3. Same exchange: proceed as a normal port. Different exchange: ask the gaining provider, in writing, whether it will port the number to your new service address.
4. Get the exact account name, account number, PIN and service address on file from your current carrier. Twilio, for example, requires the LOA to "show your actual Canadian service address" matching the current provider's records ^[12].
5. Do not cancel early. The FCC: "Do not terminate your service with your existing company before initiating new service with another company" ^[5].
6. Plan for timing; see how long number porting takes.
7. If the answer is no, pick a workaround before moving day.

FAQ

Does my area code have to match my new location? No rule requires your business to be in the number's area code. What matters is whether the carrier you want will take a number from that rate centre. In Canada, wireless carriers may port regardless of your location ^[6]; landline carriers generally need you in the exchange.

Will moving offices change my number? Not within the same exchange, or if the number sits on a wireless or VoIP service that keeps it. A landline moving to a different exchange usually cannot follow you, except inside the Metro Vancouver zone.

Can I port my number to another province? Sometimes. A wireless carrier can accept it, a VoIP provider may, and a landline carrier in the new province can refuse ^[6].

Auto Attendant ($29 USD per line per month) accepts US and Canadian numbers by port: you sign the authorization online, Canadian ports are handled by the team, and there is no charge until the number has moved (how porting works).