Patent ID: 7181197

Claim:
A mobile communications system in a mobile communications network configured for portability of mobile phone numbers, the system comprising: at least one data store for storing information identifying a mapping between a customer's portable phone number and a unique routable number, wherein the routable number allows calls made to the customer using the portable phone number to be routed to a portion of the mobile communications network associated with a mobile communications service provider; an administration subsystem for facilitating the storage of information in the data store; and a customer data subsystem for storing customer data records, wherein the customer data records include authorization information associated with a request by the customer to prevent unauthorized porting of the portable phone number, wherein the unauthorized porting comprises creating a mapping between an unauthorized mobile communications service provider and the portable phone number, and storing the mapping in the data store, wherein creating the mapping between the unauthorized mobile communications service provider and the portable phone number includes associating the portable phone number with a routing number unique to the unauthorized mobile communications service provider so that calls made to the customer using the assigned portable phone number are routed to portions of the mobile communications network associated with the unauthorized mobile communications service provider.