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From: WMartin@SIMTEL20.ARPA (William G. Martin)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: "Auctioning" a telephone number?
Message-ID: <12339032500.10.WMARTIN@SIMTEL20.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 1-Oct-87 12:09:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: SIMTEL20.12339032500.10.WMARTIN
Posted: Thu Oct  1 12:09:54 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 9-Oct-87 23:25:49 EDT
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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"
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