Picking an AI answering vendor feels like the hard decision. Leaving one is where shops get hurt: the phone number is stuck in the vendor's account, six months of recordings are gone, the leads captured by the AI are in a dashboard nobody can export, and the contract auto-renewed last week.
This guide covers what to settle before you sign, so a switch later is a project and not a hostage situation. It covers the number, the recordings and transcripts, the lead and job data, contract terms and exit costs. It is general information, not legal advice: the contract language and your state's recording laws are for your attorney. Vendor facts come from vendor documentation read in October 2026, and we tell you where we could not confirm something. For how these tools connect to your field service software in the first place, see our guide to connecting AI to ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro and Jobber.
The cleanest exit: never move the number in
The simplest way to avoid a number porting problem is not to port the number to the vendor at all. Keep it with your carrier and forward calls.
Two field service vendors document exactly this pattern for their own agents:
- ServiceTitan's voice agent phone setup guide has you copy a voice agent forwarding number and set your existing phone system to send all calls, overflow or after-hours calls to it. It tells you not to give that number to customers. It lists RingCentral, Vonage Business, 8x8, Dialpad, Nextiva and Grasshopper as examples.
- Jobber's Receptionist help article says you need a Jobber dedicated phone number, but that you can keep your existing number and forward calls to it.
Forwarding has costs: you depend on your carrier's forwarding settings, and caller ID, call recording and reporting can differ from a ported number. But if you leave, you change the forwarding destination and your published number never moves. Ask any vendor whether it supports forwarding from a number you control, and what you lose if you do it.
If the vendor does hold your number
Some vendors need the number in their own account, for call recording, text registration or tracking. Then your question is who the number's owner of record is. Ask in writing:
- Whose name is on the carrier account that holds the number: yours or the vendor's?
- Will the vendor release it on request, and how fast?
- Is there a fee to port out, and is it written in the contract?
- If the vendor shuts down, who gets the numbers?
What the FCC rules say about porting
The rules below are from the Code of Federal Regulations. They describe obligations on carriers and certain providers, not a guarantee about how any particular vendor behaves.
- Speed. 47 CFR 52.35 sets the porting interval: a simple wireline-to-wireline or simple intermodal port (intermodal includes wireless and interconnected VoIP) must be completed within one business day, unless the new provider or customer asks for longer. A complete request must arrive by 1 p.m. local time to be eligible for midnight activation that day; later requests count as received the next business day. Non-simple ports must be completed within four business days.
- VoIP providers. 47 CFR 52.34 requires interconnected VoIP providers to facilitate valid porting requests from end-user customers, taking all steps necessary without "unreasonable delay or unreasonable procedures." It also bars these providers from entering agreements that prohibit customers from porting.
- What a carrier can ask for. 47 CFR 52.36 lists the standard data fields for a simple port. The account number is one of them. The passcode is optional unless the end user asked for one and was assigned one.
Three things we could not confirm, so do not assume them: whether a carrier may refuse a port over an unpaid balance or a contract's early termination fee; how these rules apply to toll-free numbers, which we did not verify; and how a vendor's own terms interact with these obligations. The rules refer to end-user customers, but we did not find an FCC statement drawing a line between consumer and business accounts. Check your specific case with the carrier, the FCC's consumer help center or your attorney. Get the account number and any passcode from the current provider before you start, since a mismatch is a common reason a request is rejected.
Recordings and transcripts: who owns them, and can you get them out?
An AI answering vendor produces three kinds of data: audio recordings, transcripts and summaries, and structured lead data (name, number, issue, outcome). Each can have different terms. Ask:
- Ownership. Does the contract say you own your call data and the transcripts? We did not find an ownership statement in the Retell documentation we read. Ownership is usually set in a vendor's terms of service or data processing agreement, so read those, not just the docs.
- Retention. Retell's documentation says retention is set per agent, that data is kept indefinitely by default, and that you can set it from 1 to 730 days. Once a period expires, recordings, transcripts, logs and metadata are permanently deleted, daily, and it cannot be undone. Defaults vary by vendor, so find yours.
- Export. Retell's documentation advises exporting before expiry using webhook events to capture call data in real time, or its Get Call API. Ask your vendor the equivalent: a bulk export, an API, or only per-call downloads? In what format? How long does a bulk request take?
- Where it shows up. Jobber's Receptionist shows a summary, recording and transcript for each conversation in its own dashboard. ServiceTitan's help center says its voice agent logs call records and classifications, and at launch cannot add notes, summaries or transcripts to booked job records. If the call detail lives only in the vendor's dashboard, leaving means losing it unless you export it. Make export part of the vendor's offboarding.
- Deletion on exit. Ask for written confirmation that your data is deleted after export, and ask what the vendor's subprocessors keep.
Recording is regulated separately from ownership. Consent and AI disclosure laws vary by state, and ServiceTitan's configuration article tells you that you are responsible for recording laws and for disclosing AI to callers. Our post on call recording and AI disclosure laws covers how to approach it. Keep the same retention rules you would apply to any customer call recording.
Lead data and job records
Recordings are the obvious loss. The quiet one is the lead history. If the AI writes only into its own dashboard, your leads, qualification answers and follow-up status leave with it. If it writes into your field service software, they stay.
Check these before signing:
- Does the vendor create and update customers, jobs and notes in your system, or only email a summary?
- If you disconnect, do records the AI created remain, and are they tagged so you can find them? ServiceTitan's agent tags booked jobs "Voice Agent," which helps.
- If a marketing platform sits between them, who owns it? HighLevel's own help article for its Jobber integration says only Agency Admins can install the app and that the sync cannot be paused (you stop it by disconnecting in Jobber). If an agency runs your sub-account, ask whose account the contacts and workflows live in. More in our HighLevel review for contractors.
Contract terms to check
Terms vary, and we have not read every vendor's contract. Use this as a question list for the contract in front of you:
| Term | What to ask |
|---|---|
| Length and renewal | Month to month, or 12 months? Does it auto-renew, and how many days' notice stops it? |
| Early termination | Is there a fee, and is it a flat amount or the remaining months? |
| Minimums | Is there a monthly minimum on usage or calls, even if volume drops? |
| Overage and usage billing | What is the per-minute or per-call rate, and does it include test calls? ServiceTitan's help center says test calls on its voice agent are billed. |
| Setup and porting fees | Are setup fees non-refundable? Is there a port-out or number release fee? |
| Data ownership and export | Do you own recordings, transcripts and lead data? Format and timeline for export? |
| Deletion | Written confirmation of deletion after exit? |
| Transition help | Will the vendor keep answering for a short overlap while you cut over? |
| Price changes | Can the vendor raise rates mid-term, and with what notice? |
| Liability and compliance | Who is responsible if the agent misstates a price or fails to disclose it is an AI? |
What exit actually costs
Add up the hidden costs before you compare vendors on headline price. As an illustration only, with made-up numbers: a shop on a 12-month term that pays $300 a month in usage, has seven months left, and faces a termination fee of half the remaining term would owe about $1,050 to leave, plus whatever it takes to rebuild the integration, retrain the new agent on its pricing and service area, and cover calls during the cutover. The number to focus on is not the fee, it is the gap in coverage. Plan a parallel run.
A switching checklist
- Export recordings, transcripts and lead data before you give notice.
- Confirm the number's owner of record and request release or forwarding change in writing.
- Run the new vendor in parallel on overflow or after-hours calls for one to two weeks.
- Move the forwarding destination, test routing at open, overflow and after-hours, then cancel.
- Confirm deletion in writing.
- Update your field service integration credentials and check that bookings still land on the right jobs.
Our Booked-Jobs Recovery System is built so missed-call recovery and after-hours qualification write into your own field service software, so the data is yours whichever voice layer sits on top. See also our AI customer support service and our AI receptionist cost breakdown for what to expect on usage billing.
Frequently asked questions
Can I take my business phone number with me when I leave an AI answering vendor?
Often, yes, but it depends on who the owner of record is and how the number is provisioned. FCC rules in 47 CFR 52.34 and 52.35 set obligations on carriers and interconnected VoIP providers around porting. The simplest protection is to keep the number with your carrier and forward calls to the vendor.
How long does a number port take?
Under 47 CFR 52.35, simple ports should complete within one business day and non-simple ports within four business days, unless a longer period is requested. Real timelines depend on the carriers and on whether your request is complete and accurate.
Who owns call recordings and transcripts from an AI receptionist?
It depends on the vendor's terms of service and data agreement, and we could not confirm a general rule. Ask for ownership, retention, export and deletion terms in writing.
What should I export before I switch?
Recordings, transcripts, call summaries, outcomes and the leads or customers the AI created, in a format you can read. Some vendors delete data on a schedule, so export before you give notice.