How to get specific number in XPATH?

I want to get a specific number for my mobile phone?

• I have a specific 415 number in mind, but my mobile provider says they don't have it at all in their system.  How can I get this specific number?  Calling it results in a system-message indicating the number is not in service.

• Answer:

  The first step would be to find out who owns the number. This is relatively easy, if you ask a carrier to look up if the number is portable, they should be able to see what type of number it is and who it is with. The next step would be to get that number from that carrier. This is not so easy...most carriers won't assign specific numbers any more because it's a pain. Most carriers also have policies not to reassign numbers right away...they generally keep them inactive for 2-3 months before reassign in them. But if you can find someone at that carrier to give you that number that's huge. If that doesn't work directly, you might do some research online, see if you can find out who used to own that number, contact them and ask if they will reactivate the number for you. Once you get the number, then it's relatively trivial to port it to whatever carrier you want to have your service with. If that doesn't work you get a service like Google Voice where you can pick a number you like and forward it to whatever numbers you want.