Can I just confirm this works.

[#1]

Anyone only using a phone - with whoever - is supposed to be contacted by their phone provider, as mandated by OFCOM. I also understand that alarm manufacturers/suppliers/agencies are strongly advised to contact their customers/users.

Beyond that, I cannot comment,  as I for obvious reasons, have had no cause to delve further.

[#2]

As the OP of this thread has noted, there is an urgent need for clear guidance on what we need to do to maintain the present level of safety that is provided via the PSTN landline system.  I've no problem with change, it's just the conflicting/confusing information and the lack of clarity that I find more than a little irritating. 

@JSHarris  I completely understand your confusion, and it should really be OFCOM who should be doing the clarification. Problem is they are about as much use as a chocolate teapot! I'm not even sure they understand the difference between Bt retail and Openreach!. OFCOM  did tell Bt retail to stop the forced changeover of customers to digital voice, while some of the problems you mention  were addressed. However , they seem to have just kicked the can down the road and allowed Bt to restart with a proviso that no vulnerable people should be forced into it. Not sure that will have any effect....

[#3]

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@MisterW wrote:

@JSHarris  I completely understand your confusion, and it should really be OFCOM who should be doing the clarification. Problem is they are about as much use as a chocolate teapot! I'm not even sure they understand the difference between Bt retail and Openreach!. OFCOM  did tell Bt retail to stop the forced changeover of customers to digital voice, while some of the problems you mention  were addressed. However , they seem to have just kicked the can down the road and allowed Bt to restart with a proviso that no vulnerable people should be forced into it. Not sure that will have any effect....

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OFCOM don't even know what day it is, as they are, as you say, @MisterW , less than useful in this situation.

[#4]

@jab1 ,

All I know is that my mother in law hasn't been contacted by either her phone provider or her fall alarm company.  Her phone is provided by BT and according to the map I posted earlier she is due to be switched to VOIP in Summer 2024.  For obvious reasons I'm trying to get ahead of the game, given that the chances are we will lose our PSTN line before she will.

@MisterW ,

Thanks, I am just very sceptical about the whole thing, and have zero confidence that any supplier will act in a timely manner to ensure that both phone continuity is maintained and that existing numbers will be retained.

The whole thing seems to me to be an unholy mess, with no one actually doing any sort of coordination.  As you very rightly say, Ofcom are indeed as much use as a chocolate teapot, which is one reason why I'm keen to find a way through this maze of conflicting information so that I can try to ensure we retain the same phone functionality and reliability as we have at the moment.

[#5]

@JSHarris I understand completely where you are coming from, and as you are obviously, like me, a pro-active individual, I can only suggest you contact BT (as the phone provider), and the relevant alarm company on your m-i-ls behalf.

Sorry I can't be of more help, but this is not a situation of which I  have any direct experience.

As an aside, and of no help to you, I know, but my ISP/phone provider is pro-actively changing the connection in advance of all this, switching me to a SoGEA connection, with my phone via VoIP, although I won't be able to get FTTP via them until (as it stands) until late 2024 at the earliest.

[#6]

OFCOM  did do one thing, which was to introduce the 'right to port' ( although it was really an EU directive) giving up to 31 days to port a number after it was ceased. Now AFAICS suppliers are complying with that requirement and making the numbers available.The problem is that OFCOM also demanded introduction of the 'One touch switch' process without giving suppliers enough time to introduce it!. It's very likely that the OTS system will make porting straightforward, the problem is that current automated porting processes can't handle it very well and it requires manual intervention. Suppliers are rightly concentrating on implementing the OTS system and have no wish to enhance existing automated  processes ( soon to be redundant ) to handle the porting of ceased numbers.

[#7]

It seems to me that Ofcom are completely out of touch with reality, are making demands that are unrealistic (in that they are made too late for any company to have a hope of meeting) and, because of this, Ofcom demands are mostly given a stiff ignoring.

All of which does nothing to help the very people that Ofcom is supposed to be looking out for, consumers, especially those that are reliant on having a working landline.

Brings us full circle to @2Donald 's original question and point:

"Can anyone confirm they have actually completed this procedure successfully?

I see users getting this advice but never seen any one say it actually worked for them.
I'm looking for confirmation that this procedure is going to work."

So far I can't see any confirmation that the porting procedure is definitely going to work, and it's largely this that causes me concern.

The daft thing is that I've been generally happy with Plusnet (with the sole exception of the daft haggling over price thing enforced every 18 months).  I have no need to leave Plusnet, the service has been reliable and we've not had any significant problems over the years.  The lack of clarity over what we need to do to retain our landline and phone number is the only thing that bothers me.

I've been impressed with Andrews & Arnold though.  I have a SIM and VOIP service from them and they have been very helpful.  Although their broadband (SOGEA) is more expensive than Plusnet I am sorely tempted to switch to them simply because I'm confident that they may provide more comprehensive customer service.  It may well be worth paying a tenner a month more with them just to have greater confidence that things will go more smoothly come the PSTN switch off.  This maybe be misplaced confidence, but right now they seem to be providing clearer information than Plusnet.

[#8]

Your comments re A&A, @JSHarris , are one of the reasons I  switched to Zen a couple of years back, as I could see the way PN were being positioned by BT. I was totally happy with my service, but saw them being edged towards the BT (read Post Office Telephones of old) way.

I am reasonably competent in sorting any internal problems, but if I had need of actual ISP support, I saw coming what has now transpired.

Zen are a little more expensive than the equivalent PN service, but if you need help, you talk direct to trained technicians - not call handlers - and they actually listen to what you say ansd act accordingly, not follow a script.

[#9]

I've been impressed with Andrews & Arnold though.

A & A support is 2nd to none. I converted our office PBX  from ISDN to voip around 4 yrs ago and I use A & A. I have a block of 20 numbers and A & A sales people were the only ones who really knew what they were talking about! I was able to get a temporary block of numbers to test and configure the pbx before initiating the port of the real numbers from ISDN. Whenever I have needed any support , their response is  very quick and knowlegeable. I would use them at home except I still have a 'free' sipgate basic account for the moment. Should that ever be discontinued for existing customers , I will move to A & A.

As regards porting, it's always worked perfectly for active numbers, the problem is that ceased ones require manual processing which doesn't fit well with most voip suppliers business model , it increases costs!

I'm sure that A & A would go the extra mile to port if you move your broadband to them.

Another option to consider is Zen, they also have an in house digital voice offering, so would be able to port the number when transferring broadband. Their support is almost as good as A & A but pricing is a bit cheaper. I'm sure @jab1 will agree with that...

Edit: I see he already did

[#10]

@MisterW - I do! 😀

[#11]

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@MisterW wrote:

As regards porting, it's always worked perfectly for active numbers, the problem is that ceased ones require manual processing which doesn't fit well with most voip suppliers business model , it increases costs!

I'm sure that A & A would go the extra mile to port if you move your broadband to them.

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Exactly my thoughts.  If we switch to A&A then I feel reasonably confident that they would help to ensure that our number gets ported across OK, even if that does involve manual intervention. 

I suppose it's understandable that Plusnet have zero interest in helping with, or even properly explaining, landline number porting, given that they are ceasing all telephony related activity.  What I find odd is that Plusnet seem not to care that the logical course of action for anyone that needs to retain a landline number is to switch both their broadband and telephony services to a single alternative supplier.  Having to deal with two suppliers instead of one just multiplies the chance for things to go wrong, as well as making it less convenient for customers.

I'd be paying a bit more with A&A for VDSL, but perhaps that would be worth it just to remain dealing with one company and have better customer service. 

[#12]

@JSHarris I am in Northumberland in the white/cream-coloured "Before October 2023" region. My Plusnet (analogue) landline still works. My mother is a BT landline-only customer on the Wirral, in the green "Autumn 2023" region. She has received a couple of letters from BT already notifying her of the move to "Digital Voice" this coming autumn. I contend that that map shows the timetable for *BT* to transfer their consumer customers to Digital Voice, and not the timetable for the *Openreach* PSTN switch-off. As others have said, the PSTN switch-off is at the end of 2025, nationwide.

[#13]

It's interesting that no one has confirmed they have used the procedure to port a ceased number.  Could be that users do not visit this forum once their problems are fixed.

I spoke with PN sales earlier, they confirmed that
 1) porting the landline to VOIP will also cancel the broadband service
 2) the procedure of porting the disconnected number after a conversion to SOGEA is feasible but not 100% guaranteed to keep the number
 3) I do have the option of just extending my current broadband with phone contract
When I push back then they push me to migrate both services to BT

This has led to investigate migrating both broadband and phone to another ISP.
BT will take both services at £38 per month but 24 month minimum contract
also Sky at £34.50 and 18 month minimum contract
also EE will at £33 and 24 month minimum contract
A&A seems to be £45 month but minimum contract is either 1, 6 or 12 months

The mimimum contract length is compelling.

At the moment my favoured option is to migrate to a 6 month broadband contract with A&A.  I already have a VOIP account with A&A so I have some familiarity with them.
I haven't spoken to A&A yet but as I plan to port about 2 weeks before the end of my PN contract then I will be porting a live number, and with just 2 weeks remaining I don't anticipate any termination fees at PN.
The only potential fly in the ointment is the data limits that A&A have (1 TB which I think is 1,000 GB). It sounds plenty but I have no idea what I currently use.

I have no problems with PN. Zero.  So I can't see how A&A will be an improvement.  The sole reason for doing this is to get phone and broadband as 2 distinct services.  If I don't get on with A&A then, after 6 months, I can port the broadband back to PN as a new customer.

[#14]

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@2Donald wrote:

The only potential fly in the ointment is the data limits that A&A have (1 TB which I think is 1,000 GB). It sounds plenty but I have no idea what I currently use.

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I might be able to give you a data point that could help.  There are two of us and we tend to watch a fair bit of streamed video.  I have traffic analysis enabled on our router and that logs and graphs usage, both by device and for the connection.  We watch streaming TV, like iPlayer and ITVX most evenings.  My wife watches Netflix for an hour or so each day.  We both browse the web a fair bit during the day, watch the occasional YouTube video etc. 

TV video streaming is far and away the biggest chunk of data we use each month, makes up around 60% or so of the total.  On average we download between 250GB to 280GB per month.  We've never gone over 300GB per month.

I set up traffic analysis a few months ago specifically to get a feel for our data usage and I'm glad I did, as it shows that the basic 1TB offered by A&A is more than enough for us.

@2Donald wrote:

I have no problems with PN. Zero.  So I can't see how A&A will be an improvement.  The sole reason for doing this is to get phone and broadband as 2 distinct services.  If I don't get on with A&A then, after 6 months, I can port the broadband back to PN as a new customer.

My view's much the same.  Not being tied to a long contract makes the A&A option attractive. I also think that doing this may well reduce the risk of us losing our landline number.  Like you, we've had no problems with Plusnet, the only reason to do this is to try and ease the phone number porting concern.

[#15]

@2Donald 

People have confirmed on this forum, if not on this thread, that they've done a successful port. That is how I know about the automatic port failing and the need to contact A&A Support to do a manual port.

Brian