Can I port PN landline number to Virgin?

[#1]

Hi all.

I've been with Virgin for a couple of years now. I was given a new landline number with them.

In the last few weeks, I disabled it and therefore 'lost' that number.

I've decided to enable the landline again. After ringing my old PN number, it seems it's available. There's no dialing tone; just a long tone.

So would I need to contact Virgin to get this particular number? Or PN?

IMO if the number's available, would I be right in saying no-one really owns it? Except probably BT?

Thanks in advance.

[#2]

@Cagney1994 

A month after you give up a number it is returned to a general pool of numbers held by the number range holder, probably BT, so no longer connected with Plusnet.

I suspect that your chances of recovering this number is extremely slim.

[#3]

Not only are the chances slim, but as all landlines are being abolished soon and there is a "stop sell" in place to prevent any being installed between now and the PSTN turn-off next year, I doubt that any provider is going to be willing to port one across in place of another landline, either.

I guess there is a very slim chance that a proactive VOIP provider might be able to selectively pull your old number from the BT pool and manage to get it allocated to a new VOIP service, but frankly I doubt very much that Virgin would be that proactive.  Some VOIP providers are allowing customers to choose regional numbers for their new VOIP service, so it may be possible to pull your old number out that way. 

When I jumped the gun on the landline switch off a few months ago, and set up a VOIP phone service with Andrews & Arnold, they did offer the (paid) option of choosing a regional number (i.e the sort of "local" number you used to get with a landline when there were exchanges with the first five digits indicating the region).  It's possible that your old number could be available to be manually selected that way, perhaps.  I remember that A&A gave me a list of "local" numbers to choose from, which were presumably all the unused numbers in the BT pool.

Might be worth the relatively low cost of setting up an A&A VOIP account just to see if you can access your old number and get it allocated to a VOIP service.  If you can, then you could either carry on using A&A or, perhaps, port that number over to another provider like Virgin.  I have to say that my experience with Virgin customer service was less than stellar, though, so I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope that they can do anything.

[#4]

Thanks @Baldrick1

And would it be possible for Virgin to ask BT for that particular number?

Personally I can't really see it as a major issue. I know they're competitors but do you think it could happen without problems?

And JSHarris: Interesting; thanks.

[#5]

And would it be possible for Virgin to ask BT for that particular number?

You really need to ask Virgin that question ?

[#6]

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@Cagney1994 wrote:

I've decided to enable the landline again. After ringing my old PN number, it seems it's available. There's no dialing tone; just a long tone.

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So just to correct your terminology.

Dialing tone is something you get when you pick up a standard phone and indicates that you are able to make a call. The tone you mention sounds like ring tone and the fact you don;t get it, but get a long tone indicates you are getting number unobtainable tone.

As the name suggests, it is not available, and as already mentioned yu have 30 days to get it back, but as you gave it up years ago there is little cjhance of getting it back.

In any event, this is not a PN issue if you are wanting Virgin to get a number back - why not ask them?

[#7]

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@JSHarris wrote:

...  Some VOIP providers are allowing customers to choose regional numbers for their new VOIP service, so it may be possible to pull your old number out that way. 

When I jumped the gun on the landline switch off a few months ago, and set up a VOIP phone service with Andrews & Arnold, they did offer the (paid) option of choosing a regional number (i.e the sort of "local" number you used to get with a landline when there were exchanges with the first five digits indicating the region).  It's possible that your old number could be available to be manually selected that way, perhaps.  I remember that A&A gave me a list of "local" numbers to choose from, which were presumably all the unused numbers in the BT pool.

Might be worth the relatively low cost of setting up an A&A VOIP account just to see if you can access your old number and get it allocated to a VOIP service.  

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@JSHarris 

ICBW, but unlikely IMO as the numbers displayed for offer by a VoIP provider consist of those which they have obtained as a Range Holder.  So, for example, if the Range Holder of a number is BT, then the number will not be listed amongst the block which a VoIP provider 'owns'.

[#8]

Thanks, @RobPN , that makes sense.

I can forsee there being more questions on this broad theme over the next year or two as the somewhat disjointed, multi-provider, model creaks its way into the post-PSTN world.  Nothing wrong with getting rid of the PSTN IMHO, but I can't say that I'm impressed with the haphazard and completely disconnected way this seems to be happening.  The complete and utter absence of joined-up thinking around this change is simply beyond belief.  It's entirely logical that many people will need to retain their PSTN number, that friends and family will have stored and be used to using.

Doesn't bother me too much, as I managed to find out enough about the PSTN switch off (from this forum and other places) to be reasonably confident that we are going to be able to retain a working non-mobile phone after December 2025.  I do have a very strong fear that there will be tens of thousands of people that will find themselves losing their landline number, and perhaps service, between now and the December 2025 PSTN switch-off.

As yet, I've received absolutely no communication from Plusnet about the changes, despite having been a customer for many years.  Thanks to this forum I've found out that Plusnet are going to cease providing us with a phone service in 2025, and that if we needed to maintain a "landline phone" (which we do, as there's no mobile coverage here) then we needed to research the somewhat technical and very definitely not "normal customer friendly" option of contracting for a VOIP service (but not through Plusnet as they aren't offering this).

My experience of buying bits of extra kit, setting up a new contract for a VOIP phone and programming the said bit of kit to work with the new VOIP service wasn't too onerous, but it was a million miles away from being user-friendly.  After setting our new VOIP phone up I helped my brother in law do the same, with instructions over the phone.  He's far from stupid, but doesn't have any sort of technical background.  To say that we both struggled to get his VOIP phone service up and running was an understatement.  I also offered to do the same for our nearest neighbours, as like us they cannot get a mobile signal, and they are a year or two older than us, so similarly focussed on the need to have access to a phone to call the emergency services.  I wasn't able to help them at all, as they don't have an internet connection, just a landline phone.  Like many, they weren't aware that their land line phone will stop working next year  - no one seems to have told them yet.