Porting landline number and keeping broadband.

[#1]

I’m currently contracted with PN for FTTC and voice but I’ve been offered a billing reduction if I switch to FTTC only on a new 24 month contract. If I take the offer can I then port my voice number to my voip provider? I don’t mind losing voice service for a few days. My VoIP provider soho66 say a number port takes about 2 weeks and I need to provide evidence I have the number.

[#2]

If I take the offer can I then port my voice number to my voip provider?

@agadsby2001  in theory, yes!. It used to be that the number MUST be active for a port to proceed, so in the past it would not have been possible once the phone had been ceased ( which it will be when switching to FTTC only )

However, OFCOM have mandated that from April this year, numbers MUST be available for porting for at least 30 days after being ceased.

Now we come to the 'in theory', there have been sucessful number ports after ceasing, mainly to A & A (aaisp) , but others have failed (sipgate). So it seems to depend on which voip provider you choose, some understand that a non-active number can be ported whereas others still insist it must be active before porting can be attempted.

My advice would be to talk to your provider first to check.

NB do not attempt the port until the change to FTTC only has completed and note that you will be without a phone for up to 14 days.

[#3]

Thank you @MisterW for that information. I will talk to soho66 and see what they say. I’ll update the community with progress.

[#4]

Soho66 have said they can make the process work so I kicked it all off. I’ve received confirmation from PN that I’m fibre (FTTC) only now and my internet did indeed restart on the change date. But here’s the odd thing a day later and I still have dial tone and the landline number still works as it always did. The actual number port to Soho66 is due to happen on the 17th.

@MisterW do you think that I still have dial tone AND the number still works indicates a problem?

[#5]

Moderators Note

Posts split from another topic.

[#6]

do you think that I still have dial tone AND the number still works indicates a problem? 

@agadsby2001 no, that probably means you have a better chance of the port completing, since the line will still be showing as active when the port request is submitted

[#7 · Accepted solution]

Well the 17th July arrived. At noon my landline number and service switched over to Soho66 and my Plusnet FTTC service carried on working as expected. Absolutely no drama and everything is working as expected.

You can add Soho66 to the list of VoIP providers that can switch a number from a landline without any problems. 10 out of 10 to both Plusnet and Soho66 for making this work.

And special thanks to @MisterW for his guidance and support.

[#8]

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@agadsby2001 wrote:

... I’ve been offered a billing reduction if I switch to FTTC only on a new 24 month contract.

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@agadsby2001 

Was this offer in an email or sales call from Plusnet, or did you discover it in the Member Centre "Offers & Upgrades" ?

[#9]

@Anonymous It was an offer in Offers and Upgrades in the member area. Given the impending PSTN turnoff I thought I’d get ahead of the curve and see if the process worked - which it did.

[#10]

Thanks for that, I'm also interested in exploring my options for moving to SoGEA FTTC for the same reason.

I guess I'll have to wait until Plusnet fix my Member Centre "Offers & Upgrades " to find out !

😠

[#11]

This is very interesting.  I'll look into Soho66.

I rely on broadband for home-working and I rely on a landline as the mobile signal at home is unusable.   I would like to move to VOIP ahead of switch off.   

If Plusnet are intent on not offering VOIP they should be offering an easy landline Number Port out with no interruption to Broadband.

As a customer, I should not have to fiddle about on forums to see how to do this.

So, I have made a complaint to Ofcom because it seems there is not an easy guaranteed way to port out the landline number to a VOIP service without interrupting existing broadband ADSL/FTTC.

[#12]

So, I have made a complaint to Ofcom because it seems there is not an easy guaranteed way to port out the landline number to a VOIP service without interrupting existing broadband ADSL/FTTC.

It'll be interesting to see the results of that. Firstly I guess that Ofcom won't actually do anything, because they don't handle individual complaints. Secondly , I suspect that PN would reply to Ofcom, that they do offer a way, they will offer to transfer you  to BT retail with Digital voice.

[#13]

Going to BT retail would be a solution... but it would be anti-competitive.

Do BT port out numbers without interruption to broadband?

I don't expect a reply from Ofcom, but if enough people complain about lack of a process for interruption free number porting, I hope they would make sure such a process is in place.

Soho66 say they can't guarantee an interrupt free porting ... speak to Plusnet.

Anyway I should try setting up voip with a new number first.

[#14]

My sequence was a follows:

1 Request PN to switch me to broadband only
2 As soon as I got a date for the switch I raised a phone number port with Soho66 - I already had an account with them - with the provision date no earlier than the switch date


Things then happened automatically. At no point did I lose dial tone or broadband.

3 Once the telephone number was active on VoIP i setup the VoIP box and hey presto all moved.

I suspect there was a window where calls got lost but once the number was live on soho66 callers would have got the voicemail on that line.

So it did all work as it should.