@kissinuk wrote:
BT are adamant it's not their problem as Plusnet now have my landline even if it's ceased.
I asked Grok -
In the UK, when a traditional BT analogue landline telephone service is ceased, there is a quarantine period of 30 days where potentially a third party voip supplier can import the phone number and associate it with a new voip service.
During the quarantine period, who is responsible for the phone number ?
is it -
1) the previous phone service provider,
2) the original range holder for the number,
3) Openreach as the exchange owner,
4) or the broadband provider which may now have control of the copper landline wires ?
Grok replied -
The quarantine period for a ceased UK telephone number is typically 30 or 31 days (one month), during which the number remains available for porting to a new provider, such as a third-party VoIP service. This aligns with Ofcom's General Condition C7, which requires regulated communications providers to facilitate number portability for at least one month after contract termination, unless the customer explicitly agrees to a shorter period.
During this quarantine period, the previous phone service provider (the one that ceased the analogue landline service) is responsible for the number. They must ensure it remains available for porting and is not reallocated to another customer. This responsibility falls on them as the regulated provider under the terminated contract, and they handle any porting requests in that window.
The original range holder (the communications provider to whom Ofcom originally allocated the number block) only becomes relevant if the number isn't ported and returns to their pool after quarantine expires, but they aren't directly responsible during the quarantine itself unless they were also the previous service provider. Openreach, as the network infrastructure owner, does not manage or control telephone numbers—they handle physical lines and exchanges. Similarly, the broadband provider has no responsibility for the number unless they were also the voice service provider or are taking over the number via a port.
That confirms what we all thought, that BT as the previous phone service provider is responsible for holding the number in quarantine, and that the transfer to Plusnet story is nonsense.
In the case that Plusnet probably ceased both the broadband and the BT voice service, (and therefore BT wouldn't have been the voice cease initiator), Grok clarified -
The scenario you describe doesn't change the responsibility for the phone number during the quarantine period. The previous phone service provider (the voice supplier in this case) remains responsible for holding the number and facilitating any porting requests during that window, as they are the regulated provider under the terminated voice service contract. This applies even if they didn't initiate the cease and it occurred as a knock-on effect from the broadband provider's actions on the shared copper line. The quarantine period is triggered by the cessation of the voice service, regardless of the underlying cause.
So again, BT as the voice service provider, SHOULD have @kissinuk 's number in their quarantine.
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