Just joined plusnet and would like to port landline number from old address - no option to do this?

[#1]

Hi there, 

I've just moved house and joined plusnet and I would like to try and port the landline number from my old address. My old provider is virgin at a different address and the line is still active - both addresses are within London 020 area - the person i spoke to on the phone at plusnet told me it wasn't possible, but he hadn't even checked my phone number or postcode... and I saw some other users recently had more luck by using these forums, so I'm hoping someone here can help.

I gather from ofcom that customers now have the right to port landline numbers - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/features-and-news/new-protections-stamp-out-switching-fr...

Advice from the virgin community forums tells me that this is a gaining provider led process and Plusnet needs to place a request for the number to be ported, but there wasn't an option for me to do this when I put the order through online. So just wondering what I should do? Can anyone help?

Virgin have been utterly useless at telling me how to get the number release and just transferred me from department to department.. and i was advised on the virgin forums to just refer the matter to ofcom and give this to my new provider because virgin apparently do not have a porting department. My ofcom reference number is 00817534.

Many thanks in advice.

[#2]

Take what I say with a pinch of salt, but I believe keeping your old number when you move, requires both addresses have to be connected to the same exchange. Just because they both are in a 020 area it doesn't necessarily mean they do.

[#3]

Welcome to the forums @fayekieran,

There are some situations where transfer from a Virgin line just aren't possible, but we can definitely try for you. As @Alex has noted, despite your area code being 020 the addresses could be served by different exchanges meaning it would not be possible to port the number across. There are also situations where, despite being connected to the same exchange technically none Openreach providers use a virtual path to route the number to a different exchange to the one it's served by, and Openreach hold the number on a different exchange routing - this would also prevent us being able to transfer the number successfully. 

If you can PM me the Virgin number, and also the old address in full I can do a few checks for you. 

[#4]

Hi @fayekieran,

Thanks for the information in your PM. Unfortunately, from the information you've provided we won't be able to port across that number to your new address as at the original address it is listed at a different exchange to your new address (you can check this yourself here by using the address checker link at the bottom).

Some providers offer services known as RCF (Remote Call Forwarding) or CNI (Coalition For Networked Information) to forward numbers to different exchanges using a process which I believe is similar to VOIP, but we are not one of those providers at the moment. In fact I believe at present there are a minimal amount of them, and they're generally providers that don't use the BT Openreach Network to supply services.