Port Landline

[#1]

although that ofcom page is from November last year? 

I'm afraid that's typical of Ofcom!. They've no idea what's really happening...

Simplest route seems to be wait for service to be cut and fiber to be active then port them to AA and then go round and install a granstream adapter for them, helping them through the process? 

That's about the gist of it if you don't want to move ISPs.

[#2]

Well I guess everything else on this island is now a mess why not this eh

Off to see how sticky their email address/usage really is…

[#3]

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@MisterW wrote:

I'm afraid that's typical of Ofcom!. They've no idea what's really happening...

I also query the 'Virgin' information a friend of mine with an NTL email can still use it.

[#4]

@fordprefect42 

PN did allow you to keep an e-mail account for a while but that was withdrawn last year.

Account closure means loss of e-mail, discounts, web space and any other legacy add on a customer may have.

If staying with PN then the only way to get VOIP while keeping their number is to accept some downtime.

If you go with A&A you can set the account up in advance with a temporay which both gives a phone service and allows you to ensure phone equipment works. Note that they are not the cheapest for calls out - mobiles should be used if possible.

Brian

[#5]

Without looking at the official rate card we seem to pay AA around 90p per hour to landlines and about 2.5X this rate to UK mobiles, we just have to remember to use WhatsApp for mobiles! Even paying for £1.50+calls per month we are saving money relative to line rental, we find it easier to just forget about it, it works.

That said - who would we recommend other than AA? They are extremely professional and reliable IMO.

I don’t think I need to test it as did that in the past, but as you say a free local number would give them an outbound line at least… maybe we could program it to suppress outgoing caller id so nobody updates their address books

Edit: I thought to say, we have a grandstream handytone ATA that makes our old DECT setup work perfectly. We have two Grandstream desktop phones (not unlike a standard CISCO office phone with speakerphone + aux Bluetooth headsets connected ) that are in home offices and connect directly to VOIP. And we use. softPhone (sp?) on iOS.

[#6]

I guess customers who got to keep it before that date, still get to keep it

Which sounds like the ntl story as well

[#7]

@fordprefect42 

You appear to have an A&A account already for yourself so you know how they operate. Unlike some other VOIP providers they will port a "ceased" number so long as it's within the 30 days.

You will also know about power backup to keep a phone going during cuts.

So long as you remember to use mobiles for outgoing calls (including WiFi calling if your provider supports it) then £15.00 for the number port and £1.44 monthly A&A are probably the cheapest option short of a free account.

As for e-mail there was a strong rumour going around a couple of years ago then PN were closing e-mail entirely but thankfully that turned to be only that, a rumour. However, given PN's withdrawal from legacy services to be a basi low cost internet provider within the BT Group then it's always a possibility in the future. I, for one, would not be a happy bunny.

Brian

[#8]

It might be that the parents are confused and they can continue the existing copper service for 2 years at a cheaper price - confusion may have come from a sales/support conversation ..

[#9]

maybe we could program it to suppress outgoing caller id so nobody updates their address books

Yes you can. In the AA control panel you can change the CLI to be whatever you want.