Porting Landline Number to VOIP

[#1]

Re earlier post : Moving from copper landline to VOIP with alternative provider - no incoming calls

(https://community.plus.net/t5/Home-Phone/Moving-from-copper-landline-to-VOIP-with-alternative-provid...)

I am in exactly the same position as the original poster. I recently transitioned from a copper system with NOW Broadband to FFTP with EE, including VOIP (which is why PN transferred me to EE) with porting of my landline number of 20 years. I had the same problem in that I could call out but not receive calls. There was a lot of toing-and-froing, until eventually EE decided the problem was caused by the original service still being active. They asked me to contact NOW and request they terminate the service. When I asked why they weren't doing that, they said that it was because they were providing a new service and not taking over the existing one. I'm not sure if I was being gaslit, but took it on faith and contacted NOW. They said that once the service was terminated, the number would not be recoverable, so I told them to hold fire and went back to EE to report what I had been told. EE said that what I had been told by NOW was wrong and that "100%" they could retrieve my number. On this 100% guarantee I returned to NOW and had the service terminated. I advised EE when that had happened, a couple of days later, and they placed an order for the porting, with a date for this to happen nine days hence. On said date (25th June) nothing happened. I contacted EE the next day, and they could (would?) not give me a reason why the port failed. They placed another order, and this has returned an activation date of 7th July, but I am not optimistic that this will succeed.

Here is an extract from another post on this forum, in reply to member who had a similar issue:

You do not port your line until the FTTP install is complete - then you have 30 days, but you should do so ASAP. If your chosen VOIP provider allow it set up your account in advance (A&A do).

The port will probably fail as providers do it automatically but the line in now ceased so it doesn't work. When it fails you need to get the VOIP providers Support desk to contact the range holder and do a manual port.

This is all very frustrating, and you would expect communications companies which are doing this work for thousands of customers on a daily basis, would have their staff properly trained to deal with porting efficiently.

Can anyone give a definitive answer to this problem?

Moderator's note: Link to referenced topic added for clarity.

[#2]

Moving from copper landline to VOIP with alternative provider - no incoming calls

It reads like the new EE Digital Voice service has provisioned as a new phone number,
make a call via EE Digital Voice to a mobile to see that number.

Perhaps your telephone would still work in its original wall socket & on its original number.

[#3]

That's exactly what happened. EE Digital Voice did provide a new number, despite my request to port my old one. I tried plugging in an old corded phone to the BT socket and discovered that the copper line was still active. As stated in my previous post, on EE's instruction I contacted NOW to request that the old service be terminated. Once this had been done, EE placed the order to port the number. That failed so they have placed another order, which I expect to fail also.

Unless any guru can confirm otherwise, I believe that the only way it can happen now is by manual transfer?

[#4]

The best next steps depend on how much you value your old number.

You can see if EE can sort it out.

Alternatively you can get a VoIP service from someone competent (Andrews & Arnold or Voipfone seem able to do this) who will retrieve a recently ceased number.

EE should be able to sort out their mess but letting it play out has a risk.

[#5]

Thanks for the advice Mark. As for how much I value my old number, if they offered me £1000 to give it up, I would say "no deal."

It will be two weeks tomorrow since NOW terminated my service with them, so I can't afford to let EE dither much longer. I think I will contact A&A, as you suggest, and see what hope they can offer me.

[#6]

Contact A&A to start the porting of a quarantined number. You have 30 days to do this. Once A&A have it, get EE to pay you the £1000.

Win, win

[#7]

I've goner with Voipfone to try and port my number. EE not very happy, but I'll keep this thread posted on my progress.

[#8]

Right.

Get the phone number secured and working with your chosen VoIP supplier.

Then it's time to discuss the matter further with EE.

[#9]

If you can get the cherished phone number secured with a VoIP provider that might be a very good place to stick.

Avoiding an kind of ISP bundles was our primary goal when in 2017 we ported 3x BT numbers to Sipgate,
not being tied to ISP kit, not being limited to one building or even restricted to one country is just such a massive plus.