Retention of landline telephone number when moving provider.

[#1]

I applied to move from Plusnet to Talk Talk over 2 weeks ago and the order keeps being rejected by Openreach/Plusnet as my number is not portable - or so says Talk Talk.  Has anybody else had a similar problem with a transfer. I have had the same number for over 30 years and am not going to lose it now.  I imagined that number portability would be part of the rules of fair competition.  If my number can't be retained then I would not move provider.
Does anyone have any information on this?

[#2]

See here for reference / info. :  http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/telephone/switching_provider

[#3]

Thank you. That is what I would expect but TT are saying the opposite. 
I will quote this back to TT tomorrow.
"So if you’re staying at the same address and your number is active, your current provider must allow it to be transferred to a new phone company."

[#4]

Sadly it also says:

Quote

Whilst the new provider doesn’t have to accept this request, it is in their interests to do so

I would be pressing TT for more clarity on the EXACT reasons as known by them. They may well (as has been known before) be being "economical with the truth"  .

[#5]

I have sent an email to Ofcom to ask them under what circumstances I would be unable to retain my telephone number. I would not move provider  if I was forced to have a new number and I'm sure many others who held a number for a long time would feel the same. So losing my number would be against competiton, something Ofcom is supposed to have sorted.

[#6]

Hi, I've just had a look over this and I think this may be an Openreach data integrity issue.
Everything on our side shows your number as active, however when TAGS checking your number it's not bringing back an active line.
I'll send an email to the Openreach Data Integrity (ORDI) robot to try and get this fixed for you.

[#7]

Hi Harry, thanks for replying.
Openreach have told Talk Talk that Plusnet have a 'cease' on the line and that is preventing the transfer.  Is this buck passing? 
I will call your customer services department to find out if this is true.

[#8]

No need to call us. I can confirm that is incorrect. There are currently no open orders on your line.
It's highly likely to be caused by the Openreach data integrity issue that I have found and already raised the request to resolve.
EDIT -
I've also attached a screenshot to the ticket on your account with the orders/customer leaving notifications from our ordering system. This shows there have been no orders since we provided the line on 15/12/15. No open or closed cease orders, and no customer leaving notifications (The request to port your number is not making it through to us, I believe it's getting rejected by Openreach before the request makes it to us.
As per my previous response:

Quote from: HarryB

Everything on our side shows your number as active, however when TAGS checking your number it's not bringing back an active line.

As Openreach systems don't believe your line is active (Due to the data integrity issue) this is likely causing the order to reject.
I've already raised this to get Openreach to correct their records

[#9]

Harry
As I don't have a contractual relationship with Openreach, I can't light a fire under them so I have to rely on you to do it for me. 
Good luck.

[#10]

TAGS checking your line now returns information so if that was the cause of the issue, I believe a new order should go through.

[#11]

HarryB
I may have lost the will to go through this again - at lease for a while.  Switching provider is supposed to be trouble free and quick - that has not been my experience. 
Who is Openreach answerable to for their cock-ups?