Transfer from one active line to another a phone number from BT to PN.

[#1]

Hi,
I’m trying to find out some information about transferring a telephone number from BT to Plusnet. It’s not for moving house but moving telephone number within the house from 1 active line to another active line already with an active number.
To try and put the issue into a nutshell:
I have 3 telephone lines coming into the house. 2 are for me that I pay for and 1 is for my parents and brother, parents use the line for voice and brother uses the line for broadband. I don’t use the voice on my 2 lines and have them purely for broadband.
My brother has moved out this week which leaves my parents telephone line free of broadband since my brother paid for it. My parents pay for the voice calls. The voice calls are on a BT account, the broadband is still currently with Zen till my brother cancels it.
What I want to do:
I want to cancel my parents telephone line so no voice or broadband are on it which is currently the main phone number/line for the house. I then want to use my plusnet line which is all plusnet for both voice and broadband as the main telephone line and phone number for my parents to make voice calls on. The problem is I need to keep the main house phone number and not use the current telephone number associated with my plusnet line.
I know I can call BT and tell them to cancel the main house line and Zen to cancel the broadband. I know I can use the plusnet control panel for my plusnet account and change the call package from the cheapest to the equivalent my parents currently have with BT as well as the extras like caller display, ring back and divert. What I need to know is if/how I can get the current main telephone number with BT transferred to my plusnet account and the phone line associated with it, replacing its current active phone number I don’t want or use.
As I said I’m not changing house and it is key that the main house number remains uninterrupted or if interrupted not for more than a day when transferred. The number won’t be transferred from a working line to a newly activated line. Instead I need it to be transferred from an active line to another active line within the house. Is this possible and how much does it cost? Just in case it matters the main house telephone number I want transferred is an old one consisting of 5 numbers not 6.
The end result is to try and consolidate the phone lines and broadband into just 2 lines rather than 3 thus saving £15 a month line rental to BT for the 3rd line which is no longer needed but keep the main house number.
Any help appreciated.

[#2]

Is the broadband service on your parent's line a decent one? Just wondered if moving one of your broadband services onto that line is an option, with Plusnet taking over the phone service after transfer? Just struck me as lower risk of the phone number being lost.
Whilst you aren't actually moving house I think what you are trying to do probably is treated like that by the system. In this case giving the Moving Team a call to discuss your requirements might be the way forward. Guide here.
Of course the Digital Care Team staff might advise differently when they are here again tomorrow.
PS. Perhaps best to avoid the Christmas/New Year period for connection shuffling in case of problems

[#3]

Thanks for the reply.
I agree it would make more sense to keep the main house number on that line and switch it all to plusnet then disable my current plusnet line. However for complicated reasons involving possible blame of roadwork’s, flooding and a BT engineer pulling up all the phone lines outside the house that line has never fully recovered its full broadband speed since an identifiable fault was attempted to be fixed last november. Thanks to no faults being found after it was 'fixed'  and ‘upto’ not guaranteeing the speed I know the line could do before I therefore need it to be the one disabled.

[#4]

That eliminates that option then.
Perhaps wait for Digital Care Team advice tomorrow on whether the House Move Team are the ones to contact?

[#5]

Blimey, it's not an easy task that - complicated and may well require some tight timing, which could be fun. Yes, it'd be the house moves team I'd say, but there'd be some fees involved as lines are being ceased. It seems what you're asking is for the two services we're providing to be ceased and moved onto the line that's currently your parents' main line? If that's the case it might well be worth getting your brother to get a MAC from Zen instead of ceasing it, then we could migrate that line in to us after ceasing your existing one?

[#6]

I don’t actually want anything ceased in the short term. I need everything sorted before hand.
Let’s say line 1 has a telephone number of 11111 and line 2 has a telephone number of 22222. Line 1 currently has broadband from Zen on it and voice from BT. This line doesn’t live up to its broadband speed potential anymore though.
Line 2 is my plusnet line and currently is only used for broadband.
What I want to do is simply have Line 1’s telephone number of 11111 transferred so it becomes the number of line 2. Thus Line 2 has a telephone number of 11111 and Line 1 gets changed to something else let’s say 33333 or if it’s easier swapped to that of 22222.
AFTER this is done I then want to cancel Line 1 with the broadband from Zen on and voice from BT. At the same time I’ll then upgrade my phone services with plusnet on Line 2 so it can support anytime calls as well as some extra features like caller display.
The goal here is to keep the primary phone number in the house which is 11111 but not the dodgy line (line 1) it is currently bound too.

[#7]

Right, beg pardon - I get you. That won't work though, we can't transfer a number in if it's still attached to an active line. You'd probably need to get your parents (who I assume are down as the line owners) to change the number on line 1111, and then we'd have to do the same on line 2222 quickly before a new line install or similar snaffles the number. It's certainly a lot trickier than the other scenario. Still, our house moves team are definitely the guys to speak to about this.

[#8]

Matt, you may need to look at this thread:
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,120743.msg1046673/topicseen.html#msg1046673
Looks like James isn;t singing from the same hymn sheet...

[#9]

Gah. THIS is why we'd rather have one thread on an issue at a time. I'll report and ask the mods to merge, and see where we are - I think James has just said it's possible, hopefully I've got the right end of the stick about the order in which it needs to be done.
EDIT: Wait, these are two different threads by two different users? Think there are different issues at stake here, unless I'm mistaken.

[#10]

Different users but same basic problem?  The only difference is that the OP in this thread isn't immediately ceasing their BT line?

[#11]

My parents are skittish about losing the main house number which is why I need it to be transferred without ceasing first then cease the line afterwards. I was hoping for seamless transfer where the line numbers just get switched so my parents don’t miss any calls.
I looked at the other thread and the difference is I’m not ceasing any lines till after I’ve got the number transferred. I would imagine that user owning both lines would help things too (my parents own the main house line). However it seems like this is going to be problematic to do or provides a small risk of losing the main house number, something my parents are not willing to chance so I guess I’m going to have to leave it.
Thanks for the help though.

[#12]

I suspect it's overkill but have you considered porting the BT number to a VOIP provider?  That would retain the number and cease the line with no potential risk to your broadband service?