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Held hostage with this BT digital voice

Hitesh

Casual Member
Hi All
We were moved over to BT Broadband + Digital Voice few months back, I don't have any complaints to performance.
Now I find I can't port our phone number to new providers!
Vodafone, Shell,Now,PlusNet all say they can give us new number but can't port our 30 year old number.
Noone has answers as to why?.
It seems Sipgate just maybe able to but we still need home broadband.
Has anyone had similar issues.
 
The BT service is (contractually) bundled and technically Digital Voice can only be delivered (for resi service) via the SH2.

So to port the number out (to a third party VoIP provider) will 'break' the service agreement/contract for not just the phone line but also crucially the broadband. The broadband will cease.

So you need to be aware of this and make contingent arrangements, if you really want to port the number out.
 
Are you under contract?.

There may be minimum timescales between OR changes

or BT Consumer have currently paused Digital Voice processes and the other providers are aware

or there are other technical issues such as the ISPs listed are only offering PSTN Landline in your area and there is no porting back from VoIP.

You have a legal right to port your number although some have had issues porting to Digital Voice however as it is already migrated to DV/VoIP it should be straight forward to port to other VoIP providers.

You can order a new broadband service (may incur new install), wait until working then port your number to a VoIP provider and cease BT. Have you tried Sky (not same as NOW as they offer Internet Calls, their version of VoIP)?

Really depends what your requirements are and your current issues. As highlighted above you will lose any BT DECT/Handset functionality.
 
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I never had Digital voice but wanted to go 4G and if possible drop the landline but keep the number, so I set up 4G and a basic Sipgate account for testing. I selected a Sipgate local to my area number and started to test, 4 weeks later I ported my old BT number to Sipgate and the ADSL ceased on the same day. Updated the settings and now have 2 landline numbers. I thought at the time that keeping your data line linked to the landline number was going to cause issues in the future and so it has transpired. With them split I can and have moved data line from one provider to another with no implications to the landline. I would follow Mearball's suggested route so you don't get caught out again, my Sipgate porting fee was £20 and you have a data install fee but after that you are free of landline restrictions.
 
Thanks all for replying
No, I am not under contract with BT.
Just suburban in Manchester area.
I too joined Sipgate for this very reason.
Just find this situation flies in face of consumer choice.
I haven't tried Sky but will look it up! Thanks all.
Just wanted to spread Awareness of this stich up between Openreach and BT.
BT insist on 24 months contract, I don't want that.
 
Thanks all for replying
No, I am not under contract with BT.
Just suburban in Manchester area.
I too joined Sipgate for this very reason.
Just find this situation flies in face of consumer choice.
I haven't tried Sky but will look it up! Thanks all.
Just wanted to spread Awareness of this stich up between Openreach and BT.
BT insist on 24 months contract, I don't want that.
Out of curiosity how did you get BT to put you on a monthly contract as a new customer?
 
Sorry not logged in for few days been super busy time, I am out of contract with BT by a year, sorry if it gave wrong impression.
I've finally asked Sipgate to take over my old number.
Let's see how it works out.
 
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Sorry not logged in for few days been super busy time, I am out of contract with BT by a year, sorry if it gave wrong impression.
I've finally asked Sipgate to take over my old number.
Let's see how it works out.
silly point, but just remember that when they do take over your number your BT broadband will stop working.. so hopefully you've already got a new line in.. (just a nasty gotcha for the unwary, or in my case a nice way to duck the line cancellation charge with my old provider :)
 
Sorry not logged in for few days been super busy time, I am out of contract with BT by a year, sorry if it gave wrong impression.
I've finally asked Sipgate to take over my old number.
Let's see how it works out.
Ah ok. In your OP you said "We were moved over to BT Broadband + Digital Voice few months back" so I wrongly assumed you had joined as a new customer.

Anyway as others have said, once you BT number migrates over to Sipgate then this will also cease your BT broadband service. Also Sipgate will charge you around £20 for the migration, this appears to be a standard charge when migrating landline numbers.
 
Update, signed up with Virgin broadband only @£23pm.
Sipgate migration is due to go live next week, timing was of my choosing.
Hopefully it's bye bye to BT for time being.
 
Update; migration of BT digital voice home number to SIPGATE went through smoothly and very pleased end result. For connecttion I have decided to use old Android phone along with 'Grand Stream Wave lite' from app store. Settings are bit scary but Sipgate has step by Step instructions, they were great.
Well Done Team Sipgate. 👏 👏 👏
Virgin connection came with its own number.
So now we have 3 home numbers/lines. on top of personal mobiles.
So all is 👍
 
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OK 18 months update, time has come to say bye bye to Virgin, overall had goid experience, few hiccups.
For some unknown reason they added £7.50 late payment penalty this month, took 5 hours of app,chatbot,and WhatsApp messages to sort out, in end got £9.33 as compensation...
Next month going with BRSK, I will update fitting and usage experience, more later
 
Crikey that's not a good use of your time is it?
When I was much younger my father had the building society take £2 out of his account for no reason. He went out of his way to travel to the building society itself and get this £2 back. He had a bus pass so not that bad. It was in the middle of the city though. He got it back and they apologised as it was an error.

None of us could understand why he did this. It took him a combined like 3 hours to get this sorted including travel to and from. My mum asked why he did this on return as "it's just £2".

My dad clearly said "it's the principal behind it. I would do the exact same if it was 1p". That day a switch went on for me in my brain. It's not the money at all it's making sure that you do right by yourself and making sure you don't get rolled over. It took a couple hours sure but the character and discipline gained is immeasurable.

I even thought to myself years later when similar stuff came up. Can you imagine if that buidling society charged that £2 to every single account they had under the guise of people just saying "it's only £2" and never challenging it. They would end up a couple million pound richer for no reason.

Anyway I hope this helped anybody reading this understand why Hitesh did what he did. Well done mate!
 
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