Sponsored Links

Lost original phone number in switch to Digital Voice

dqj999

Casual Member
I recently ordered Full Fibre from BT together with Digital Voice, that was supposed to transfer my original account from PlusNet to BT including the phone number.

The Digital Voice service was never enabled successfully on my Smart Hub2 and despite numerous calls to the Fibre Team and Faults they were unable to enable the Digital Voice service. Finally they decided that they would have to do a cease and re-provide and I specifically reminded them that I needed to keep my original number.

I have now been allocated a new number and the Full Fibre team have told me that they are unable to re-allocate numbers on Digital Voice at present. If anyone knows that is incorrect please let me know.

So be warned, you can lose your number in switching to Digital Voice and there is no way to get it back.

Derek
 
I'd raise a formal complaint, since this is being done between two ISPs that are controlled by the same group. BT should still be able to get that number back and re-allocate it (once moved to the pool of numbers, they don't immediately give it to somebody else), although it may be true that their front-line support staff simply don't have a system capable of doing this properly. But at the same time, it should not be beyond the bounds of human possibility to sort it out with a manual process.
 
I'd raise a formal complaint, since this is being done between two ISPs that are controlled by the same group. BT should still be able to get that number back and re-allocate it (once moved to the pool of numbers, they don't immediately give it to somebody else), although it may be true that their front-line support staff simply don't have a system capable of doing this properly. But at the same time, it should not be beyond the bounds of human possibility to sort it out with a manual process.
Thanks Mark, I'll add it to my complaint about the late provision of the FTTP service.
 
Sponsored Links
I'd raise a formal complaint, since this is being done between two ISPs that are controlled by the same group. BT should still be able to get that number back and re-allocate it (once moved to the pool of numbers, they don't immediately give it to somebody else), although it may be true that their front-line support staff simply don't have a system capable of doing this properly. But at the same time, it should not be beyond the bounds of human possibility to sort it out with a manual process.

I've now been told that BT consider that it is not possible to get my number back. The advisor said that the circumstances that make make this happen are:

1. You order BT Full Fibre when you are connected to a FTTC copper connection with another provider

I'm amazed that this is the situation with BT. Ofcom say that you may lose your number if you do this as part of a house move but only then, so BT seem to be out of line with what Ofcom currently require. I've been offered some goodwill compensation but that is not satisfactory.

I guess that the next step is to get a deadlock letter on my complaint to BT and then raise it with Ofcom.
 
Yes I'd go through ADR, that excuse doesn't even make sense given that you were taking a Digital Voice service with FTTP.
 
Late last year I switched from a John Lewis (really Plusnet) copper connection - not FTTC - to BT for an FTTP connection. A couple of months back they wanted to switch me to Digital Voice. It took 5 attempts over a number of weeks to get it right. First 4 attempts would allow me to make outgoing calls but not receive incoming calls. Each time I complained the only solution offered was to cancel the order and then reinstate it.

This meant many calls to the fibre team and eventually I raised a complaint as well. On the 5th attempt, just a week or so ago, it went through and is working well.

There was never any mention of losing my current number. I think one potential issue is who owns the original number. In my case it was issued by BT many years ago.
 
Yes I'd go through ADR, that excuse doesn't even make sense given that you were taking a Digital Voice service with FTTP.
I'm thinking that BT could fix it as follows:

1. Create an order for a copper PSTN line with the old number from the number pool to be provided on the existing copper pair with a new account

2. Do a House Move type of transfer of the new account taking over the old one transferring the old PSTN number that BT now have full control over.

3. Cease the existing account

4. Refund any extra billing charges caused by the above set of changes
 
Sponsored Links
Late last year I switched from a John Lewis (really Plusnet) copper connection - not FTTC - to BT for an FTTP connection. A couple of months back they wanted to switch me to Digital Voice. It took 5 attempts over a number of weeks to get it right. First 4 attempts would allow me to make outgoing calls but not receive incoming calls. Each time I complained the only solution offered was to cancel the order and then reinstate it.

This meant many calls to the fibre team and eventually I raised a complaint as well. On the 5th attempt, just a week or so ago, it went through and is working well.

There was never any mention of losing my current number. I think one potential issue is who owns the original number. In my case it was issued by BT many years ago.
@Spuriousfish

I'm beginning to think that a trigger for these problems might be a past ownership of the line by BT. This seems to be so for the cases that I have heard about.
 
I used to work in BT fttp provisioning and there FVA (as they term it) was an utter shambles. Orders used to reject all the time and then it would go to the offline team known as camp 3. As you have suggested:

They should do a reprovide on the PSTN and then do a renumber and then once everything is live they should port. Have you been assigned a case manager at all ?
 
I used to work in BT fttp provisioning and there FVA (as they term it) was an utter shambles. Orders used to reject all the time and then it would go to the offline team known as camp 3. As you have suggested:

They should do a reprovide on the PSTN and then do a renumber and then once everything is live they should port. Have you been assigned a case manager at all ?
As far as I know, I haven't. I'll call the Full Fibre team again in the morning and ask for a case manager to be assigned then.
 
Just an update as I finally I managed to get my number back after about 3 months with a changed number. It happened after talking to BT Faults about a different issue and I mentioned the problem in passing. He immediately tried to change the number, and I was informed of the change by email, but while I was still talking to him he said that the change had failed but undertook to raise the matter internally. Low and behold the number just changed back, let's hope that is the end of the story.
 
Sponsored Links
Damn, how can it not be possible to get it back? Personally, I'd file a complaint. But before that, maybe there's one more thing to try. I don't know if you're familiar with the temp phone number. I've found out recently when I've been out of state and had to verify a social media account, but my number was on EU, not the US. Luckily, it worked for me, maybe you can manage it to do it this way too... Otherwise, go with that complaint. It's such a minor inconvenience for them that it shouldn't even represent a problem. These things can be easily fixed. They require some extra effort, but it's not impossible. Shame on them!
 
Last edited:
Damn, how can it not be possible to get it back? Personally, I'd file a complaint. But before that, maybe there's one more thing to try. I don't know if you're familiar with the temp phone number.
Filed the complaint, didn't fix anything apart from paying me £50 compensation after a couple of months. This situation might have improved now that there is more experience of how to fix a wider variety of issues.
 
Top
Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £24.00
132Mbps
Gift: None
Shell Energy UK ISP Logo
Shell Energy £26.99
109Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £27.99
145Mbps
Gift: None
Zen Internet UK ISP Logo
Zen Internet £28.00 - 35.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £15.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
YouFibre UK ISP Logo
YouFibre £19.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
BeFibre UK ISP Logo
BeFibre £21.00
150Mbps
Gift: £25 Love2Shop Card
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Sponsored Links
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (5467)
  2. BT (3505)
  3. Politics (2523)
  4. Openreach (2290)
  5. Business (2251)
  6. Building Digital UK (2233)
  7. FTTC (2041)
  8. Mobile Broadband (1961)
  9. Statistics (1778)
  10. 4G (1654)
  11. Virgin Media (1607)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1451)
  13. Fibre Optic (1392)
  14. Wireless Internet (1386)
  15. FTTH (1381)
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms  ,  Privacy and Cookie Policy  ,  Links  ,  Website Rules