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Porting number out from A&A?

Koda

ULTIMATE Member
Bit of an unusual request. But I have a VoIP Number with A&A (Number was supplied by them), and am trying to port it away. Ideally to BT on their digital voice system.

BT Seem to think they won't be able to take over the number from A&A though we haven't tried to process such a request yet.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows for sure if porting out from A&A to BT Would be possible or not? Or if not possible, if there's another VoIP Provider I could move the number across to and then over to BT if there's an agreement in place elsewhere to circumvent this issue?

I've had no issues with A&A At all and have been very happy with the service they have provided since joining. But in an unusual turn of events my landline has seen an increase in usage which isn't great when my current system is pay-as-you-go and BT have conveniently ended up offering me an exceptionally cheap plan that includes unlimited calls so I might as well take full advantage if I can.

Thanks in advance for any insight or advice.
 
Not sure, but your best bet is the A&A support team.
 
@Koda

The bit that might make it tricky is where you say "Number was supplied by them" (A&A). It sounds like A&A are the number range holder and that may be where BT have difficulty. I know someone with an old NTL phone number which he couldn't get ported to BT for some reason.

If it had originally been a BT number (BT was the rangeholder) being returned to BT I can see that being fairly easy.

Would a new number from BT suffice?
 
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A few other options:

* Use your mobile for outgoing calls. You can get mobile phone packages with unlimited calls and texts and a few gigs of data from around £4 per month. If your phone and provider support wifi calling then you don't have to worry about mobile coverage inside your house.

* Migrate to another VOIP provider which has the calling plan you want - which of course still depends on them having a porting agreement with A&A. This would have the advantage that it remains independent of your provider - whereas if you migrate to BT then you're back to a bundled service which reduces your options for changing ISPs in the future, or for using your own router.

* Get a new phone number, and ask A&A if they can put a temporary divert or recorded message on your old number (at worst you can do this yourself with SIP software like Asterisk). This is what people used to do when they moved house :-)

When you get a new phone number, it would be good to have it from someone who supports portability widely: like BT. Therefore, if you decide to get a new line from BT, with a new number, at least you know it will be portable in future. The issue is that if and when you port it, it will immediately cease the line.
 
I suspect A&A don't have a choice but to allow BT to take over the number -- Ofcom's General Condition B3 says that "The Regulated Provider shall, pursuant to a request from another Regulated Provider, provide Portability as soon as is reasonably practicable and on reasonable terms."
 
Bit of an unusual request. But I have a VoIP Number with A&A (Number was supplied by them), and am trying to port it away. Ideally to BT on their digital voice system.

BT Seem to think they won't be able to take over the number from A&A though we haven't tried to process such a request yet.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows for sure if porting out from A&A to BT Would be possible or not? Or if not possible, if there's another VoIP Provider I could move the number across to and then over to BT if there's an agreement in place elsewhere to circumvent this issue?

I've had no issues with A&A At all and have been very happy with the service they have provided since joining. But in an unusual turn of events my landline has seen an increase in usage which isn't great when my current system is pay-as-you-go and BT have conveniently ended up offering me an exceptionally cheap plan that includes unlimited calls so I might as well take full advantage if I can.

Thanks in advance for any insight or advice.
Are you sure that you want to go with an incompetent provider who has IP Exchange for numbers from carriers that they don't have porting agreements for, yet for some reason doesn't want to use it to port your number?

Who is the range holder if you put it in here:
 
I would absolutely avoid moving anything back to BT!

Look at the following providers to see if they better suit your outbound call needs over VoIP - Sorry it is just my general list so some of the providers may not do bundled call minute packages; however all are providers I've had friends or customers use without complaint:

Yay.com:
£6.98 per month. (Lowest plan + "additional" ported in number.)

Vonage for Home (*The least "good" of the lot):
£10.25 per month with free uk land line calls. Expensive (10ppm) to mobiles.

Dial9 "Home Business":
£5.99 per month. Optional additional £11.99 for "unlimited calls" package (prices shown on page are excluding VAT).
Run by Krystal Hosting (UK website hosting provider with a good reputation).

Freeola:
£8 per month for 8 hours of calls to land lines and 8 hours of calls to mobiles included.

Voipify:
Very low rates especially for mobiles. Unable to withhold caller ID.
 
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Thanks for the answers. I think I will try A&A Support on Monday and see what they say about porting out. Unsurprisingly it doesn't seem like many people have experience of trying it since most people tend to be moving numbers in the other direction!

Totally appreciate people advising me to think carefully about moving a number in to BT but the price is exceptionally good and there's big savings to be made. I've already signed up to it and would ideally love to take full advantage of it if at all possible.

Due to the sudden massive increase in call traffic on my landline, losing the number is something I really don't want to have to do as there would be so many people to update with the change of number and it's just a load of extra hassle I would rather do without. It's also a pretty good number which is easy to remember, AND so far hasn't had a load of unwanted spam or scam calls. So would love to keep it if I can.

As for some suggestions that have been made. Another VoIP provider or mobile phone would be good solutions for most. But for various reasons just not preferable in this situation.

Who is the range holder if you put it in here:
Operator shows up as A&A On there too. It's definitely one of their own numbers.
 
I suspect the biggest obstruction to any port may come from the BT side, since they can be a bit of a "computer says no" outfit. This is particularly true when it comes to front line support and dealing without smaller players that may not be using the standard template / service of the bigger ISPs. But we'll see. The A&A/AAISP side is normally pretty flexible and keeps to the rules.
 
BT have conveniently ended up offering me an exceptionally cheap plan that includes unlimited calls
That sounds too good to be true, I am always sceptical of "unlimited" plans, who can make unlimited phone calls? Personally, I use A&A for inbound and 0800 and Freevoipdeal for outbound.
 
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