Need to keep BT landline number moving exchanges

Japtastic

Hi chaps, I have already moved house, my old house is being redeveloped so no one in for the next few weeks.

I want to keep my existing number as I am sole trader and have given the number out on mass and also still have 4000-5000 business cards and stationary.

BT are saying because it's a new exchange that they can't port the number, is this true? From what I can gather it is...

The only solutions they offered were are forward which was very expensive and never ending, a recorded message which I'm not a fan of and would have to continue for at least 2-3 years to make sure everyone got it or VOIP which again was very expensive.

What are my other options? Can I port my number to another provider or another VOIP provider? Has any one got any recommendations or gone through the same thing?

mrtom21

Unfortunately not... different exchange... different number. If the number is that important to you don't move... lol. You need to prioritise here in this scenario you cannot have both.

Japtastic

You can have both and there are several different options, I'm looking for the best cost effective way which I believe is porting to VOIP so in the future if I move there is no problem.

I need some info on people that have kept their bt landline number via changing to VOIP please

pitkin2020

TBH I had to do a similar thing but it really depends on your business. IF you can go for the recorded message with the new number and keep it for the 2-3 years. Use that time to change all your advertising over to the new number aswell.
Use the forwarding service will be forever as people will still call that number as it works even if you give them the new number.
Also its a good marketing oppourtunity to get in touch with all your customers past and present informing them of the number change and reminding them of your services, so kills 2 birds with one stone.
Ditch your business cards and get ones printed with the new number. Yeah its costly but in the long run will be far cheaper then using the forwarding service forever.

Japtastic

Problem is that I'll probably move within five years so I'll have this all again, after reading through Vonage I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and do it.

tehone

I'd port my number to a VOIP provider like gradwell and the you can keep it for however long you want

Ypaymore

Another option is that you could port it to O2.

http://www.o2.co.uk/sme/businessservices/mobilelandline/pricing

ACDeag

tehone wrote: »

I'd port my number to a VOIP provider like gradwell and the you can keep it for however long you want

or https://www.vonage.co.uk

benjus

My Dad had his business fax number ported to Gradwell so that he could stop paying BT line rental for a line that was barely used, and switched to using Gradwell's Fax2Email. It all went very smoothly and Gradwell were very helpful. I think their charges are quite reasonable for a business-quality VoIP service - certainly worth looking into.

Japtastic

Ypaymore wrote: »

Another option is that you could port it to O2.

http://www.o2.co.uk/sme/businessservices/mobilelandline/pricing

This looked perfect as it would have saved me the forwarding costs but you have to sign up for a new business contract or port an out of contract personal one over but mine has 13 months left

tehone wrote: »

I'd port my number to a VOIP provider like gradwell and the you can keep it for however long you want

After speaking to Gradwell they seem like the best option as they have a cheap monthly charge of £3 and not a bad rate to mobiles of 10ppm for my forward.

I'll be ordering through Gradwell tomorrow so if any one has anything else to add please do!

benjus

Japtastic wrote: »

rate to mobiles of 10ppm for my forward

If you're expecting a lot of calls to your mobile you might be better off getting a SIP/GSM gateway to do the forwarding, combined with a SIM card with cheap calls to your mobile (e.g. something with free calls to the same network). Something like this should do the job:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PORTech-MV-372-2-channel-GSM-VoIP-Gateway_W0QQitemZ110480451149QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_Networking_SM?hash=item19b925e64d

Of course, you'd need a pretty high amount of call traffic to justify the purchase price.