Moved house - can't find existing phone provider??

assscat

I moved this weekend, and wanted to bring my Plusnet account and service with me from my old flat to my new one. I called Plusnet before the move and they said plug a phone in the new place, dial 17070 to find out the number, call Plusnet back and they would set me up.

The new place has a line, and dialling 17070 gives me the automated announcement stating the line's number. The line is stopped i.e. I can't make any other outgoing or receive any incoming calls.

However, when I call Plusnet now they say "there are stopped lines in your property ending in **23 and **09. If you are able to find either of these lines we would be able to start these for you." The line I have doesn't end in either of these numbers though! And Plusnet say they can't do anything with the number I have!

Can anyone suggest what my next steps should be?

iniltous

The line may well be a Talk Talk LLU or a Sky LLU line and as such Plusnet wouldnt find the 'stopped' line number, when you called 17070 did the AVR introduce herself as Zoe ?, this would indicate a Sky LLU, TT gives the AVR of 'the line is defined as 01*** *****, but thats about it, a BT stopped line would go further and say something like, BT line test services, dial 1 for ....., regardless, if the line is stopped then any provider should be able to take it over, but many CP's either cannot be bothered, or are poorly trained and say a LLU cannot be taken and only BT can do it...this isnt true but it does seem to be what frequently happens....also a stopped line doesnt stop incoming calls, so if you dial the number of the line from a working line/mobile, it should ring if it were a BT or a resold BT line, with SKY or TT LLU who knows, they dont seem to follow any industry standard, and do their own thing

syko29793

iniltous wrote: »

also a stopped line doesnt stop incoming calls,


A stopped line stops all calls both in and out. The reason plusnet have different numbers is because when a line is stopped it is also renumbered making the original number spare and the line then has a ghost number which is what you get when you dial 17070.

But as iniltous says if its a stopped line there is no reason why it can't just be reconnected with a new number.

iniltous

syko29793 wrote: »

iniltous wrote: »

also a stopped line doesnt stop incoming calls,


A stopped line stops all calls both in and out. The reason plusnet have different numbers is because when a line is stopped it is also renumbered making the original number spare and the line then has a ghost number which is what you get when you dial 17070.

But as iniltous says if its a stopped line there is no reason why it can't just be reconnected with a new number.

I'm pretty sure a BT stopped line is the outgoing part of the service is given stopped line dialtone,(soft dialtone) thats why you can dial the CP's customer service people ( 150 normally, to ask for service to be restored if you have moved into the property) and dial 17070 etc,the incoming part of the service is unaffected, so if the line is stopped for non payment, the CP can ring and ask for anything owed to be paid etc.
If a stopped line was all calls in and out stopped, then whats the difference with a ceased line

syko29793

iniltous wrote: »

syko29793 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure a BT stopped line is the outgoing part of the service is given stopped line dialtone,(soft dialtone) thats why you can dial the CP's customer service people ( 150 normally, to ask for service to be restored if you have moved into the property) and dial 17070 etc,the incoming part of the service is unaffected, so if the line is stopped for non payment, the CP can ring and ask for anything owed to be paid etc.
If a stopped line was all calls in and out stopped, then whats the difference with a ceased line

Once a line is stopped then no calls can be made in or out (except the 17070). If a line gets restricted for non payment it is put into a status of ocb (outgoing calls barred) with a route to credit control meaning any attempt to make a call will redirect the call to the service providers collection dept but incoming calls are still allowed. If the bill remains unpaid the line becomes TOS (temp out of service) This means the line is still active but no calls can be made or received and anyone calling the number will hear a temp out of service message. After this stage the line is then stopped and no calls can be made or received and anyone calling the number will hear "this number is not recognised please check and try again".

After the line is stopped it will still have a dial tone but no in or outgoing calls can be made. If it is not in use for a while and someone else needs a line in that area the engineer will use the routing of that line to provide service to another customer and the line then becomes a "ceased" line and will have no dial tone.