keeping phone number

daceydave

i want to cancel my virgin home phone contract but take my virgin phone number to a bt type phone line, bt say i can do that but sky, talk talk and others say i can't. who do i belive. help.

GlynD

Believe BT. I've just changed to Plusnet and I took my old number with me.

daceydave

did you change from virgin?

GlynD

Yes I did. Just 4 days ago.

Buzby

I transferred my BT number TO Virgin (cable) without difficulty, but there MAY be in issue in the other direction - ask for the reasons, rather than 'it can't be done'.

iniltous

All of them could be telling the truth, when there was only BT and cable, OFCOM made sure that BT had to port numbers to cable, but the deal required the cable companys (now VM) to have a recipricol arrangement, so they also had to port to BT on request.
Now there are lots more companys, TT and Sky the biggest and they both have their own network in lots of places (so have their own range of numbers) as well as re-selling BT telephony, if they dont have an arrangement with VM to import/export numbers then you would probably have to get a new number if you use TT or Sky,as there would be no porting arrangement between the two companys, they both have to agree to this arrangement
I dont think OFCOM has forced other companys into doing it, like they did 20 years ago with BT.
If you chose BT they can 'import' the number (VM cannot refuse this request),
Was the number originally a BT number exported to VM or is it in VMs number range ? , if it were a BT number, after a year (or whatever minimum term you agreed with BT) you could them 'export' the number to TT or Sky.
You will also find that its a lot easier for TT and Sky to suggest you have to get a new number even when it could be done (like when they re-sell BT) but its more work for them, and they probably cannot be ars*d to do it

money_saving_matt

It'll be easier to answer your question when we know the name of the original number rangeholder. You can find out by downloading the appropriate spreadsheet from the Ofcom website (I can't post links yet but if you search google for "ofcom numbering downloads" you'll find the right page, you'll want the geographic numbers section). The spreadsheets are broken into sections as there are many numbers, but take the first zero off your number to find the sheet you need. Hopefully the original rangeholder is BT...