Retaining home phone number switch from TalkTalk to sky

J_B

Regarding our problem that we had, similar to yours.
Bee Tee gave us a number then after a week we contacted their 'number change' department and asked them to change it to our old one, and they did.


You need to speak to Cheryl in Blackburn but maybe (?) Sky have a similar department?
Keep trying.


You can play the 'vulnerable old person' card, surely?

barncopxx

I have literally this week moved from TalkTalk to Sky for broadband and landline and said to Sky from the start that bringing our landline number with us was a condition of the contract as we have had the number for 35 years. It was done with no problem......my understanding is that BT actually "own" the number which is then leased out to TalkTalk. On switching to Sky an OpenReach engineer has to go to the cabinet and move the landline wires from TT's slots into Sky's. There was a slight delay of a couple of hours in being able to receive landline calls as this was something to do with TT porting the number over from their system. Stand your ground with TT and whack in a complaint. Two years ago we moved house....one mile away and still served by the same exchange. TT told me I could not take our landline number with me...I contacted BT who said that yes I could......went back to TT and put in a complaint...guess what....my number was transferred!

iniltous

barncopxx wrote: »

I have literally this week moved from TalkTalk to Sky for broadband and landline and said to Sky from the start that bringing our landline number with us was a condition of the contract as we have had the number for 35 years. It was done with no problem......my understanding is that BT actually "own" the number which is then leased out to TalkTalk. On switching to Sky an OpenReach engineer has to go to the cabinet and move the landline wires from TT's slots into Sky's. There was a slight delay of a couple of hours in being able to receive landline calls as this was something to do with TT porting the number over from their system. Stand your ground with TT and whack in a complaint. Two years ago we moved house....one mile away and still served by the same exchange. TT told me I could not take our landline number with me...I contacted BT who said that yes I could......went back to TT and put in a complaint...guess what....my number was transferred!

Ofcom allocate number ranges , if a number has been in use for decades it predates any number ranges that have been allocated to providers like Sky or Talk Talk so will be BT or Virgin, if it's more that 20years it's probably BT.
There is no lease , number port requires the new provider to request the number be ported from the old provider and changes need to be made in network software to allow calls to the number to be routed into the new providers network , if the old provider isn't advised then they just cease the number , the onus is on the new provider to request it, if the new provider doesn't request a number port ( as in the OP case ) then there isn't much the customer can do, short of joining the number range holders network and hoping they allocate the required number.
If the customer doesn't want to consider that particular company , then they get a new number and possibly a little compo (as in the OP case)
The OP has accepted this (Sky error) , presumably doesn't want to leave Sky and use BT , so although not exactly happy has accepted this, and is now just warning others
Openreach swapping wires in cabinets has nothing to do with number portability, moving home within the same exchange area is not number portability , that's just a home move...number portability isn't designed so you can take a number between addresses that are served from different addresses, it's to remove a potential barrier stopping you switching provider at your current address
Some providers don't want the hassle of number port and would prefer you to take a new number from them if you join their network, and they also have a get out clause in the T&C's stating something like they don't guarantee any particular number.

wild666

Every time I have switched, first from BT to Plusnet and then to Origin I have retained the same number. A prospective new supplier normally asks for your phone number and uses that in the switching process .

Mister_G

Yes I have moved from BT to Virgin (non-cable) to PlusNet to Origin and have kept my number all the way through.

If the likes of Sky and Talk Talk can't manage that, then I'll not be considering them in the future.

I live in an area with very poor/non-existent mobile coverage, so the landline is very important to us.