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Failed home phone number port

neilys
Joining in

I switched my landline service from Post Office to Virgin earlier this month. Despite being assured by Virgin that my previous number would be ported over, it hasn't happened and Virgin is now telling me the number can't be ported because it is no longer active. I accepted the new contract offer from Virgin on 6 August, and my Post Office service wasn't disconnected until 23 August, so there was a 17-day period during which the number could/should have been ported but wasn't. I'd really appreciate it if someone could explain to me why the port didn't happen, and how I can still 'rescue' my number (which I've had for nearly 15 years and am very keen not to lose). The Post Office have told me that they didn't receive the 'right' kind of request from Virgin, and therefore my service with them was just cancelled. Can someone please help me.

13 REPLIES 13

mpmc
Superfast
If your OR line socket is still in place, plug a phone into it and if you get a dial tone, dial 17070 and you should hear the line number. if it's your old number you could ask another provider to provide voice service on a monthly contract(1) and/or try to get VM to port it again. Although hold off until someone from vm on here has took a look.

As for as to why the port failed it usually due to the old provider doing just a line cease rather than a number port and then cease. As to who sent/made the wrong request is anyones guess. The new and old will blame one another.

With that said, hang on for a VM forum staff member to dig a bit further for you

(1) there are providers who do monthly phone but generally charge an activation fee.

HTH

TV, Phone and Broadband using the Hub 3.0 in modem mode, with a Newifi D2 running Openwrt (FTTP/RFoG).

Travis_M
Forum Team
Forum Team

Hi @neilys

 

Thanks for posting on our community forum!

 

I hope the post above has provided some insight into this, have you managed to check on the details please?

 

Regards

Travis_M
Forum Team

New around here? Check out the do's and don'ts, in our Community FAQs


Hi Travis_M,

I've plugged a phone into the wall socket it was previously plugged into, but there is no dial tone.

When I call the number, I get a message saying "The number you have dialled is currently not receiving incoming calls".

 

Hi @neilys

 

I have just checked the notes and unfortunately we would be unable to port this due to the number being disconnected by your previous provider and due to this our team have no way of bringing the number over without it being active.

 

My apologies

 

Regards

Travis_M
Forum Team

New around here? Check out the do's and don'ts, in our Community FAQs


Hi Travis_M,

I still don't understand why my number was not ported during the 17-day period between me notifying Virgin of my intention to switch and Post Office disconnecting the line. Are you able to explain that?

The Post Office tell me it's because they did not receive a number port request from Virgin, but Virgin tell me such a request was sent (Ref: T7879296).

I don't think I can be expected as a consumer to understand the number porting process - I have to rely on the providers doing it properly. This clearly hasn't happened in this case.

If other providers are able to 'rescue' my number to make it active again, as per @mpmc's advice, why can't Virgin?

How do I escalate this, please?

dannylau
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

For a port to work you have to let virgin cancel the line, if you cancel the contract yourself it cannot be ported

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more

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Hi @neilys

 

A request was indeed sent and my apologies we haven't been able to do this, our complaints code of practice can be found here - the team indeed tried to port the number but the line was already disconnected by your previous provider for too long.

 

Regards

Travis_M
Forum Team

New around here? Check out the do's and don'ts, in our Community FAQs


Thank you, @Travis_M

I'm not sure I understand when you say "the line was already disconnected by your previous provider for too long". As I said before, there was a 17-day period during which the number was still active and could/should have been ported.

Thank you @dannylau. I didn't cancel my Post Office contract (at least not knowingly)!

Can anyone advise me how I can save my number, please? I've seen other posts on this forum where people seemed to be able to find a solution.

 

 

Only way is to activate the old line then hope that you'll get the old number. However as you were with the post office which IIRC just resold talktalk and use a different system to BT wholesale voice services I have my doubts.


TV, Phone and Broadband using the Hub 3.0 in modem mode, with a Newifi D2 running Openwrt (FTTP/RFoG).