Lost my landline number

[pbc]

I need some help 

Back in December my contract with Plusnet was ending and I tried to move to John Lewis broadband 

John Lewis broadband said they were unable to provide services as my area is only FTTP compatible 

I spoke to Virgin Media and they were able to supply phone and broadband to the area and that I would be able to port my landline number once the services were up and running 

There were some issues with instalation when the Virgin engineer came but the broadband finally got set up and as did the landline however the number was new 

I have spent hours on the phone chasing how to get my old landline number back. Virgin said it was up to Plusnet, I spoke to Plusnet they said it was Virgin. I found that the old landline number is owned by Openreach and managed to get in contact with them and they informed me that Virgin needs to contact them to reactivate the old landline and then Virgin can port the number and I can have my number of over 30 years back 

I spoke to Virgin and was told this would get taken care of - its still months later and I still dont have my old landline back - everytime I speak to someone I get forwarded on department to department and the notes on my account dont reflect the conversations that i keep having over and over again

I am at my wits end and really dont know how I can get this sorted - especially seeing as Openreach have said that Virgin are able to port the number once they contact them to reactivate it 

Any help in getting my landline number back will be greatly appreciated 

Thanks 

[Akua_A]

Hi @pbc,

Welcome to our community forums and thank you for your first posts.

Sorry to hear you lost your landline number when you joined our services. We can understand this is not ideal and we want to best help. Just to confirm when last were you in contact with our team regarding this issue? Also what was last discussed? Also for clarification, when you spoke to Openreach, was the advice given that VM should contact Openreach to get the number back?

Please get back to me when you can so we can best help.

Thanks,

[nodrogd]

No lines actually belong to Openreach. They are allocated to a telephone provider. As PlusNet is partially owned by BT, they use BTs allocation of numbers. Not only must a line be active for a port to take place. There must not be any kind of cancellation order on it that is customer initiated. If you contacted PlusNet & gave them notice for instance, this would likely block any number port request from another provider. Number ports on landlines are new provider driven, & it is their job to coordinate the closure of the old account.

[pbc]

Hi Akua_A

I last spoke to Virgin about 6 weeks ago - I have been abroad since and am now back 

I had called to find out the progress of the number porting and was passed through a couple of departments before someone who I believe was part of the Technical team said that they would relook into it and get back to me

Prior to this I had confirmed with VM that I dont have my old landline number becuase of being out of contract with Plusnet by the time Virgin Services kicked in, initially VM told me that I needed to speak to Plusnet to reactivate the line so porting could take place, I then spoke to Plusnet who said they are unable to reinstate the line and the number had gone back to BT Openreach. I managed to get in contact with Openreach and they confirmed that VM would need to contact them directly to get the old landline reactivated and then VM would be able to port - the request needs to come from VM directly. I then spoke to VM who said they would look into it and contact Openreach to request the reactivation and action the number porting. When I called 6 weeks ago no one seemed to know what was happening and I re explained the entire situation again and was told again that it would get looked into and I would get an update. I have been abroad and am now back and my old landline number still hasnt been updated. I am now using the forum in the hope that it can finally get sorted 

Thanks

Thanks 

[Beth_G]

Hi pbc,

Thanks for coming back to us. I'm really sorry to hear there's been no update regarding your number port and you've had to ask around for an update. I appreciate how disappointing this must be.

I'll pop you over a private message now so I can look into this for you.