Porting number from NOW Broadband failed

[Blue817]

Would appreciate any help, as I am not sure if it's a bit too late. Virgin Media connected on 26/12/23. Old provider NOW Broadband disconnected on 06/01/23. Virgin didn't bother telling me to keep the line active. However, I did tell Virgin that I wanted to keep it. Weekly calls / WhatsApp messages to them. Everyone I spoke to telling me the request is in place and I need to wait 10 days, 14 days, a few days, 24 hours, 48 hours. Rang NOW Broadband today and they said the number is available but not active. Rang Virgin Media and they have now told me it is too late to port as the line is not active.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Losing the will to live. I can't believe how bad the service is with Virgin. Happy to sign you up and charge you a premium. 😞

[Adri_G]

Hey Blue817, thanks for reaching out on our help forum about your issues.

We're sorry to hear of the problems faced with porting your old landline number over to us, we'd love to best assist with this query.
Can you please tell us if you've contacted the former provider to confirm what's the status of this line so we check if it's still transferable?

Also, have you been assigned a new landline and number from us since installed with VM or do you have no active line on your package at the minute?
Please, let us know of the above and we're happy to advise more on this.

[Blue817]

Hi Adri

My old provider tells me the number is inactive but should be available if Virgin Media request it. 

Virgin Media supplied a new 'temporary' number which I have been using whilst waiting for the old one to be ported over. 

[nodrogd]

A lot of customers are at risk of losing numbers as they are either not aware of, or do not follow the correct OFCOM procedure for moving to a provider with a separate network (cease & re-provide). If you put in any kind of cancellation request with your old provider it flags your number as “pending disconnection”. This means even if the line remains active there is a risk Virgin’s port request will fail.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/costs-and-billing/switchi... 

[Vikki_M]

Hi @Blue817
 

The line does need to be active for us to be able to port.

We can try to port this for you, however would need to set the expectation that if its inactive, it may not be possible.

I will send you a private message now so we can get some further details securely.

Please look out for the purple envelope in the top right of the page and pop me a reply when you can. 

[Drabid58]

mate how did you get on with this? In exactly the same situation and unsure whats going to happen. Don't want to lose a number we've had for 20+ years

[Blue817]

Hey there

Unfortunately it didn't happen so we lost our old number. 

If your old line is live, just keep it that way until the number is ported over. Unfortunately when I signed up, I wasn't given these instructions. 

Hope it works out for you.