port landline number to husband's name

[alisingh]

We have been with Virgin (broadband / TV and home phone ) for 6 years. It is in my name.

We have had the same landline number for 30+ years with several  providers.

Our Virgin contract is changing on 23/8/24 to my husband's name (same address, slightly different package.). When we made the order in July we were told we could transfer  / keep our existing landline number. (which is quite important).  Now we are being told we can't do this, as it will be in another name.

Any help welcomed.

[Adduxi]

You will have to ask for the port and this will terminate your landline contract. This should allow the new landline contract (husband) to get the ported number.

[alisingh]

I've spoken to two people at Virgin, who say they cannot port the existing number to a new contract (at same address on same landline) in another person's name , and that we have to have a new number - something to do with telecom regulations , allegedly.   Don't know who else to contact.  Have tried the UK number (sales) on which we ordered the new contract) and was put through to two different people in Indian call centre.

[Adduxi]

Seems strange as once you cease your landline contract the number becomes free? But who knows ?

[goslow]

Which telecoms provider is the range holder for the number you want to keep (you can check below)?

https://portal.aql.com/telecoms/network_lookup.php

If you are making this change-over to renew with new customer pricing under a different name, I think you will also lose any VM (and earlier) email addresses linked to your existing account when that account closes (if that has any relevance for you).

[Beth_G]

Hi alisingh

Thank you for your post, welcome to the Community Forums.

We're sorry to hear you've been advised conflicting pieces of information regarding your requested number transfer.

I'm afraid to confirm that we are not able to transfer landline numbers to different accounts that are under different account holder names. This is purely for security reasons. If you were to set up a new account under the same name, this would be absolutely fine. 

If you do have any other questions at all for us, we'd be more than happy to help.

[alisingh]

hi

We have now been told by another Virgin colleague that after the new account is up and running on Friday, we can then ask to have the old number back.  Can anyone confirm this?  Thanks

[Beth_G]

Hi alisingh

I am very sorry about this. I will pop over a message so I can take a look into this for you and see exactly what's happening. 

[nodrogd]

Have you done as goslow suggested above?

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/port-landline-number-to-husband-s-name/m-p/5557035/h... 

If the number comes up as anything other than Virgin Media, then they do not own the number & when the account is terminated they must return it to its original provider. Number porting is provided for specific purposes by OFCOM, namely moving a number in order to keep it when changing providers. That does not include moving a number around between other family members.

[fizz]

The alternative here is that you take out a VOIP contract and port your number to that service. you may then be able to port it back at some point in the future.