Vodafone Website says I can't keep my exisiting landline number if I move from NOW Broadband

[ScoobySteve]

Hi, I was with Vodafone Broadband up until 2 years ago, I moved to NOW Broadband and am now thinking of returning to Vodafone. The one sticking point is that when I go to this website https://www.vodafone.co.uk/broadband , enter my current address and say I want to keep my existing landline number, this message appears...

Unfortunately we're unable to port your landline number

It may be because the landline number you've entered doesn't match the selected address, or because you're moving to an area with a different dialing code. You can go back and edit your details if they're incorrect - or continue with a new landline number free of charge

This surely can't be the case as I've had the same landline number for many years, it is definitely associated with my address and I am not moving house. Over the years it has also been successfully ported 4 times from  BT to TalkTalk to Vodafone and most recently NOW. I'd be extremely grateful if someone could advise how I can order my Broadband online with Vodafone and also keep my number.

PS - I have already spoken to Customer Services on the Broadband team who told me it wasn't possible to port my number but weren't able to explain why so it's possible they were just looking at their computer which is linked to the same database that my quote was. 

Thanks

[Jayach]

Good luck with finding somebody who can answer your query.

Vodafone just seems to be full of very nice people, but nobody ever seems to know anything, the support systems just don't seem to be there.

[jpd]

My last move was from Vodafone to Now Broadband too, keeping the number. I've just checked to see if I can move back to Vodafone, and the website gives me the same error as you - saying I can't port my existing landline number. Very odd....

[Mark]

We can never guarantee being able to transfer your landline number over from your old provider to ourselves @jpd. There could be a number of reasons this isn't available, if you contact our Broadband sales chat team, or reach out to us via our social channels, we'll be more than happy to look into why this maybe the case.

[jpd]

Thanks. I do understand Vodafone can't guarantee keeping the number. It just seems odd that other Openreach providers don't reject it, and say my number can be ported, whereas Vodafone - who I ported away from last - reject porting it.

With the OP posting the same problem and error message yesterday, just made me think there could be an issue somewhere on Vodafone's end.

[ScoobySteve]

Thanks for your support @jpd.

[ScoobySteve]

Hi Mark

I've just sent a DM on Twitter as requested.

Thanks

[MajesticBanana]

I'm having the same problem. I'm trying to switch from TalkTalk to Vodafone and I get the same message:

If they can't port my phone number, I'll reluctantly have to stay with TalkTalk.

[MajesticBanana]

I think I know what's going on. I clicked on a link from www.uswitch.com for Vodafone Superfast 2. The same offer is listed on www.moneysupermarket.com for what it's worth. But having talked to Vodafone via online chat (you have to ask for a human) I was told that Superfast 2 is not available at my address, only Superfast 1. I am currently on the TalkTalk equivalent of Superfast 2, but it gives me 39.6 Mbps download, which is only a fraction faster than what Superfast 1 would give me, and Vodafone is not willing to give me Superfast 2 and the speed guarantees that this would imply. Understandable, I guess.

[MajesticBanana]

Turns out this was a red herring. It has nothing to do with the package I selected. After a long time using online chat, I was told that their system says my number cannot be ported, so it's not an error with their website.

In my case, I wanted to change from TalkTalk to Vodafone, but in the end, I gave up. Instead, I chose NOW Broadband, and everything went through smoothly. It allowed me to choose the faster package and it asked if I wanted to port my landline number. So the whole problem appears to be Vodafone's "system" and there's nothing you can do about it.