Number Port from Virgin Media. What's the issue???

[Seanieboy]

Would any of you wise people be able to help me with this issue please? I had my Vodafone Fibre Broadband installed successfully back in March of this year and along with this I was given a free Vodafone landline number which up until now has gone unused. I have bnow decided to disconnect from Virgin media and port my VM number across to Vodafone to replace the generic one given by Vodafone at point of install. I started this process last week and up until now have had no confidence in the answers given over chat or on the phone. I have been told (excerpts from chat below)

Edenthari : As far as I know we are unable to take over landline number from Virgin As Virgin are using their own infrastructure . Apart form Virgin we can easily retain their number .

Edenthari : Sean, I've double checked with my support team and I am sorry to inform you that we are unable to retain the number from Virgin . However, if you wish we can try to port in the number after placing an order ,but there is less chance and I cannot promise you number would be ported in successfully to be honest.

Edenthari : Apart from Virgin there is no problem in retaining their existing number . Edenthari : What I means to say is that , we do send and inform them about you need to port in your number and release your landline number as soon as possible . However as Virgin are using their own line and infrastructure there is less chance to retain your existing number , they may not release your landline number . And over the phone I have been told that no chnges can be made to my account as it is outside the "point of sale". Does anyone have any sense around this please? I just want to port in a number, something I have done successfully many times over the years. I used to work for VM and ported in countless numbers of customers number so I dont get what the issue is?

[Seanieboy]

I wish there was a UK department like the sales person who built the order as he was very confidence inspiring and seemed to be very knowledgeable. As you can see some of the answer given in chat make no sense at all. If it comes down to it I will just keep the Vodafone number issues back in April at install. Its not the end of the world but would be nice to retain the number we have had 20+ years.

I have searched other chats in the forum and there seem to be some good replies from Vodafone regarding this issue. I will see if I can search down a contact or department who may be more interested. 

[clint_flick]

Hi

The telephone numbers used to be "owned" by The Home Office, but as BT had more than 99% coverage they were often believed to 'own' them.

I did port my number from virgin, it is a number first issued in 1976 to me/us and has been to NTHell(Vigin) and back.  Not always been easy to port (0xXX XXXXX), yes originally NINE digits, now 11.

PERSEVERE.

[WelshPaul]

Telephone numbers are now "assigned" to telecoms companies in blocks by OFCOM. It's been this way for many years now. 🙂

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/102613/national-numbering-plan.pdf

Take a telephone service with BT as a new customer and port out to Virgin Media at a later date, the number is still  assigned to BT even though it's been "ported" to Virgin Media. Port away from Virgin Media to another telecoms provider, BT will need to authorise the port request along with Virgin Media (even though you're no longer a customer of theirs), and BT will also need to do some back end work for the port (from Virgin Media to whatever telecoms provider you have chosen) to complete.

If you ever terminate your phone service, the number will be returned back to BT and put in a holding pool where it gets re-issued after a period of time in quarantine (usually six months).

The OP needs to speak to a Vodafone customer service agent that knows what they are doing. The first question he/she should be asking is "Can I port a number over to my Vodafone Landline Service a few months into my contract?" If the answer is "NO!", then the OP is SOL regardless if the number can or cannot be ported.

[Seanieboy]

In terms of "ownership" of the number it will be Virgin Media as the number was issued way back in 97 by Cable North West or Telewest who had just started offering an alternative to BT. Telewest were taken over and eventually became VM.

[WelshPaul]

Yes. I was providing an example if one took out a new phone service with BT today. You can of course replace BT with any phone provider and the scenario is exactly the same. 👍

[Seanieboy]

Still no closer to understanding whether porting my number is possible, I may give up as the number of spam calls I have received since requesting the disconnect form VM has been intrusive, is this a coincidence? Who knows I may just stick with the relatively unpublished Vodafone number if this is going to mean loads of effort on my part. 

[rconway]

Long story short, if you're switching from Virgin, TalkTalk or the Post Office, they use their own standalone network, rather than using the BT Openreach network.

Virgin and TalkTalk are known as LLU operators, which means they're not linked to BT's own national network.

Keeping a number is a pain, but starting afresh is easy enough, though you'll need to phone Virgin in this case to cancel down the broadband so you're not paying for both Vodafone and Virgin connections at your home. 

[Jayach]

---

@rconway wrote:

Long story short, if you're switching from Virgin, TalkTalk or the Post Office, they use their own standalone network, rather than using the BT Openreach network.

That's not correct, both TalkTalk and the Post Office (now Shell Energy) use the Openreach network.

Virgin use their own Fibre/Cable network

[Anonymous]

The problem with porting numbers from Virgin comes from the fact that they have a network that still contains equipment from multiple Cable TV companies.  Some of that equipment is ancient, and just can't be configured properly to port individual numbers.  This only affects some areas, other areas with more modern equipment have no issue!

It is very much a Virgin Media problem, and for once not a Vodafone one!