This topic

Can Digital Voice numbers be kept when moving house?

antient — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 13:45:22 GMT

As the Digital Voice service is no longer dependant on a copper wire connection to a particular exchange, can the number be "taken with you" when you move house, as long as you move your BT broadband contract to the new address?

Re: Can Digital Voice numbers be kept when moving house?

jac_95 — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 13:47:06 GMT

Hi antient,

Thanks for the post and welcome to the Community.

This is an automated response as I can see you have a question about BT’s Digital Voice service. Rather than waiting for a response from the Community, you may find an answer to your question by using the search bar on the Community homepage. We also have a thread that contains a wealth of info related to BT’s Digital Voice, click this link to take a look, Digital Voice FAQs.

To learn more about the nationwide change to this Internet based voice service visit landlinesgo.digital

If you have already looked for the answer to your question and have not found anything that can help, then please ignore this message. One of our Community members will be along shortly to help you further.

Re: Can Digital Voice numbers be kept when moving house?

iniltous — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 15:51:51 GMT

It’s technically possible ( certainly more so than the fixed PSTN switching network ) but is it desirable ?,

The original PSTN linked numbering scheme ( going back decades ) was useful, national calls cost more than local ones so having a different STD code for most large towns and citys enabled customers to know the likely scale of charges , and in a practical sense , ( for example ) if you wanted a local plumber you wouldn’t pick one with an STD code of a town 50 miles away, also the police ( for one ) are keen to keep a relationship between someone’s landline phone number and their geographical location, obviously a regular call to the police ( not 999 ) with a STD code CLI indicating the town the call was made from is ‘useful’ .

I would imagine the same constraints as far as taking a phone number with you to a new address will remain in place ( as far as moving a phone number to a different geographical exchange area ) , even if there are effectively no ‘exchanges’ once the PSTN network is retired and everything is IP .

It would be simple to have any number anywhere , ultimately though , BT don’t own their phone number ranges , ( no provider does ) they are allocated by Ofcom , who will be the ultimate decider if the linked number scheme remains or can be allowed to drift.