I am in contract with BT for broadband and Digital Voice ie FTTP (1 month to go). I want to retain my telephone number of 30 years. If I port out my number to a third party telephony provider - will my broadband cease? (I think it will). I have been assured by BT customer services that broadband will be unaffected. I have also been assured by BT customer services that broadband will be ceased. Does anyone actually *know* ?
Your broadband will be ceased if you cease your landline. Crazy, but that's what happens.
What is you want to do ? , if you are thinking of leaving BT as the timing is ‘good’ in that you only have a month of minimum term remaining, then what’s the problem, the new provider arranges everything, that is unless you want your phone service and broadband from different vendors ….
Your current arrangement means your BT account if you port the phone number will cease , that includes the broadband because your phone and broadband are linked , that may seem daft to you , but that’s the way it is….however without knowing what it is you want to do and what vendors you intend to use then offering any more advice is pointless
That's what I thought. Yesterday however I was assured by BT support that this was NOT the case. I pressed the call handler (at length) on this and he consulted with manager/supervisor/the spirit world. He then repeated that the BB service would continue when the number was ported out.
Thanks for the quick response.
The desired end state is telephony from Freeola (with my current number) and BB from EE. I understand the bundled nature of telephony and BB and was expecting number porting to trigger the ceasing of the BB service. However, in a long conversation with BT support yesterday the call handler stated/repeated that the BB service would not be stopped by porting out the number. Do you have a reference in a BT source where it states "number porting will cease broadband service"?
No , the evidence that porting a phone number ceases any associated broadband is anecdotal , but if you wish to ‘prove’ it , start your number port journey by contacting Freeola , you should get pretty quickly a communication saying ‘sorry you are leaving’ , obviously you could interpret that as leaving only the telephone service , but you only have one BT account that you can ‘leave’ , the fact is you have no agreed contract for broadband as a standalone service , so ceasing one element (telephone) by default ceases the existing contract that includes broadband , expecting this to be explicit somewhere on the BT site is optimistic.
It may be that recently BT have managed to unlink telephone and broadband so that getting rid of one part doesn’t affect the other but I’d be surprised if that were the case , the terms you agreed were for a bundle of services, what agreement do you have once the initial terms are breached by you taking the phone number elsewhere ?
TBH apart from not having to consider telephony again if moving from EE broadband in the future what’s the appeal ? , your choice of VoIP providers PAYG standing charge is more than twice the typical EE PAYG price , although the price per minute may be better, but if you are anything other than an occasional caller, surely an inclusive call plan is better ( so the pence per minute fee is irrelevant ) .
Personally I can’t see the advantage of using this VoIP provider over EE for telephony, even their limited inclusive calls isn’t particularly compelling compared to BT/EE unlimited minutes inclusive calls plan (£12 after negotiations ) , but that’s your choice .
I hope you don't think that you will be saving 'line rental' costs by porting the number to a third party.
Thanks @iniltous
I want to be able to use my own router/firewall. As you say if I go through the pain once now, I won't have to worry about telephony in any subsequent broadband moves.
I will request the number port through Freeola. When this completes the BT BB service will cease and I will take out a new contract with EE for broadband. I will be without broadband for a while but hopefully not too long.
Thanks @licquorice The prime driver for making the change is to allow me to use my own router without having to daisy chain off the BT/EE one, not cost.
Given that numbers are supposedly ‘held’ available to port for 30 days after cessation, I’d be inclined to switch to EE for broadband only , and then after the migration , port the number during that 30 day window , but I suppose if a break in broadband service is a price worth paying to guarantee ( as far as possible ) the number is maintained, then that’s your choice .
FWIW , many use the supplied BT/EE router to handle telephony only ( to the extent of switching if it’s WiFi ) and then use their own equipment ( connected to the BT/EE hub ) for everything else .
I suppose the only other thing worth mentioning is if your own kit hasn’t a configurable voice port, then you will need an ATA or phone with built in ATA to use your VoIP service and if your router does have a configurable telephone port , that your VoIP supplier provides the details to set up your own equipment.
as I mentioned anecdotal evidence, plenty of this regarding things regarding VoIP from third parties, such as one way transmission, incompatibility with ‘true call’ , and strange behaviour on some multi phone installations with VoIP , hopefully you realise it’s not necessarily a plug and play situation