I need to get my number back.

[FarmerGeorge]

Ok so this is a bit of a long story.....
We are situated in a very rural area with 4 properties sharing identical post codes and almost identical addresses. Having been on holiday for a month or so I came back to find that my supplier (Unicom) have cut my phone off. There was no issue with payments etc, the reason for being cut off was because of a mix up with a close neighbours property. We have a new neighbour in the next property. His supplier wrongly cut our connection somehow. Unicom say it will take up to a month to reconnect me and I will need to enter a 24 month contract. (Before this I was out of contract)
 I have decided to use the opportunity to move to BT as I'm not impressed with Unicom at all.
It is critical that we keep the same number as we run a business and  have all our stationery printed with it and we have had the same number since 1959.  We were disconnected on 16th February and have been trying since then to get  reconnected with no luck. I have now had 3 agreements issued from BT and each one states that we will be given a new number and the old one will be lost forever. The advisers all tell me this will not happen, but the agreements still state this. When I speak with an advisor they are all very very helpful, pleasant and understanding. But they all say slightly different things and I'm worried sick we will lose our number permanently. Each time I speak with them they issue another agreement for me which I understand delays my connection further. I have also been advised that my original number will be quarantined for a month, after which it will be available for re allocation. I really need a solution fast.  If anyone has any ideas that would be great. Thank you in advance.

[imjolly · Accepted solution]

as you are a business user you need to post here   https://business.forums.bt.com/

this forum is residential

[rbz5416]

Likely your new neighbour made a typo when ordering his service & entered your address instead. That should have prompted a confirmation from your supplier that you may have missed while you were away. It's also possible that a "cease" was placed on your line, which would prevent a new order for I believe a fortnight. But your supplier ought to be doing better with reconnecting you, so you may need to refer that to Ofcom. But you'll need to exhaust their complaints procedure first.

It's not clear from your post but as above, you should be dealing with the Business side of BT for the new service.

[iniltous]

If you have had the number for as long as you have , then it’s undoubtedly a number from the ‘BT’ number range and in the past your request to get it back ( having been lost by a competitor company ) would have a high degree of success, a temporary number , then a ‘renumber’ to the number you want back after it’s out of quarantine ( having been returned to the range holder if it were ported out ) , however no guarantee was offered, as it’s not 100% certain  that it’s doable, a further complication now is with ‘DV’ , Digital Voice  , an IP based system ( presuming you  have broadband ) , that seems to have its own 30 day window, so another reason why a guarantee won’t be made…..it’s always been a best effort attempt, if you require a guarantee, that won’t be offered.

FWIW , even if you agree to rejoin your previous provider, it’s not certain that they will get the number back either .

[Customer66]

Phoned BT end Dec 2023 to organise Home Move.

BT promised me I could keep my telephone number of last 20 years when I moved.

Both old and new services with BT.

Months later and they still have not connected my landline / digital voice service correctly - technical issues with porting / provisioning etc at their end - although they are desparate to lay the blame at my door and put it down to me doing my home set up incorrectly - not true!

They also mucked up keeping my old number and have given me a horrible new number.  This was discovered weeks ago and they still have not put right their mistake that shoudl never have been mad ein the 1st place.

I wish you well and hope they serve you better than me - at least my number was not a business number and I am not loosing income becaus eof it - although loosing touch with friends and family.

Good Luck!