Landline renumber request failure

[woganator]

This is somewhat ex post as I have just called BT and cancelled my landline but I am curious to know why the reason.  Basically we (re)joined BT a few months ago because our then current broadband + landline supplier inadvertently changed our number when we renewed the contract (it went from copper to VOIP).  They told me the only way to get the old number back was switch to BT, which I did because we have a lot of elderly relatives that I think have memorised it / have it on speed dial.  However, for reasons unknown, the renumber request failed multiple times so I have given up.  Can anyone explain why this isn't possible?

Thanks

[Keith_Beddoe]

@woganator 

You would now be on BT Digital voice, and renumbering an old BT Retail number, onto BT Digital Voice is only possible if it had been ceased less than 30 days ago.

[woganator]

Understood, thanks, what is odd is that the initial request was definitely within 30 days of the number being "ceased". 

As a casual observation, I think this whole, quasi covert, VOIP roll out has gone about as well as most large infrastructure projects in this country.

[Keith_Beddoe · Accepted solution]

The fact that your last provider lost your original number and gave you a new one, probably initiated the cease of your exchange routing. There have been other posts regarding this.

https://community.bt.com/t5/Home-phone-including-Digital/Recover-previous-number/m-p/2268146#M87405

[woganator]

Presumably this is just marked as “solved” for housekeeping purposes?  

To be clear,  the “solution” was to give up and cancel our (useless temporary number) digital voice line and, as suggested by the BT sales line, rely on whatsapp.  In turn, I now take a lot of heat from all members of my family as a result and we have odd glitches in our broadband which we never used to have.

The part i find most frustrating and baffling is that i contacted BT about the renumber on 4th Nov 2022 which was well within this 30 day offload limit and if the BT system hadn’t kept inexplicably cancelling the order perhaps all would be well.  

In sum, i would now pay a reasonable amount of money to get our old number back so I can move on with my life but clearly this isn’t possible at any cost.