Porting number back to BT from Talk Talk

[glo2022]

My mother in law has had her landline number for many years and it is her only connection with some family members. She recently made some changes to her home broadband and mobile not realising the new supplier didn't include her landline and talk talk (prev supplier) wrote to say they were cancelling her contract. So we helped her order a landline only contract with BT noting the landline number she wished to keep and the PDF confirmation was all good. Then she got the email from BT but with a new landline. When I rang BT the customer service person advised she just needed to call the day after her new line was connected and they would make the switch. She did this and was told she had to wait 2 weeks after talk talk disconnected her. So today she rang again and BT said she had to call Talk Talk and ask for her number, she did and then Talk Talk said no she couldn't request it that BT have to. Has anyone got any advice on exactly how we get her number back from talk Talk as she is being sent around in circles, has anyone been successful doing this?

[Keith_Beddoe]

@glo2022 

Unless her number was originally issued by BT Retail, then its not normally possible to get it back, as each provider has their own number ranges.

What are the first six digits of the number that she wants to get back? Please do not show the full number, just the first six digits.

[glo2022]

Thanks it is 020856. I'm pretty sure it was originally BT before she moved to Talk Talk.

[Keith_Beddoe]

You would need to look at the next digit, however with the move to BT Digital Voice, its not always possible to allocate numbers that were originally associated with the hardware in the exchange.

2085 60	Allocated	BT	2+8	26/05/1999
2085 61	Allocated	BT	2+8	26/05/1999
2085 62	Allocated	BT	2+8	26/05/1999
2085 63	Allocated	BT	2+8	26/05/1999
2085 64	Allocated	BT	2+8	26/05/1999
2085 65	Allocated	Vodafone Ltd (C&W)	2+8	10/09/2013
2085 66	Allocated	BT	2+8	26/05/1999
2085 67	Allocated	BT	2+8	26/05/1999
2085 68	Allocated	BT	2+8	26/05/1999
2085 69	Allocated	BT	2+8	26/05/1999

[glo2022]

Thanks, it's one of the ones marked as Allocated to BT. Do you know what the steps are we need to take now to get it back as she currently has a BT line but on a new number as so far she's being sent from one place to another.

[Keith_Beddoe]

I will see if a moderator can help, provided that the number has been returned back to BT.

[DanielS]

Hi @glo2022,

Thanks for reaching out to us.

I am sorry that we haven't been able to get the number ported across for your Mother in law. I'm sending you a private message so one of my team can get this picked up for you.

@Keith_Beddoe thanks for highlighting this to me.

Thanks
DanielS

[glo2022]

Thank you Daniel and Keith. I send through the info on private message. Appreciate the support.

[ColinD1]

This may theoretically be possible but my experience with TalkTalk indicates that they do not know how their own system works and they do not admit it. Buried deep in their system is a thing called “call trap”. This is designed to save them money by avoiding using parts of other companies systems for calls between their own subscribers. However if you move from TalkTalk and they do not update their internals you will never be contacted by anyone who is with TalkTalk and they will receive ring tone. BT did fix it for me, but I do not know if anything has been done to correct the basic fault. I have seen it suggested that it was down to it being my second attempt to leave TalkTalk or that their systems could not deal with a transfer from their copper service to a fibre to cabinet service with a different provider.