Sky + Plusnet have lost my landline number

[LavazzaMan]

Hi,

Coming here off the back of threads like this one: https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Re-Sky-lost-landline/td-p/2095061

We were previously Sky customers until I tried to move to Plusnet to get a better deal for Phone + Broadband. A key requirement of this was that we could keep our landline phone number which we've had for 20 years and is used by my elderly parents for admin and keeping in touch with distant relatives. On top of that, we have recently had a massive stroke in the family so we have been receiving numerous calls from NHS and other community teams to sort out care.

Plusnet kept delaying the order and blamed Sky saying they weren't releasing the number to them. After a few weeks of this, Plusnet then said we would have 2 weeks (!!) without any service at all while they put the order through again.

Obviously this was impossible due to the reasons above. We then tried to stay with Sky who told us to cancel with Plusnet. We were reassured the number would stay and our service would continue. Before we knew it, our landline had stopped working. By the time we spoke to Sky, they said it was now permanently gone. You can imagine how much stress and headache this added onto an already difficult situation.

Both sides then blamed the other. Sky said Plusnet failed to tick a box to cancel the number port request. Plusnet said they never asked for it to begin with and it was still with Sky. Every person we spoke to has said something completely different.

The experience has been maddening. We are in the same residence, have stayed on the Openreach network and are still hitting a brick wall. After many, many hours of going in circles, it looks like the number is with Openreach but not accessible by anyone else.

The good news is we have just signed up with BT Retail who told us on the phone that they could see the number and it should be possible to retrieve it. Please could I ask if a moderator could take a quick look at my account and check to see that this is indeed in progress and we haven't been misinformed by Sky yet again?

Thanks

[imjolly]

How long ago did sky/Plusnet cease your phonline?  If you have been reading post then you will have seen that. If more than 30 days recovery is not possible that is not to say lesss than 30 days it will be possible - it may no be.

Have you joined BT Retail yet?

[Keith_Beddoe]

@LavazzaMan 

Welcome to this user forum for BT Retail phone and broadband customers.

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

[LavazzaMan]

@imjolly, @Keith_Beddoe 

The number stopped working around January 24th, so 1 week ago. We currently have an appointment for a BT engineer to come on Feb 14th, so that will be about 21 days in total, within the 30 day window.

I'm not sure what the ins and outs are of this, but as we already have a line installed I would be happy setting up the router myself and attemping an earlier activation.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@LavazzaMan 

Your phone service will almost certainly be delivered using BT Digital Voice (DV), as the analogue PSTN network is closing down, so your line will start at the cabinet, and not at the exchange.

https://community.bt.com/t5/Home-phone-including-Digital/Digital-Voice-FAQs/td-p/2207485

Existing BT Retail customers are being migrated onto DV when they renew their contract. There is a process built to deal with this change of network routing, so they keep their phone number.

DV can present issues when customers move from another ISP with a BT Retail phone number, which was originally mapped to PSTN equipment in a physical BT exchange building. Perhaps there is no process in place to do that automatically?

You would not normally get a visit from an Openreach Technician unless there is a problem, as broadband is self install.

[LavazzaMan]

Hi @Keith_Beddoe, we were on DV while with Sky so I don’t think the switch from PSTN should cause any issues for us.

Can you tell us why we have an Engineer booked to visit our property on Feb 14th? As well ticket the self install option this was a bit of a puzzle.

As this is a complicated situation and we seem to meet all the criteria, please could I ask that you refer us to a moderator to assist with this as per the other similar forum posts?

[imjolly]

@LavazzaMan 

is you activation date the 14th Feb?

[LavazzaMan]

@imjolly That’s right, presumably for after the engineer visits 

[Keith_Beddoe]

@LavazzaMan 

Sky`s DV is not quite the same as Sky have their own network.

On a new line/broadband provide, Openreach have to visit the street cabinet to make the connection.

A subsequent customer appointment is built on the system in case a visit is needed. If activation is successful, then this appointment is cancelled.

That way, if something does go wrong, it can be attended to within a short time, instead of having to wait for a new appointment for an Openreach Field Technician to visit.

Once your service is active, you will be given a new phone number to start with. At that point a moderator can be aske to see if a re-number is possible.

[NeilO]

Hi, @LavazzaMan welcome to the community and thanks for posting. I can confirm that what @Keith_Beddoe has posted is correct. 

Were you able to select the number you wanted when placing your order? The number allocated to you should be shown in the order confirmation email titled 'Thanks for choosing us'. 

Thanks

Neil