BE ADSL 2 to Plusnet Fibre Migration Gone Badly wrong

Just looking for any useful advice thats available or just to serve as a warning to others.....Shortish version of story is...

Decided to migrate from BE ADSL to Plusnet for fibre (FTTC) at home. Also taking phone line + calls. Got mac code from Be and ordered on Plusnet fibre via website. Chose Openreach engineer appointment date online only 7 days away. Plusnet then changed this to 14 days away...no problem thats what I was expecting. Plusnet informed us they would migrate broadband first and then landline at later date ...

Openreach engineer turned up on the day 24/04/13 and said there was a problem with the current cable (mentioned batteries and voltage drop ) which would allow phone and adsl 2 to work but would cause problems with fibre. Would require CIvil team to come in and lay new cable in pavement and up drive. (he called it Direct In Ground as its buried.)

We phoned up following day to see if Plusnet were aware of the non event and the answer seemed to be no.

Anyway we have been waiting for news from Openreach when on Friday 10/5/13 both landline and adsl2 broadband ceased.

BE appear to have ceased both. No landline at all and no broadband. On Monday Plusnet told us that the telephone number had been reallocated elsewhere and we would have to have new one. After our complaints they are now trying to get the landline number back.. They have reinstated landline with a temporary number up to now.

Questions
1/ If a number has been ceased on Friday 10/5/13 would it be reallocated to someone else so quickly?

2/ Whose responsibility should it be to maintain the existing service in the light of a problem such as the above (new cable required) BE or Plusnet?

I partly blame myself in hindsight for not seeing it coming?

Any advice gratefully received ?

Thanks

Mark

ps I may be slow to respond for obvious reasons i.e. no broadband.... funny when you havent got it any speed seems good!

Edited by deleted (Wed 15-May-13 18:21:47)

In reply to a post by markj:

1/ If a number has been ceased on Friday 10/5/13 would it be reallocated to someone else so quickly?

No, it won't have been assigned to someone else that quickly, but will have been returned to some "pool" from which it should be possible to get it back if you persevere. Call it and see what happens!

Edited by kasg (Wed 15-May-13 18:37:21)

I doubt in relality your number would be allocated to another customer so quickly, But plusnet and other providers only have the info given by the BTwholesale system,But there should be away of getting your old number back I've known a line to keep the same number even after it hadn't had an active service for over 12mths, (only dial tone and 17070)

Edited by tommy45 (Wed 15-May-13 18:44:29)

The numbers go into a pool, but usually a decent gap before being re-allocated, cases of getting them back can prove difficult.

For the number to cease Be MUST have issued a PSTN cease, which if your fibre had been connected would have ceased too, causing a problem again.

As Be don't do telephone on its own, suspect if you move the broadband away they cease the PSTN, which is the wrong thing to do. They should keep it running and pester you to move it somewhere.

Andrew

2) Did you inform Be that the migration had failed? As the migration did not happen it would be Be's line still but only if you told them it had failed so that they could stop any cancellation that was in place.

even if he didnt why did BE do cease?

I assume all he did was ask for MAC and until that MAC is used the old service isnt cancelled, or did he make the mistake of telling BE to cancel?

The MAC was used.

It does depend on what was said to Be and how they actioned it. If the user either gave notice or asked to cancel then Be would have terminated the line unless told otherwise. If they only asked for a MAC then Be should have kept the line going until the user told them it had transferred (but then people complain as they will then be charged from that date until the notice period ends).

I am also not sure about the phone line here. If it is the phone line that has actually been cancelled then that isn't affected by MAC at all and therefore could be the underlying cause.

I meant used as in migration completed. The migration failed.

The user didnt ask for a line cease so why did BE do it?

I believe Be require notice to be given separately from the MAC request, and expect that is what he did.

Other people when a migration anywhere has failed or been delayed have reported that Be are quite happy to extend the notice period on request. Maybe he didn't tell them?