Moving to Sky BB

I am thinking of moving to Sky BB & tel from Virgin Media and I have a query concerning retention of my telephone number. Although I am with Virgin Media at the moment, I was with Talk Talk before that (I do move around a bit!!). It is still the same wiring that I had when I was with BT, allthough it is not used with VM as it comes over the fibre optic cable. I paid line rental to Talk Talk and now I pay Virgin Media.and retained my original phone number with both ISP,s.It seems that if i move to Sky, which will be from a LLU exchange, I will have to have a new telephone line fitted with a new number which seems strange. Is there anyone who has changed to Sky from VM and if so did they have any problems retaining their telephone number? Many thanks for any info'.

Did you have your existing BT line removed completely ?

No I didn't. When I moved to talk talk , which was LLU, they carried out the change over at the exchange so I am pretty sure that the original wiring is still there.

In reply to a post by jimbo174:

No I didn't. When I moved to talk talk , which was LLU, they carried out the change over at the exchange so I am pretty sure that the original wiring is still there.

The problem is when you moved your line to TalkTalk, the BT OpenReach wires are no longer connected to BTretail/wholesale equipment at the exchange.

When you then moved your number to VM, they took the number from TalkTalk but installed their own wiring, and the BT OpenReach service was terminated.

Now you want to go to Sky, you need the original BT OpenReach wires reconnecting, and Sky should be able to do that but they might charge (as OpenReach will charge Sky but they might not pass this through). This will connect the BT OpenReach wires to Sky's LLU equipment.

You shouldn't need to have a BTretail service to move to Sky - but in doing this "Sky" will need to be told you have no BT line already. (as you're not paying anyone line rental for those wires).

Would this constitute a "Return to Donor" with BT.
If it does then I think for £30 and an 18 month contract it can be done on the cheap.

In reply to a post by broadband66:

Would this constitute a "Return to Donor" with BT.
If it does then I think for £30 and an 18 month contract it can be done on the cheap.

I suspect not unless the TalkTalk line is still active (dialling tone, and able to make calls out). If the TalkTalk line was ceased when you moved to VM then I believe you'll have to pay BT a full reconnect. So you might as well get a phone line from Sky in that case (its also cheaper and without 12month contract.).

You can always call BT - ask (and insist) on the "Customer Options Team" it seems to be the higher up customer services team inside BT Retail, and they know about RTD's. (My info is a bit out of date, so it might have changed).

RTD required a 12month contract for voice from BTretail.

Sky is still 12 month minimum term for talk/line rental.

Sky Talk: 12 month minimum term applies to new Sky Talk customers and to existing customers taking up Sky Talk Line Rental.

Like you say its a lot cheaper to have a Sky line installed than BT,Special Offer on 'til 24th March new line installed £10

Did you know you can get a new phone line from Sky?

When you select Broadband & Talk you'll be asked to enter your phone number. If you don't have a compatible line, you can get a new one from Sky. The usual cost for this is £39 but until 24 March you can get a new line for just £10.

I think BT may still have a discounted line connection offer, however it is not as attractive as the Sky one, as it is subject to making 10 calls per month on a BT call package with an 18 month contract, although it would seem that you can make the calls during the weekend when they're free.

https://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerOrder...

£30 Connection Offer. Customers who require a new line will benefit from a £100 discount on the standard line connection charge of £130.Customers who are benefiting from this offer are not eligible for Line Rental Saver and must agree to an 18 month contract (applies to the Unlimited Weekend Plan or the Unlimited Anytime Plan). Minimum call commitment also applies � you must make at least 10 chargeable or inclusive calls per month (30 calls per quarter). You'll need to pay a charge of £5.15 for every month (if you are billed monthly) or £15.45 for every quarter (if you're billed quarterly) in which you don't make these calls, as compensation for not making the minimum number of calls required. These charges are not subject to VAT and will appear in the one-off charges section of your bill.

Many thanks for all the info'.Still not quite sure if I can keep the my original tel number. Sky are a bit obscure on this matter.