Thank You!

As an existing A&A customer for FTTC and wanting to move our telephone service to VoIP whilst keeping our BT number, A&A's Renumber and Export is the obvious way to go.

First though I wanted to see if our FTTC broadband could be improved, it suffering too many drop outs. A&A had told me previously that they would work with Openreach to achieve this, but at that time I decided to monitor and wait. Being 600 odd metres away from the cabinet on old aluminium cable not being ideal.
We are on a 40 Mbps service, but from 36.68 Mbps in March 2013 it had become in the low/mid twenties in the last year.

I contacted A&A technical and a "loan router" was posted out to ensure my DrayTek was not the cause. Also a line check was carried out with our phones and DrayTek disconnected. This indicated a line fault and Openreach was contacted to arrange a visit. I was offered one the next day! but I had to decline owing to needing broadband for a council 2 hour+ Zoom meeting. The Openreach visit was booked for the following afternoon and their Engineer attended and located a fault in the junction box atop of the telephone pole opposite. Seems there was some corrosion at the terminal and a trapped wire? The dropwire to the house is only just over 2 years old, I had it replaced when I moved my modem/router from the roof space to our garage.
Anyway, speed is now up. Using the A&A speed tester this morning, Download 41.2 Mbps compared to 25.3 Mbps the morning before Openreach attended.

A&A's Renumber and Export ordered.

So a big thank you A&A for your staff's helpfulness and professionalism.

Cheers!

Can you explain in a little more detail what is happening in this process?

Is your "BT" number with BT currently?
If so are you migrating it to AA so that you no longer get voice from BT?

If you simply want to move your BT number to AA's VOIP then I don't see why a renumber is even necessary. A simple migration to their VOIP should be sufficient I would have thought.

Or is it your intention to have the BT line renumbered, with the old number moving to AA's VOIP and the new number remaining with BT?

My assumption has always been that only the provider who is in control of the number can use the renumber and export feature. I wouldn't have thought AA could renumber a number that is being provided by someone else.

AA's page suggests that's the case.

In reference to www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile/number-porting/port-your-landline-voip/:

We can port in numbers without the loss of the broadband and the copper pair service only if the broadband and copper pair are provided by us.

My BT number was with BT until I ordered the Renumber & Export process on Thursday 27th Jan using A&A's website.

This was acknowledged by A&A and BT that morning.

A&A have already set my ex-BT number on my A&A Control Panel in readiness, but currently my BT line is still fully operational.

The process is that in a couple of weeks I will be able to make outbound calls via A&A's VoIP, but incoming calls to my "old" BT number will still be via copper and will ring my "BT" phone.

Then apparently another couple of weeks later, incoming calls to my now ex-BT number will arrive via A&A's VoIP.

Job complete!

In taking my line over, my existing number (for the line) will be changed to a non-voice line, although there will be audio on it so that to an Openreach engineer looking for a spare pair, it will be in use.

I will pay A&A £10.00 per month (current price) for the VDSL line. I do not even need to know the new number since any fault reporting etc will be done by A&A.

My description above is from my experience since Thursday and from https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile/number-portin...

RE My assumption has always been that only the provider who is in control of the number can use the renumber and export feature. I wouldn't have thought AA could renumber a number that is being provided by someone else.

It appears that Renumber & Export is a standard Openreach service, since it appears in their price list. I think the complexity of using it is beyond the modus operandi of other ISPs.

Before I placed my order with A&A, I did check with Sales that I would be getting what I was expecting!

I will update as the process progresses, since with the introduction of Digital Voice (DV) with its non standard VoIP, my experience my be useful to others.

Cheers!

That makes more sense.

So basically you are migrating your current landline number from BT to A&A.
A&A are then renumbering it and exporting the old number to their VOIP.
The new number will then be assigned to your blank PSTN service from A&A.
You will then have no voice service from BT.

So it's as I assumed and A&A (or any provider) can only use renumber with number export for a number that is with them.

The reason it can't just be migrated straight to their VOIP without renumbering is because you need a PSTN line to go with your broadband. Either that or your broadband would also need changing to SOGEA.

It appears that Renumber & Export is a standard Openreach service, since it appears in their price list. I think the complexity of using it is beyond the modus operandi of other ISPs.

I know it's a standard Openreach service that can be ordered on any WLR number.
There's only a few smaller niche providers that will support it.
I'm not aware of any of the big providers that even know what it is nevermind being able to order it and bill a customer for using it.

Seems like a nice and easy process. Credit to A&A.

Edited by j0hn83 (Sun 30-Jan-22 16:57:42)