Want to Change Provider & Keep Number - Can Anyone Explain?

Hello

I've posted this same question on 2 other forums and nobody can help in a way that I understand (duh). Hoping you can explain it for me?

We have broadband and landline with an ISP and want to change to Plusnet. However, we need to keep our landline number as my partner works from home and doesn't want to have to change numbers.

Here's the thing. Our address doesn't appear on Plusnets automated database and because we have to put it in manually we get a message saying that we would have to have a new phone line installed and this would possibly mean a new number. I called them to discuss it and they said that we are marked as "silver key" by our phone provider and if we can get them to change it to "gold key" then they won't have to give us a new line. I was told to contact BT about it but they didn't know what I was talking about and said to contact my own landline provider.*

Still with me?

The Plusnet csa said we could just go ahead and put in an order and if we have to change our phone number they'll let us know within 24 hours and we can cancel.

However, even if they did say we could keep our number, would the current phone provider also have to agree to this?

To confuse matters even more I looked up our number on Samknows and it said something I don't understand. I've quoted it verbatim here:

" Congratulations, you are in a broadband enabled area.
Click here to compare packages available to you.
However, there is another service on your phone line (e.g. ADSL, LLU, DACS, etc) that would prevent you from ordering a new ADSL connection.

The following services are available in your location:

BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max"

I don't know what that means.

Can anyone tell me what that's about and also what this "silver and gold key" business is about?

Also who decides if we can keep our phone number? Is it our current provider or the new one? Or both?

I looked at the t&c of our current provider and it says they "can" port our existing number to another provider, but of course it doesn't guarantee to do so.

Any information gratefully recieved. Especially if you can word it so that a techno-dimwit can understand. thank you.

*btw, I haven't yet spoken to our current provider about this as I dont' trust them to be fair with us if they know we want to leave. They misled us in the first place to get us to go with them from BT and I want to try and understand a bit more about this before I tell them we want to go.

In 14 years of doing broadband never heard of silver key or gold key.

Naming your current telephone and broadband provider may help to understand what is going on. No one guarantees the number porting because there are always odd issues for some, and the core processes have no guarantee, in part due to the history of numbers and no legal requirements around number porting.

What does https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html say for your telephone number, and is it different to the full address check that that page provides.

These are generally references to address matching with Openreach. Gold key means the address is validated and matches an official record.

Silver normally means the address is there but has no validation.

Matt

Thank you for your reply.

From your link: when I put in our phone number it says we can get ADSL max and gives the speed and there's a few paragraphs of text. I don't understand most of it but It says if we want to change providers we should get a MAC code from our current one.

The address checker says that they can match our address but can't tell us what our ADSL availability is.

Regarding the silver and gold business, just after I posted this somebody answered another forum post of mine and gave a definition for it. Quoted verbatim:

Gold: an address that has a working WLR or LLU line (or has had one in the past)
Silver: an address that exists in the Royal Mail database but has never had a WLR or LLU line installed
Bronze: an address that has never had a line installed in the past and does not exist in the RM database

I can't think of any logical reason why our neighbours should be gold on the list and not us.

The person who provided the information above has said that plusnet should be able to sort this out for us with Openreach.

Our current phone provider is EE (errors everywhere) and has been since Dec. 2012. Before that it was BT. I've always had the same ISP from Freeserve/wanadoo/orange to ee and we thought it would be better to have them for the phone too, but it hasn't been a success. Hence the intention to go with plusnet.

So it is an active WLR service you have now, since that is what EE use and if you can get the MAC from EE should be simple enough for PlusNet to manage things. The phone part can be moved before or after the broadband is moved, since that uses a Notification of Transfer process.

PlusNet can throw a wobbly sometimes when slightly odd things happen and often one of their online reps are better than the phone people.

Thank you.

so does that mean that we can't move the phone and broadband together? One has to be before the other? Or have I misunderstood?

We wanted a package deal for both services. Sorry if I'm being a div.

sorry uno, I wasn't ignoring your reply, I've only just seen it. thank you.

By that definition our address should be gold, the same as our neighbours. Must have been a mix up somewhere.

The actual way the services will be moved means that it is not unusual for them to be done on different days, i.e. that is the way it is.

The package deal can still stand, but it takes a few days for it all to balance itself out. Only time this is not the case is if moving to a fully unbundled service where the same provider is using their own hardware in the exchange, but this can have more impact on number portability at a later date - possibly (should not but get more moans with coming off of full LLU)

Plusnet will take an order for the bundle, both broadband and phone line. For the broadband you will need to request a MAC (Migration Authorisation Code) from EE, for the phone line Plusnet handle that.

They normally move the broadband first, then the line about 10 days later. The snag there is if EE decide to disconnect the phone line when you move the broadband away.

I suggest you post in the Plusnet forum on this site, saying you are thinking of joining and that you have a problem you would like to discuss with one a rep. One of them will pick that up and ask you to PM them.

You may have two problems. The Gold/Silver may be that there is a slight mismatch between your phone line address and Royal Mail address, and the reps should be able to organise a simultaneous transfer of the line and broadband.

Is it possible you are putting a slightly different address into the Plusnet checker from what is on your phone bill?

I seem to remember someone posting about this recently. If I remember correctly, they were saying the company that originally allocated the number always owns it and being able to port it to another provider depends on whether the owner company has a number porting arrangement with the new provider or not.

Edited by deleted (Mon 21-Jul-14 17:53:59)