Another promising email from Tesco/Vodafone:

To see if I can further assist you with the problem transferring your telephone number, I have raised a request to our number porting team to determine the range holder for your telephone number. I can see that when you transferred your services to us in July 2013, the order type was what we would term an "OLO (Other Line Operator) Transfer". This indicates only that the number range holder was a provider other than BT. If you could advise to whom you paid line rental prior to moving to our service, this may assist in my investigations.

A move from SMPF to MPF service should not in itself create any difficulties in migrating between providers. While on an MPF service a customer cannot move their services individually (e.g., move broadband but keep line rental) as the product is based on one single piece of equipment providing both services. This innovation is, in large part, responsible for the great reduction in retail prices for home broadband services over the last 5 years. In theory, the move to MPF services as the industry standard should make switching easier, as it does away with the need for a customer to obtain a MAC from their broadband provider. However, in some cases number porting between certain range holders and service providers does continue to cause some issues in specific cases.

I suspect that my query has been escalated to someone who does actually know what they are talking about which is reassuring, I just wish these things were not necessary - have a read of Tom Peters!

As to the comment about researching before purchasing I accept your point. However, even if I had identified that Tesco was in fact Vodafone, I'm not convinced that I could have discovered how they were using my phone line and even if I had done so, I wouldn't have understood the significance.

The point about knowing the cost of everything but the value of nothing is perhaps more relevant but I still come back to the belief that I have yet to encounter an ISP that provides a quality service . . . Demon were pretty good before they sold out to Pipex

Please tread carefully and be sure not to allow a broadband cease on your line.

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Please tread carefully and be sure not to allow a broadband cease on your line.

I'm not quite sure what you mean here?

Broadband cease when a provider puts an order to cease service, and this can result in an extra charge from Openreach which is passed back up the chain to the consumer (check your T&C's)

A cease would hold up a migration too, since once a line has been ceased a migration is not possible, only a provide and it also carries the risk of the phone number being put back into the pool of available numbers.

Who would cease my service & why? I have not asked Tesco/Vodafone to do this & they are my provider.

In reply to a post by LockyOK:

Who would cease my service & why? I have not asked Tesco/Vodafone to do this & they are my provider.

Because you are moving from full LLU and there are apparently issues with your phone number/line rental the broadband could be inadvertently ceased on your line - this sometimes happens when broadband is "cancelled" with a provider rather than properly "migrated" to the gaining provider. Generally it's a good idea to request a MAC key, whether it's actually required or not, and make it clear that one wishes to migrate the broadband to a new provider.

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Generally it's a good idea to request a MAC key

MPF ISPs don't issue MACs. MACs only apply to WLR lines.

In reference to www.tescobroadband.com/HelpAndSupport/Articles/View/2285?cat=1171:

1) Generally if you take Tesco Broadband with line rental or Tesco Homephone and wish to migrate to another provider we are unable to issue a MAC. However your new provider should be able to place an order without a MAC.

The exception will be where Tesco ls not LLU'ed.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Tue 14-Oct-14 13:40:27)

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

MPF ISPs don't issue MACs. MACs only apply to WLR lines.

Thanks for that - hopefully the gaining provider will be able to complete the migration of broadband and the switch of line rental plus retain the phone number without any difficulty.

So the OP doesn't have to make any initial contact with Tesco regarding the migration? " We will write to you, at the postal address that you have provided, to inform you that a migration to another provider has started..."

In my past experience, all you need to do is sign up with the "NEW" provider and tell them who you are with at the moment, you don't need to tell your current provider (although I ALWAYS do). As a rule, the "OLD" supplier contacts you AFTER you have left making you a new offer - too late to be of any use.

One other thing I have noticed is that ADSL2 seems to get slower and slower month by month - with everyone - I never get anywhere near 17 Mbps any more, typically nearer to 13 Mbps.

With everyone is a bit of a generalisation, the speed test data does not bear that out on national basis