Switching to SoGEA...

I've just received an email from IDnet about their phone line rental increase. It's a bit steep and it's now making the SoGEA offerings look tempting.
Is there a way to swtich over to a SoGEA service but port my phone number to a VOIP provider? I know A&A do something like this, but the last I heard they were the only ISP to do so.
I'm on an FTTC line and I'm pretty happy with IDnet - just not the new line rental price!

I was with IDNet until about 18 months ago and I wanted to do exactly what you want. However, if you change to SOGEA with IDNet you will lose your land line number. If you move your land line to VOIP before moving to SOGEA you will lose your broadband connection.

My solution was to migrate broadband and land line to AAISP, then use AAISP to move the land line number to VOIP. They subsequently moved my land line to SOGEA. All pretty seamless and I have no regrets moving to AAISP. Yes, I know AAISP have caps but the Home1 service is more than sufficient for my needs, especially as the cap is now 1TB/month plus 50% carry over of unused allowance. If you are happy with 1TB/month then AAISP is not that much more expensive than IDNet.

A recent change has come in, where you can port your number up to 30 days after contract termination. Previously the line would have to still be live for a port to be successful.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/03/who-is...

This could be interesting - I wonder if I could switch to SoGEA and then get a VOIP provider to port my old number in?
Or am I getting the wrong end of the stick?

Edit: The article specifically mentions fixed line ISPs, so probably not...

Edited by gromit69 (Wed 24-May-23 21:25:01)

That's looking the most favourable option at the moment - though after checking my usage, I'd have to be careful with the 1TB limit. But with the 50% carry over....
Though I guess there's nothing stopping me from moving my broadband away from them after the split.
Was there any downtime?

The answer I received from A&A to this very question was

"It is slightly staggered but little to no down time.

The FTTC would Transfer to us in 10 working days, then the phone line usually completes 2 days later then within 24 hours the number will be active on VoIP."

So there was about 1 or 2 day when you could still make calls on your land line phone but not receive calls, not a great inconvenience.

Edited by Adrian (Thu 25-May-23 12:39:02)

In reply to a post by Adrian:

I was with IDNet until about 18 months ago and I wanted to do exactly what you want. However, if you change to SOGEA with IDNet you will lose your land line number. If you move your land line to VOIP before moving to SOGEA you will lose your broadband connection.

My solution was to migrate broadband and land line to AAISP, then use AAISP to move the land line number to VOIP. They subsequently moved my land line to SOGEA. All pretty seamless and I have no regrets moving to AAISP. Yes, I know AAISP have caps but the Home1 service is more than sufficient for my needs, especially as the cap is now 1TB/month plus 50% carry over of unused allowance. If you are happy with 1TB/month then AAISP is not that much more expensive than IDNet.

Also noted that AAISP do not count usage on upload! (only download)

Edited by adslmax (Mon 19-Jun-23 22:21:23)