In reply to a post by Chardonbleu:

I didn't take Digital Voice from BT. I separately ported my landline number from Plusnet to A&A which is about £1.40 a month instead of £6 (and I can use my own router and Gigaset phones or softphone). Also working well.

Any chance of you explaining what process you followed to do this?

Did you just sign up with BT, initiated porting of phone number (which cancelled your old Plusnet FTTC) and just hope that BT FTTP would be installed without any problems?

How did BT know they could remove the copper line?

TIA

Hi

Sorry, only saw your reply just now.

I just waited until the day before the fibre installation was due and applied to port my existing landline number to A&A (so that in case it immediately ceased my FTTC there would be minimal downtime before the fibre installation). That went through very quickly and they gave me a porting date of about 4 days later (so about 3 days after the BT fibre installation and switch over from Plusnet FTTC).

I'd originally applied for the BT FTTP as a separate new service (not providing the existing phone number) so that there would be an overlap with ending the Plusnet FTTC. but at the final stage of checkout BT said they had identified an existing FTTC service which they would replace with the FTTP. I just went ahead and accepted the order anyway. The order was for broadband only not including Digital Voice.

The fibre installation went fairly smoothly. I had expected the copper line to be left in place and the fibre run parallel to it, but I didn't specifically discuss that with the installer and it was only after he had completed the job I noticed that he'd cut the copper dropwire immediately outside my window and removed the copper wire back to the junction box about six houses along the terrace. I'm fine with that, it's neater and I don't need the copper line any more.

The landline number then ported over to A&A VoIP on the expected day.

In reply to a post by Chardonbleu:

The landline number then ported over to A&A VoIP on the expected day.

So you were unable to use the "landline" number for 3 days. Since the BT order for FTTP went through as an immediate replacement for Plusnet FTTC (VDSL + PSTN voice?) the installer removed the copper dropwire etc. thus ceasing completely the Plusnet service.

Obviously that is something to be wary of if one wishes to have an overlap of services for at least a few days.

Thanks for replying.

I wish there was a better way of doing this.

Another concern would be if there was an unforeseen problem with the FTTP installation and it couldn't go ahead for any reason you would be without internet once AA ported the number as it would cancel the old FTTC.

Going with an Altnet and running Openreach FTTC and Altnet FTTP at the same time seems to be the only way to smoothly do this and have no downtime.

Going from Openreach FTTC to Openreach FTTP seems very difficult if you want to move your voice line somewhere else especially with no downtime.

Did Plusnet automatically pick up on your landline number being ported and notified you and generated a final bill?

Thanks

In reply to a post by Chardonbleu:

The order was for broadband only not including Digital Voice.

I had expected the copper line to be left in place and the fibre run parallel to it, but I didn't specifically discuss that with the installer and it was only after he had completed the job I noticed that he'd cut the copper dropwire immediately outside my window and removed the copper wire back to the junction box about six houses along the terrace.

You should have then reported a landline fault, as you'd lost phone service, and claimed compensation for when they didn't come out and fix it

In reply to a post by think26872:

I wish there was a better way of doing this.

Agreed. Unfortunately it looks as if there is no rush by ISPs to support the OFCOM porting scheme. Fortunately we aren't frequent users of the landline so a couple of days downtime wasn't a disaster. I have seen some suggestions that Plusnet will let you port out your old number for 30 days after service ceases, but I don't think that's an official policy so I didn't want to risk it.

In reply to a post by think26872:

Another concern would be if there was an unforeseen problem with the FTTP installation and it couldn't go ahead for any reason you would be without internet once AA ported the number as it would cancel the old FTTC.

True, although we are fortunate to have good unlimited 5G data on EE at our house (despite their coverage checker insisting we have none, which has made for "interesting" support calls when things like eSIMs don't work) so if it came to it we could just tether to mobiles for a day or two.

In reply to a post by think26872:

Going with an Altnet and running Openreach FTTC and Altnet FTTP at the same time seems to be the only way to smoothly do this and have no downtime.

Going from Openreach FTTC to Openreach FTTP seems very difficult if you want to move your voice line somewhere else especially with no downtime.

Agreed. I don't know if it would work porting to/from a non-BT group retail brand, perhaps it was only because it was another group brand I was migrating from that BT were able to detect it and turn my purchase from an additional service into a replacement. Or maybe not and they can do that for anyone using Openreach products.

In reply to a post by think26872:

Did Plusnet automatically pick up on your landline number being ported and notified you and generated a final bill?

Surprisingly, they did. A final bill was generated with a pro rata refund for broadband, line rental, etc. from the day after the number port (so four days after the FTTC cease and the copper line removal). I say surprisingly because due to various and repeated billing errors over the previous few years I was expecting them to try to charge me for leaving despite being out of contract. Shows that occasionally they do things right! On the downside I have replaced Plusnet CS chaos with a bit of a nightmare with BT messing up my user IDs but that's another story...

In reply to a post by ferretuk:

You should have then reported a landline fault, as you'd lost phone service, and claimed compensation for when they didn't come out and fix it

Nice idea, although I suspect that (a) they'd have pointed to the small print in the FTTP order where they added at the last minute that my new service would (contrary to what I'd tried to order) actually be replacing my existing service, and (b) if they did actually come out and try to reinstall a copper line they would no doubt have broken the nice new fibre line 🤣

In reply to a post by Chardonbleu:

In reply to a post by ferretuk:

You should have then reported a landline fault, as you'd lost phone service, and claimed compensation for when they didn't come out and fix it

Nice idea, although I suspect that (a) they'd have pointed to the small print in the FTTP order where they added at the last minute that my new service would (contrary to what I'd tried to order) actually be replacing my existing service, and (b) if they did actually come out and try to reinstall a copper line they would no doubt have broken the nice new fibre line 🤣

Are you sure they didn't reconnect your master socket to the copper pair Openreach (used to?) include in their fibre drop cable? That's what they did with mine.

In reply to a post by think26872:

Thanks for replying.

I wish there was a better way of doing this.

Another concern would be if there was an unforeseen problem with the FTTP installation and it couldn't go ahead for any reason you would be without internet once AA ported the number as it would cancel the old FTTC.

Going with an Altnet and running Openreach FTTC and Altnet FTTP at the same time seems to be the only way to smoothly do this and have no downtime.

Going from Openreach FTTC to Openreach FTTP seems very difficult if you want to move your voice line somewhere else especially with no downtime.

Having a brand new Openreach FTTP service installed to run alongside the Openreach FTTC service for a short period (before then porting the number out to a VoIP provider) is also a workable solution, on the condition that the ISP for the new Openreach FTTP service genuinely understands it is a distinct new installation rather than a 'takeover' and implements the order as such.

I'd imagine that ordering the new Openreach FTTP service via a smaller 'on the ball' ISP such as Aquiss might be the way to go.

You would think there was a way of customers having some control over this, but it appears to be down to how "on the ball" as you put it an ISP is.

I myself tried to get a new service installed but because I already have an FTTP service a "takeover" was implemented. Indeed when I requested a new service I was told this was possible but the system would reject the application and automatically reset to takeover anyway!