Change landline number

[Anonymous User]

I moved my broadband and line rental from Sky to Now which went live yesterday.  My landline number has been changed though.  When I called customer services they asked repeatedly whether I had ticked the box to keep my number, which I had, then said they’d sent me an email telling me my new number which I did not receive.  They’re now saying nothing I can do that my old number has gone.  I have a medical condition so get calls from doctors and hospitals so really need to keep the number.  

Has anyone else had this problem and managed to get a resolution?

[Anonymous User]

I'm the same asked to keep my present number and lost it my kid attends hospital also and we get corresponding reminder calls for appointments I can't wait till contract is up 

[Jayach]

---

@Anonymous User wrote:

I'm the same asked to keep my present number and lost it my kid attends hospital also and we get corresponding reminder calls for appointments I can't wait till contract is up 

---

Changing providers won't get your old number back.

[RoyB]

@Jayach 

Might get them an ISP who can do what they promise, though.

The number of people complaining that Now haven’t kept their old number when they were promised that they would seems excessive.

I think that Now should make keeping the old number the default wherever possible.

Also, Now say that if the mistake is made, they can’t rectify it, and the old number is gone forever, or at least back into the pool of unused numbers. But we know that the number can’t be reallocated to a new subscriber for at least six months; so there really ought to be some way that the previous user can reclaim it during that time.

Who runs the allocations, and why can’t this be done?

[Jayach]

@RoyB 

I'm on the Vodafone forum as well, and the complaints about losing the telephone number are there too, made worse by the fact many posters are swapping from FTTC with Openreach to FTTP with Openreach or CityFibre.

Unfortunately there is no overall regulator for phone numbers, and when you add in the VoIP suppliers it is a real mess.

[RoyB]

@Jayach 

I did find this in my travels:-

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/information-for-industry/numbering

There’s quite a bit on number portability in there, and sanctions for providers who don’t do it fast enough; but there don’t seem to be any penalties, or rescue processes, for providers who screw up the transfers 😢

[redchiz1]

I had no problem switching number to NOW on behalf of my father in law. Vodafone are notorious for this, no citations, just search.