Address not showing when switching Plusnet to EE and unable to join

[joe_12]

I am in the process of wanting to switch my grandmother from Plusnet to EE. She is 90, likes and uses her landline and Plusnet are not offering digital home phone. With the digital switchover, she needs to move from Plusnet.

When using the EE website to initiate the switch (or the website of any provider that uses the Openreach network for that matter), her address (along with around 75% of her block of flats) doesn't appear. I have spoken to EE and Plusnet over the phone re this and they are unable to find a solution, with no response from the Openreach email address (newsitedevelopmentqueries@openreach.co.uk - it's the only one I can find) either.

To confirm: her address is correctly showing on the Royal Mail address database, the property is not a new build and is at least 20 years old, she has been living at the property for over 9.5 years with a working Openreach (mostly through Plusnet) phone line + FTTC connection throughout that time.

If anyone has ideas that may help with this please.

[XRaySpeX]

Is her landline no. recognised by BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker ?

Is her addy recognised by the Address Checker of BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker ?

She may have moved to or joined up with PN using her landline no. alone. Nowadays, as not everyone has a landline, BB is located by its addy.

[garybs29]

Address issues would be for plusnet to fix as the current provider too

[joe_12]

Thanks for this @garybs29 and @XRaySpeX her number and address show fine on both of these. FTTP not available, however 76mb FTTC as she has at the moment is more than fine. 

I don’t know what it means, but it says it’s a ‘WLR withdrawal exchange’. Did you know the meaning there?

Will contact Plusnet shortly. I’m an authorised user on her account so they will discuss with me thankfully! 

[XRaySpeX]

If her addy is accepted by the BTw Checker it should be accepted by all ISPs who work off OR. 

‘WLR withdrawal exchange’ means they are no longer selling new analogue landlines but you may order DV.

[joe_12]

Makes sense re WLR. Will give Plusnet a call. Thank you again!

[XRaySpeX]

Thanks! You're welcome 🙂 ! Glad I could be of assistance & hope it soon gets sorted.

[chrisjp1]

AFAIK Plusnet did not offer an analogue phone line so that's why they're not offering digital voice.

So your grandmother's analogue phone line must have been with BT and it is they who will offer digital voice. Are BT telling you that to keep your grandmother's landline she must also change her broadband provider to BT or EE?

If so, that's a bit unusual. Landlines provided by BT, where they don't also provide broadband, are not due to be converted to DV before around 2027 and it's not yet clear how BT will provide the DV service. This might be via a "cutdown" hub that they will provide, or may be via a system at the exchange to provide the DV conversion.

So it's not clear why the proposed conversion of your grandmother's landline to DV, presumably initiated by BT, is apparently forcing a move of the broadband away from Plusnet. Or have you initiated this move yourself? If so, you might not need to do this.

[XRaySpeX]

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@chrisjp1 wrote:

AFAIK Plusnet did not offer an analogue phone line so that's why they're not offering digital voice.

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No, PN did offer analogue phone lines with their BB but are switching them off by the end of this year. They do not intend to offer DV in its place but are telling users who wish to keep their landline (as DV) to move their BB to EE. Hence the need of OP's grandma to move to EE. Therefore the rest of your assumptions do not hold.