trying to recover lost landline number:URGENT

[red-green]

This is urgent: I lost my landline number on 11th of December 2024 when my EE account was transferred by EE, without my consent, to BT, with whom I previously had my account. The account was immediately transferred back and there was no problem with the broadband, but I have not had a working phone since then.

I have made endless calls to EE/BT and as a last resort they are sending me a new BT phone. They wanted to give me a temporary number and then reinstate my old number but they haven't be able to do this and they don't understand why. They say the phone should be working but it isn't.

I had transferred from copper to full fibre a while back, months before 11th December, and the phone worked fine, so moving from copper to fibre isn't the problem.

What worries me is that looking online this morning I have seen posts saying that after 30 days a number cannot be retrieved, so perhaps I have about 24 hours to get this sorted.

We have had this number for 60 years so losing it would be a disaster. My whole experience with EE has been a disaster. I moved from BT to EE: they keep insisting they are the same company but why then are problems such as this arriving?

I have tried so hard to get this sorted and his post is a last shot. I do hope someone can help me.

Many thanks

red green

[red-green]

I have digital voice: my phone is connected to the back of the hub.

Thanks

[JimM11]

@XRaySpeX Once OR install the fiber cable, then all bets are off for copper cable, had that laugh with the OR engineers when fiber was installed, they offered to pull out the old cable which i had no problem with, but the shaky part was, if we did it all correct (OR) then it should be ok, once the fttc is cut-off then that is it and you do know that when OR test the ONT and do FW upgrade to it within a couple of minutes, no going back and under no circumstance will OR even entertain it. DV then has to go through the router or another interface for landline phone, NO choice. ((DV the BT/EE)) is just voip but there secret (well kept) control for the land line service.... 

Note: Also when DV is supplied over the copper from the fttc, OR remove the Battery Backup that was there before DV change so no more 48V D.C. supply on the line, and becomes very important to have a BBU to keep the ONT and Router up if you have to rely on voice through the router, and assuming that the exchange is keeping the systems up with there Back-Up UPS system which it should be doing.

[Peter_W]

Thanks for explaining there @red-green.

I'm glad to hear that our team have been on the case with this, even if you haven't been able to get the resolution you were looking for just yet. 

Did someone mention if they would follow up with you about it when speaking to us yesterday, and do you know if you have an open complaint? 

I'm just trying to establish where we're at with this so we can be sure we're pointing you in the best direction for getting this resolved.

Peter

[XRaySpeX]

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@JimM11 wrote:

Once OR install the fiber cable, then all bets are off for copper cable

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You don't know what you are talking about! The whole thing is complete rubbish!

I've got both working copper landline & working full fibre coming to my house & intend to have both until 2027.

Upshot is you don't know the answer to the Q I posed.

[JimM11]

@XRaySpeX And do you have 2 separate lines to the property, kept one away from the other? 

[XRaySpeX]

About a foot apart from the same pole.

However I got a bit contradictory in my original Q.

I know from my own experience & from inference from the rules and processes that it is possible to have an analogue landline (from a traditional phone socket) with Full Fibre (from an ONT)  at the same time. The real Q is whether you can get them both from the same provider & in particular from EE. The answer is probably not as once the ISP has laid full fibre they will want to take the opportunity to switch your landline to DV & take you off the eventually disappearing PSTN. Whereas with separate providers the BB provider would have no jurisdiction over the landline. 

[red-green]

Thanks, Peter. There is a complaint open, for what that’s worth.

Once the new phone arrives I have to install it myself and pair it with the hub and will probably then have to ring EE to tell them where I’m at. There are a couple of agents involved in trying to sort this but obviously I can’t get in touch with them, because it’s impossible to contact a particular person. Both the agents and I felt yesterday this was pretty much the end of the road, we seem to have tried everything. EE say the phone should be working and don’t understand why it isn’t.

I came onto the community board this morning because I saw online that there was a 30 day window to retrieve an old number and I think I have about a day left.  Very, very frustrated about this. The agents are all polite and patient  but the EE/BT arrangement is a disaster and it’s just not working.

[JimM11]

@XRaySpeX You have been dealing with EE for some extended period of time and will have knowledge of the telephone delivery system if that is who is supplying the service, if you have or ever had 2 lines supplied by EE do they consider it a single or a separate service for each. Understand where you are coming from, and the question was about analogue lines, at the end of the day, any traditional phone, dect with an answering or base station is an analogue device, that is why there is an ata port on the back of the router, and many different way's to get it connected if so desired. Hope that your line does stay live until 2027 and then you only have to deal with that when it is raised.

[Peter_W]

I'm confident we will get the issues with the phone service resolved here @red-green.

I can appreciate the concerns around your number are more pressing here though, and I want to be sure that we've done all we can to help with this side of things. 

I'm going to send you over a private message to look over what other options we can look at here.

Peter

[XRaySpeX]

@JimM11 : They are not! EE has never supplied me with landline. It used to be that EE would give you BB-Only hosted on a landline no. provided by someone else.

I think you are misunderstanding my posts. Landline & BB are from diff providers.