Could You Retrieve Phone Number from Quarantine

[Bloodfall]

I had a phone number that was with Asda but they disconnected it a good while ago and it still comes up as an incorrect number every time I dial it. I have tried phoning Asda themselves about this but only had a very frustrating conversation where they were telling me that they could not give me the same number and kept offering me a new one. So I called Ofcom and they told me that the number is in quarantine and that I need to contact any service provider and ask if they can take the number out of quarantine.Now I looked up the number and found that it is now owned by you (EE) so it seems that you would be the best place ask.

The reason I need this specific number is because it is connected to my Yahoo email account and they are suddenly demanding that I prove that it is me when I attempt to sign in. The only real way they would be able to do this is by texting a code to this number that is now quarantined and I am sure that if do not regain access soon they will close my account for good. So is there anyway to get this number back?

[Bloodfall]

Goddamn it and that’s Asda who were completely obnoxious and unhelpful. I tried ringing them as stated before and all I got was “if the number’s been disconnected for over 3 months we can’t reactivate it but we can offer you a new number” and was saying “can you give me the same number because I don’t want a new number I need the same number to get into my Yahoo account” and only got “no we can’t give the same number, we can give you a new number do want a new sim card”. It was frustrating and so clear that they were just reading off a script like the typical corporate drone. This is why it was something off a relief when Ofcom that I can call any service provider and request that the number be restored.

I don’t think that Asda would even have the same number by now so it doesn’t make sense contacting them and every information on the number shows it to be EE. Which if that was the case why can’t I make a contract with EE and request that specific number?

Either that or wait for it to be recycled speaking of which how long does it take for a phone number to be recycled because I am sure there is a lack of phone numbers in the country so it should have been picked up by someone by now. Yet it’s been months and possibly years so it’s strange that nobody would have picked it up.

https://www.synergy-mobile.co.uk/2019/04/09/have-you-ever-wondered-what-happens-to-your-old-mobile-p...

Because of the huge number of mobile subscribers, UK networks are facing increasing pressure to acquire new numbers to allocate to new subscribers. Since there is a fixed pool of 11-digit combinations that begin with an 07 prefix, mobile phone service providers must recycle mobile number to meet customer demand.

[Chris_B]

@Bloodfall   A google search on this shows a world of pain on this subject and basically no number no account

And Im pretty certain that a number in quarantine can not be taken out of quarantine as it going through a period of time that any information linked to that number ie bank accounts should be changed over to a new number by the bank account holder.     Im sure you wouldn’t someone getting your bank information just because it’s link to a number that you gave up.    That might not be the case in your situation but you get the idea of a number in quarantine. 

 Anyone who gets that number doesn’t have to relinquish it if you were to ask them and if they are willing too they could just ask you to pay for it

Just to add you say Ofcom say “it should be possible”  but Ofcom don’t have jurisdiction over this and there is no Ofcom rule/s stating that a network provider has to provide such a service.  And again they say it “should be possible” not that it is possible,  
 

[bristolian]

Once a number is in quarantine, it is indeed unavailable for reconnection for a period of time - after which it's released to the original MNO based on prefix.

Assuming this number is released back to EE, then theoretically a number allocations specialist could search for it and potentially reserve it against a specific account. There's certainly no guarantees that this is possible, it's just a high-level theory.

It's no surprise that Asda were unable to help - most CS' processes (especially with a budget-focused MVNO) are likely to be geared towards simple and common requests, this is not so.

[Bloodfall]

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@Chris_B wrote:

Anyone who gets that number doesn’t have to relinquish it if you were to ask them and if they are willing too they could just ask you to pay for it

I hope that if someone else did get the number I could just ask them very nicely to provide me with the sign in code and they might be kind enough to provide it to me. After all it would be just a digit code not that much to ask.

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@Chris_B wrote:

Just to add you say Ofcom say “it should be possible”  but Ofcom don’t have jurisdiction over this and there is no Ofcom rule/s stating that a network provider has to provide such a service.  And again they say it “should be possible” not that it is possible, 

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The thing is that Ofcom not only said it’s possible but told me that it’s a good thing that it’s still in quarantine because then a service provider could retrieve it. 

[Bloodfall]

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@bristolian wrote:

Assuming this number is released back to EE, then theoretically a number allocations specialist could search for it and potentially reserve it against a specific account. There's certainly no guarantees that this is possible, it's just a high-level theory.

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How long should it take to leave quarantine? It’s been months now and potentially year and it is still not a recognised number I thought that by now it would have been taken out of quarantine. Though an important question to ask would be how would you tell if a number is still in quarantine or is out of quarantine yet hasn’t been assigned to anyone?

[bristolian]

There is no external way of identifying which number pool a particular "unused" number is in. EE also pre-provision many SIMs with a number, to make activation quicker.

I certainly wouldn't be happy to be a conduit for someone else's OTPs! Not to mention the security risk that poses.

[Bloodfall]

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@bristolian wrote:

There is no external way of identifying which number pool a particular "unused" number is in. EE also pre-provision many SIMs with a number, to make activation quicker.

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So if it’s is showing as EE on the sim card does that mean that EE has pre-provisioned it?

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@bristolian wrote:

I certainly wouldn't be happy to be a conduit for someone else's OTPs! Not to mention the security risk that poses.

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That sounds overly paranoid to me what security risk? How is the person in question going to be in any risk from sending a digit code over? Can’t you also understand how frustrating the idea that I would lose access to my email account forever because some and if you can excuse me for saying this paranoid ass won’t cough up a simple code?

[Bloodfall]

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@Bloodfall wrote:

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@bristolian wrote:

There is no external way of identifying which number pool a particular "unused" number is in. EE also pre-provision many SIMs with a number, to make activation quicker.

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So if it’s is showing as EE on the sim card does that mean that EE has pre-provisioned it?

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Wait I think this question has been answered in one of your previous replies which I’ve seen from the email notification but is now missing from the forums for some strange reason.

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@bristolian wrote:

On the bright side, the mobile number prefix in question (which I've seen but has been rejected from public view) shows on a number allocations list as an EE prefix. If recovery of this number was possible, it would certainly not be quick or straightforward.”

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Though if the number is recoverable what steps can be taken to recover it. Would I have to ring EE and attempt to request it? The problem again is that I don’t want to be hounded with attempts to get me into an expensive contract or be signed up for anything without my knowing which can happen.

[Bloodfall]

So I was recommended on another forum to contact Marc Allera himself regarding this problem. Thus I sent him a very polite email and even a physical letter but I have still heard nothing back. Does anyone know how long it takes to hear anything back from the man himself? I sent the email two weeks ago and the letter was delivered Wednesday last week.

[XRaySpeX]

ထ . He's not customer facing.