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Re: Getting a number either released from EE or reactivated

A18266
Explorer

Hi,

Was wondering what was the solution to this in the end as I have the exact same issue but 150 aren’t understanding my request when I speak to them. 

Ali

3 REPLIES 3
bristolian
Legend
Legend

Can you explain the issue you're having?

Link to the other thread you found, it if helps explain.

Apologies it seems my post was moved to a separate thread. Link to thread I was referring to:  https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/SIM-cards-Porting/Getting-a-number-either-released-from-EE-or-reactiva...

 

I have the same issue as the person where my number has been lost by EE due to inactivity however not released back to O2 where the original number came from. 

Ali

_MrR_
Prodigious Contributor
Prodigious Contributor

Hi @A18266 ,

Hope you’re well. 

I did get an email notification as you replied on my original thread so not sure how this morphed into a new thread but hey ho. 

So sadly no, didn’t get anywhere on my original thread. EE checked it the number concerned and said “it shows ceased on our system” and that’s it. To be fair, it will show as ceased on their customer / billing system. 

Number porting is a pain in the UK (look at the volumes of split ports people across the board experience) with lots of manual intervention required. 

This only seems to impact certain numbers (usually ones that have been ported in) that are ceased on EE’s system but then the original range holder isn’t notified of the cease meaning they see it as allocated.

This will be why the call attempts to connect, gets the engaged tone then drops. So looks like there’s a part of the cease process that’s being missed. Probably some back office activity which will be why front line agents can’t see the problem. 

Anecdotally, it seems to be a little hit and miss. My work number was a VF number that my company ported across to EE. When I left the company, the same scenario. Engaged tone then the call dropped. However after a couple of months, they clearly did the back office activity as the number then fully ceased and it no longer connected and drooped, instead played the ‘You’ve dialled an incorrect number’ message played.

So depending how long your number has been ceased, they may pick up and cease properly. But seems to be a lottery.