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Old 22-01-2012, 16:39
timfg
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Hello chaps - I'm hoping someone can help me, since every time I approach Sky with this issue I get told something different...

My old man has two phone lines in his house:

1 Virgin (Old Telewest) with number he wants to keep
2 BT, with number he wants to lose - it was primarily a business line for my Mum, who died four years ago. This line also has PlusNet ADSL on it

Desired future state: He keep the number associated with the Telewest line, but moved to the copper so he can provision both the line and ADSL through Sky.

The best I can get from Sky is that they MAY be abe to take over the Virgin number, but would need to provision a new line for the ADSL - which is clearly not what he wants, as he will have a redundant BT copper line in the house already.

Advice gratefully received on how I make progress to the end state... No-one seems to understand how best to go about this in a way that won't potentially lose him service on something, at some point...
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Old 22-01-2012, 17:45
chrisjr
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Have you tried porting the Virgin number to BT to replace the old BT number? Then when that has been completed do the business with Sky to take over the BT line.

It may be a bit more long winded doing it that way but from my experience porting to BT can be less hassle than porting to other service providers. And I suspect Sky are more used to taking over existing lines "as is" rather than moving numbers all over the place.
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Old 22-01-2012, 22:41
timfg
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Have you tried porting the Virgin number to BT to replace the old BT number? Then when that has been completed do the business with Sky to take over the BT line.
Yep - I've done lot of thinking about how to get to where we want to... But there are two issues with it:
[LIST][*]PlusNet will charge £65 to do whatever they need to do as a result of the number change. [*]Sky have intimated that BT will want a 12 month contract if we port in the Virgin number - which defeats the point, because the free Sky Broadband (which is all he needs) is only available if line and calls are moved to Sky.[/LIST]
It's a bugger's muddle. Anyone got any other suggestions?
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Old 22-01-2012, 22:50
joshua_welby
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Yes, I have, move the BT Line to Sky and get Sky to give you another phone number if you do not want to keep it

Keep the Virgin/Telewest line as it is and keep the number if you want to, is the Virgin line a cable line is that why you cannot have an ADSL service on it and have a BT line as well?

What other services do you have ie Pay TV/Free TV/Virgin TV - do you have Sky TV or Virgin TV?
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Old 22-01-2012, 23:05
chrisjr
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Sky could well be right about BT wanting a new contract. Which may not be so cheap or easy to get out of. If Sky can only port the number to a new line then you may have to bite the bullet and let them do that.

If the BT line is unused then you could call BT and terminate the rental. And Plusnet to do the broadband. Then get Sky to take over the old line. That would of course lose the existing broadband which may or may not be what is wanted. And perhaps for several days.

Another option if you get a cooperative Openreach installer is to get Sky to install a new line. Now it may not involve actually running in new cable. If the existing cable coming into the house is two pair then the Sky line could be provisioned on the unused second pair.

Now if you ask really nicely the Openreach guy may be persuaded to swap the pairs over on your existing socket, so you don't end up with two, one of which will soon be redundant. If Sky activate the line the same day then you shouldn't lose service for very long.

No guarantees on this though. Depends on how much of a jobsworth the Openreach guy is. But some I have met can be persuaded with copious cups of tea and chocolate Hob Nobs to do what you want .
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