Leaving Cable and porting number for broadband use

[digger dagger]

Can anyone please help me.

I am a fed up telewest customer (price etc...) and am now looking to move my TV, Broadband and phone elsewhere (probably SKY).

I need to know whether I could port my cable phone number to BT and still be able to get broadband provided by SKY or any other provider. This may seem strange but I think I read somewhere that if you port a cable number to BT you cannot get other broadband providers or other cheaper call providers like Skytalk on the new BT line.

I don't want to lose my number, but if worst comes to worst, I will, as telewest do not want offer me any better deal (currently £60 a month for all 3 services and I do not even have any premium tv channels). Sky offer TV with sky sports, broadband, skytalk and I can get my own BT line for combined £53.

[cnewton2k]

As far as i know you can take your number, now am sure someone will correct me if i am wrong but when you change to BT you have a physically different line so you would still be able to get ADSL.

Hope this helps

[Rone]

Yep Bt lines are totally different\independant of NTL, and you need a BT line to get ADSL, [basically]

I think I read somewhere that certain number checkers will spot that your number is from a range allocated to cable providers and on that basis will indicate that your line is not serviceable for ADSL, but don't take my word for it ...

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by Chris T

I think I read somewhere that certain number checkers will spot that your number is from a range allocated to cable providers and on that basis will indicate that your line is not serviceable for ADSL, but don't take my word for it ...

That's correct.

Additionally, it will take BT an absolute eternity to get the number even listed on their database.

When TalkTalk launched their "free" broadband, they even stated that numbers ported from cable would not be able to have the service and you'd need to get a completely new BT phone number that was native to the BT network. Don't know if this is still the case though.

[digger dagger]

When TalkTalk launched their "free" broadband, they even stated that numbers ported from cable would not be able to have the service and you'd need to get a completely new BT phone number that was native to the BT network. Don't know if this is still the case though.

I think this is where I must have read about the BT issue, but can someone give me a definitive answer Yes or No whether I can get broadband on an BT ADSL line with a number ported from cable.

Thanks for the advice so far

[Marge]

Sorry but think at this point you would need to speak with BT as they are the only ones would be be able to give you a definate answer as to what will and won't work with their network......

[m419]

No its not possible to port your number and use another service provider.

You can only use BT when you port a number. If you change to another provider such as SKY, you'll just end up paying around the same rate as you are currently paying.

And don't be mislead with the free internet offers by SKY,Orange and TalkTalk. The free internet offer is only available for 18 months and the full price is requested afterwards, furthermore, the service is poor and they cannot garuntee a good connection.

You could ask Telewest retentions to lower your internet price. I got Telewest to lower my 2MB internet to £13 from £17.99 and Telewest also gave me Talk anywhere 400 for £17 plus telephone line rental for £10.50 and Essential tv pack for £10. And i'm gonna make them lower it even more.

[cnewton2k]

Originally Posted by m419

No its not possible to port your number and use another service provider.

You can only use BT when you port a number. If you change to another provider such as SKY, you'll just end up paying around the same rate as you are currently paying.

And don't be mislead with the free internet offers by SKY,Orange and TalkTalk. The free internet offer is only available for 18 months and the full price is requested afterwards, furthermore, the service is poor and they cannot garuntee a good connection.

You could ask Telewest retentions to lower your internet price. I got Telewest to lower my 2MB internet to £13 from £17.99 and Telewest also gave me Talk anywhere 400 for £17 plus telephone line rental for £10.50 and Essential tv pack for £10. And i'm gonna make them lower it even more.

http://www2.bt.com/static/i/btretail...q/index.html#2

Dont talk rubbish yes you can port ya number back to BT

[m419]

You can port your NTL,Telewest or White Cable number to BT, but you won't be able to use any other provider but BT. Please read the t&c's for TalkTalk. Apparently, the cable companies are under no obligation to route calls to other companies unless its BT.

However, if you are on NTL,Telewest or White Cable and used to be a BT customer but ported your number to cable, then you can port it back to BT and have no problems using other service providers.

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by scrotnig

That's correct.

Additionally, it will take BT an absolute eternity to get the number even listed on their database.

I ordered my ADSL on the number I ported over the day after it went live.

---------- Post added at 00:11 ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 23:57 ----------

Originally Posted by m419

No its not possible to port your number and use another service provider.

I beg to differ, 'cos I did.

You can only use BT when you port a number. If you change to another provider such as SKY, you'll just end up paying around the same rate as you are currently paying.

Are you talking about for the phone line? Generally (with the exception of Bulldog) they are the only company to go to!

And don't be mislead with the free internet offers by SKY,Orange and TalkTalk. The free internet offer is only available for 18 months

Not true - TT is free forever (as long as you take their call package) and Sky have made no mention of increasing the price in 18 months. As for Orange I think it's the same as Sky.

You could ask Telewest retentions to lower your internet price. I got Telewest to lower my 2MB internet to £13 from £17.99 and Telewest also gave me Talk anywhere 400 for £17 plus telephone line rental for £10.50 and Essential tv pack for £10. And i'm gonna make them lower it even more.

You could but it all depends if they will.

My story was that I left Ntl a good while ago. Ported my number to BT and then signed up with Bulldog on an IPStream (BT wholesale) product. Everything went on fine untill I wanted to LLU (buy the whole line from Bulldog), then and only then did I have to get a new number. Saying that it was the best thing as it mant I had two lines for when Bulldog started messing me about and I decided to change supplier.

In a nutshell - if you want to port and buy an ADSL service from a company that resells BT Wholesale products then you're onto a winner. If you want to use a company that uses their own equipment (LLU)* then you may have a problem. Only way to know will be to call them

Best bet is to take a look at:

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

As you may not even be able to get an LLU supplier - I can only get Sky and Bulldog in my area, Orange and TT aren't available.

Be Unlimited is not yet available in your area
Bulldog is available in your area
Carphone Warehouse will be available in your area, but the precise date is unknown
Easynet is available in your area
Edge is not yet available in your area
Homechoice is not yet available in your area
Node4 is available in your area
Pipex is not yet available in your area
Tiscali is not yet available in your area
Wanadoo is not yet available in your area
Zen is not yet available in your area

*Orange, Sky and TT all use LLU to my knowledge.