Are Sky lying to us

[johnt11]

Cliff notes; told they could keep old number, but they lost it and were told it was impossible to keep and have been without internet for a couple of weeks. 

Hi, I'm writing on behalf of my parents who recently, as Sky tv customers, agreed a new contract for tv and phone. They desperately wanted to keep their phone number which they've had for over 40 years. They were assured that the old number will be ported over from Now. 

When the switch day came,  then found out the number wasn't ported yet, so called Sky. 

They were told that moving the account had some issues and Sky had cancelled the old order and made a new one and had overlooked the number porting (a confusing explanation of what happened that I don't understand). 

My dad insisted on keeping the old number, and Sky said that the only way to do that was to wait until the day of the new switch and call them up and ask. When dad called on the day he was asked to call he was told that it's not possible but would have been if he'd called a day or two easier. 

They are now without broadband service for a couple of weeks while waiting for the new contract to start. 

Mt dad complained about the loss of service and losing his old number and was told that it's impossible to port numbers from copper wire systems to the new VOIP system! This doesn't appear to be true. 

They've been offered £15 compensation. 

They've been left without internet and they lost their number that they were told on multiple occasions they could keep. 

I'm sorry this post is so long. I did my best to explain what happened but I'd coming from what my dad told me. 

[Mark39]

Sorry to hear about this.

There seem to be 2 separate issues - the non-transfer of their phone number, and being without a broadband service for 2 weeks.

I don't believe it's impossible to transfer a number from the old analogue phone network to Sky's digital service, but we do see occasions here when it hasn't been possible. Sky's help acknowledges that possibility: https://www.sky.com/help/articles/switching-broadband-provider-switch-to-sky

I don't know what leads to it being impossible.

The delayed broadband provision is a consequence of Sky's attempts to put it right. Openreach (who own and manage the network) require a lead time of 2 weeks from ordering to activation.

Your parents could raise a formal complaint, and I've no doubt Sky will apologise for the mess-up. I suspect, however, that in practical terms, there's nothing Sky can now do about it. Your parents could, I'm sure, cancel the order, but it would mean starting again with a new provider (another 2 week delay) and I doubt they would be able to take control of the old number either. https://www.sky.com/help/articles/how-to-make-a-complaint

[TimmyBGood]

@johnt11

Ofcom specify that landline numbers should be ported over wherever possible but don't absolutely insist on this, and realistically no ISP should ever guarantee that it's always going to happen.

As @Mark39 indicates, if the broadband connection isn't working then there's no telephony anyway.

[mormegil]

It was partially correct sky cannot port now tv numbers to sky with the new VoIP network but can and does port from other companies that are not operated by sky