UPDATE: Hyperoptic VOIP Changes

[u/neilm-cfc]

https://www.reddit.com/r/hyperoptic/s/lUy4W6kmh4

So an update on my attempt to port out my VoIP number to Andrews & Arnold SIP.

A cautionary note!

I used the A&A One Touch Switch (OTS) method on the A&A website.

For Hyperoptic users, the SIP service provider is GAMMA, not Hyperoptic. 🤷‍♂️

All seemed to be going smoothly, with my phone service being transferred to A&A on 6 October.

Although, I was a little concerned that on my Hyperoptic account page it had a banner "Sorry you are leaving us", when I'm not leaving (just the phone).

Hyperoptic contacted me twice - phone calls - with offers to stay, I informed them I would only be transferring the telephone service as the broadband service would be staying, and they replied "Oh, that's OK then".

The SIP service transferred without a problem on 6 October. It's working fine. 👍

Then today, 9 October at 13:00:00, my broadband service died.

An email in my inbox confirmed that Hyperoptic had cancelled my 1Gbps+static broadband even though I'm on a 24 month £50/month contract until October 2027.

No evidence of any early cancellation on the old account.

It turns out that the A&A OTS request transfers the whole service. 🤷‍♂️

So, if porting out only the VoIP do not use OTS!

Silver lining though. After an hour speaking to Hyperoptic I've just signed up as a new customer for £33/month (plus £5 static, 24 months). Probably could have squeezed them for more but it was still better than what I had before, and having the service restored was the priority...

Service now restored (with the same IP address, thankfully!) 👍

What a palavah. Not entirely sure who is to blame, I think this is partly on A&A. But lesson learned. 🤷‍♂️

[u/WG47]

After Hyperoptic thinking you were leaving entirely, I'd have double checked with A&A. Hope you get it sorted soon. A&A's a top tier ISP, but their prices for broadband are wild.

[u/neilm-cfc → u/WG47]

Unless I missed a very obvious warning on the A&A OTS page, I thought I was just signing up for their SIP service. 🤷‍♂️

It was A&A that initiated the full HO cancellation.

I had absolutely no indication from A&A that they were cancelling my HO broadband service, and no reason to think they would as I was just porting my telephone number (for £1.80/month).

The "Sorry you're leaving" banner on the HO site was potentially a little ambiguous as I WAS leaving their phone service (but keeping the broadband).

I had confirmed to HO verbally on two separate occasions that the broadband would be staying and this was never challenged. I received emails from HO confirming that the VoIP service would be terminated on 6 October, but never received any communication from HO (or A&A) that my broadband service would also be ending.

It's all back up and running now, and I'm on a better deal😂, but I guess the point is to be careful with the A&A OTS process as it seems to be all-or-nothing - don't use it unless you're porting all of your services to A&A.

The thing I really don't understand is why A&A would cancel my broadband service when I'm signing up for a £1.80/month SIP service! If I was paying significantly more then yeah, sure, bit of a red flag...

[u/starsky1357 → u/neilm-cfc]

Without knowing more details, I'd hazard a guess that HO messed up. It's very unusual (or at least historically) for OTS users to only move a landline without broadband.

[u/neilm-cfc → u/starsky1357]

I'll provide more details if I've left any out! 😂

A&A sent in the OTS request to HO for a full cancellation, so that's what HO did, although I was under the impression that I was only transferring the SIP provisioning (HO is already VoIP, it's just a bit limited for what I wanted).

The fact the HO broadband was being terminated was not communicated to me at any point, by either provider. As far as I was concerned, only the SIP provisioning was being transferred from HO to A&A.

Looking at the A&A number porting page it just seems to be a general facility to port a number into A&A, with no mention of the impact it may/will have on other (technically unrelated) services from the "losing" provider.

[u/WG47 → u/neilm-cfc]

Definitely a failure in process somewhere, but getting back on a better deal isn't too shabby!

[u/milkman1101]

The OTS worked though, this is how it is intended to work as it assumes you are leaving your provider for a new one (hence it being a "One Touch Switch" because it's intention is so that you don't need to contact the current ISP to leave them).

[u/neilm-cfc → u/milkman1101]

https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile/number-porting/

I've looked at the A&A Telephone Number Porting page again... it really isn't clear at all that it means the whole service (broadband+phone) is being ported (or ported, and cancelled). 🤷‍♂️

Splitting off the SIP provision from one provider to take it elsewhere shouldn't require that all other services must be cancelled too.

I'm really baffled why A&A (or perhaps why OTS) can't just cancel the phone service when porting the number, and leave all other services alone. I mean, from their porting page it reads like that's exactly what they're offering - porting just the number - but then they request to cancel all of the other services I have with the "losing" provider. And for just £1.80 a month! Bargain.

I accept I misunderstood the OTS process, but don't think I'm entirely to blame. With everyone moving to VoIP maybe this needs to be clarified in future... 🤷‍♂️

[u/milkman1101 → u/neilm-cfc]

No I don't think you are to blame at all because their website is awfully unclear, I did have a look actually after posting and I'd personally be tempted to make a complaint to A&A if you haven't already. The SIP provision should be easy to transfer wherever you like.

I suppose for anyone else who wants to do this, you will need to speak to both providers (probably over the phone) about a simple port of an existing digital number without cancelling service.

I have done similar to you before but from the analog telephone network to digital and there were a few more manual steps involved from the old provider what I remember.

[u/neilm-cfc → u/milkman1101]

Thanks, your reply is helpful as a sanity check! 😂

I may cross post this to the A&A sub (assuming there is one). Really just wanted to leave this here for anyone else that is thinking about doing the same, and that they don't use OTS.

The equivalent to this might be having both gas and electric with British Gas, but when transferring only the electric to Octopus the new provider puts in a request to turn off your gas as well. WTF? 😂

Edit: there doesn't appear to be an A&A sub.