You can keep your old number by porting the number to VoiceHost.

Number porting is the process of moving a telephone number from one provider to another. It is possible to fully convert to VoIP whilst retaining your current landline telephone number.

What numbers can I port?
We can currently port most geographic numbers (ie: 01 and 02) from BT and a limited number of other VoIP providers. We cannot port numbers from NTL or Telewest at present.

How do I request a number port?
Start by contacting your current telecoms provider and advising them of what you intend to do. You must raise a support ticket on your VoiceHost account with full details of the number to be ported. We must also see a copy of the most recent bill for the number, and you must sign a porting authority form which we will provide.

There is currently a £20 (inc VAT) fee for porting a number. We reserve the right to pass on to you any other fees or costs we incur during the process. These fees are non-refundable, even if the porting process is unsuccessful.

We will begin the porting process when we have received a copy of your bill, the porting fee, and the signed porting authority form.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your old provider stops billing you.

There will be a short period of downtime when the actual port occurs. We are unable to guarantee when this will be. Also, calling the number from different networks during the port may give unpredictable results, with some calls being routed to the old provider and some calls coming through to our systems.

Other services on a BT line may be affected:
If you have other services on a BT line, such as (but not limited to) ADSL or RedCare, porting the number away may cease those services, and you may need to pay additional charges to get them reconnected.

You will also lose access to any services provided by your old telecoms provider, such as voicemail. However, following the completion of the port, the full range of VoiceHost services will be available to you.

Fax and data services:
Fax machines will usually work on a VoIP line as long as your ISP provides a good quality connection, but they tend to negotiate down to lower speeds than on a conventional analogue line. We don't generally recommend porting numbers for use with fax machines or modems.

Porting a number back out:
If you are not happy with our service after porting a number in, you can port back out. This requires full cooperation of the original telecoms provider to accept the number back onto their systems. If you are in doubt, check with them before porting the number into us.