In article <ihpdlm$aqg$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
Graham. <me@privicy.com> wrote:

>I have no idea how many families have lived in this house since it was built,
>but I do know it has had the same phone number since it was connected
>in the 1930s
>I doubt if Sipgate will guarantee it for a further 75 years ;-)

I'm sure someone would. At the end of the day, it can always go back
to BT.

>http://www.sipgate.co.uk/faq/index.p...cle&article=13
>
>Looks like it's just a one-off £20 fee + £5 to keep your phonebook
>entry. The article seems to end abruptly, I wonder if there is more?

Probably just the single word: "actioned" (or similar).

I regularly port numbers in for my clients - it's not big deal for
most numbers (not all are portable) and off we go...

>Still, if my broadband could arrive on separate infrastructure I would probebly
>port my BT number to VoIP and cancel the line.

That's the issue right now - we can't get "dry copper" (as I think it's
known in some places - ie. copper + ADSL but no phone) - it has to come
with a phone service and if you've only got one phone line, it's a royal
and expensive PITA to port the number in - which ceases the line and ADSL,
then re-provision the line and start a new broadband service...

You can always use an ITSP who'll allow you to place outgoing calls via
VoIP and present the existing BT number - which is what I do myself and
for some customers - it allows us to both take and make a call at the
same time, and the caller sees our home number, even though it's going
out via VoIP.

Gordon