ALERT Some calls still coming in on PSTN

[MellishR]

I have just found this forum by a Google search for VoIP forum. I hope I am in the right place.
A friend has had problems in changing to cable internet including VoIP. She gave up on her original telecomms provider and changed to a new one but both internet and VoIP are now working OK with her new one. She has kept the same phone number. Her DECT base station is connected to her router and calls from some of her contacts come through OK on the DECT handsets.
However calls from some other contacts are coming to her old wired phones that are still connected to the PSTN (and presumably to her old provider).
How can this be happen? What can be done about it?

 

[atsak]

Call her new provider (the cable company). She'll need to provide specific examples, and will likely have to call a few times to get someone who understand the problem. She can try calling the old provider as well, she needs to speak to their repair department. They likely have some kind of issue with their port out notifications.

 

[kenn10]

When a number is moved from one provider to another, a process called "porting" is supposed to be originated by the new carrier to insure that the number is re-routed correctly. If calls still come in on the old wired line, then the port has not completed correctly, if at all. This tells you that the calls coming in on the new line are likely from the same carrier as her new one. Then it can be intuited that the old carrier (or the new carrier) never completed the number port correctly. I have seen this happen quite often, especially with cable companies.

 

[Samot]

If calls still come in on the old wired line, then the port has not completed correctly, if at all.

The port could have completed just fine but the losing carrier has yet to remove it from their own switches. Meaning that anyone on *their network* calling that number will still route to the old line.

 

[DoubleDriveLine]

Another take on this situation. We just found a number ported in early 2018 was never removed from the AT&T Centrex network. It was ported to their IPFlex network. The number not only works in both places it is being billed in both as well. Now that this has been discovered we are working to correct the over billing.

Watch for the double billing on your issue. Luckily you are not as big as us so you are not likely to miss the error.

 

[atsak]

Another take on this situation. We just found a number ported in early 2018 was never removed from the AT&T Centrex network. It was ported to their IPFlex network. The number not only works in both places it is being billed in both as well. Now that this has been discovered we are working to correct the over billing.

Watch for the double billing on your issue. Luckily you are not as big as us so you are not likely to miss the error.

I can't imagine the pain you're enduring in trying to get AT&T to fix something like that. Thoughts and prayers in this difficult time.

 

[Samot]

I can't imagine the pain you're enduring in trying to get AT&T to fix something like that. Thoughts and prayers in this difficult time.

Fixing the issue such as cancelling the Centrex service is going to be the easy part. Trying to get almost 35K (or more)
in refunds is going to be the real task here. If ATT can show there wasn't a proper cancellation of the Centrex service once it was moved to IP Flex, they have ground to stand on. Even without that they will push back on the fact the customer took no action for 5 years and continued to pay for the service.

Centrex lines were like $12 per line without voicemail and $20+ per line with voicemail along with $495(ish) in equipment/access fees per month. The real fun is going to be the internal meeting where someone(s) has to step up and take the responsibility of A) not verifying the services were cancelled properly with ATT and/or B) Didn't notice they were spending an extra $7K (or more) a year for dead services for 5 years straight.

This situation may or may not not be a failure on ATT's part but it's 100% a failure on the customer's part. Even if there is some level of a refund back to the customer, the customer has lost money and time dealing with the mess to get said refund.

 

[DoubleDriveLine]

This particular number was part of a port of 2400 numbers from Centrex to IP Flex. One of the parts that made it even more confusing is not all locations could leave Centrex so once the main billing number ported to IP Flex every line that did not port got its own account. They went from 1 account for all numbers/lines to 50.

Yep it was and is still a mess but we are gradually getting everything else ported that can be ported.

Ordering the port and cancelling any services should have been handled by the consultant who was in charge of the project. They are long out of the picture.

 

[kenn10]

You also need to audit how many NAR's are left on the Centrex. A NAR is equivalent to a single talk path out of the Centrex into the PSTN. AT&T is very lax in reducing the number of NAR's as the number of extensions is diminished. You could have 250 NAR's and only 50 extensions left if you don't audit that as well. A NAR is expensive on a monthly basis.

 

[MellishR]

Having started this thread almost a year ago I have returned to report subsequent developments -- more for interest than looking for advice. My friend had given up on the old carrier (TalkTalk) because of their poor customer service. Consequently she was disinclined to try battling with them to get the porting process completed. There is some benefit in having a second phone line that still works for both incoming and outgoing calls but that she is no longer paying for.
However a strange new situation has developed. Her DECT phones are now not working when the base station is connected to BT's "Digital Voice" adaptor (which talks to the router) but does work when the base station is connected to the old copper line. On the face of it that would seem to indicate a fault somewhere on the digital side. However an old wired phone works when connected to either line.
I am planning some further experiments next time I visit.

 

[dghundt]

Having started this thread almost a year ago I have returned to report subsequent developments -- more for interest than looking for advice. My friend had given up on the old carrier (TalkTalk) because of their poor customer service. Consequently she was disinclined to try battling with them to get the porting process completed. There is some benefit in having a second phone line that still works for both incoming and outgoing calls but that she is no longer paying for.
However a strange new situation has developed. Her DECT phones are now not working when the base station is connected to BT's "Digital Voice" adaptor (which talks to the router) but does work when the base station is connected to the old copper line. On the face of it that would seem to indicate a fault somewhere on the digital side. However an old wired phone works when connected to either line.
I am planning some further experiments next time I visit.

Just make sure TalkTalk doesn't think you owe them recurring fees. If you can't get through on the phone ironically, I'd at least keep a paper trail (send them trackable letters documenting each of your phone calls with the datetime, conversation summary, name of employees, etc), and also send them certified letter(s) of the dispute and your claims. Otherwise, there could be a high dollar surprise years down the road with nasty letters to you threatening legal action, and you are left with zero evidence to defend yourself. It does happen.

 

[MellishR]

Thanks for the warning.

Given my friend's experience of hours spent talking to TalkTalk about several months loss of broadband service, all in vain, she will need some persuasion to start talking to them again to get some incoming calls redirected to the new line.

At the time of giving up on them she contacted one of the ombuds organisations (I forget the name) about the loss of service. In response to that TalkTalk offered her a cash settlement, which she accepted. She should have a record of that. And that was about a year ago. Taking that together with their failure to redirect some incoming calls to her VoIP line, it seems pretty certain that they have entirely forgotten about her. So the very first step in contacting them, telling them who you are, might fail.

I visited her again yesterday, prepared for more experiments, but the first was to try connecting the DECT base station back to the Digital Voice adaptor and that turned out to be working again.