Virgin Mobile is migrating its numbers to O2

Following the merger in June 2021 for £31 billion, Virgin Mobile is transferring the mobile phone contracts of all its users to O2, including those with device agreements and those with SIM-only plans.
By the end of November of this year, all customers are expected to be moved to O2 plans.

The transition from Virgin to O2 is challenging for some users

While Virgin users should not have experienced any substantial changes in service or rates, some customers have encountered issues during the migration: Problems with phone coverage, limited or no internet coverage, and difficulties with logging in or accessing their accounts through the official O2 app.

Furthermore, several customers have experienced the loss of remaining mobile data until the end of the month or billing period, as Virgin does not transfer it to the new O2 plan.

So ask yourself: What if it’s time to leap VoIP telephony?

Benefits of embracing VoIP

VoIP offers numerous advantages in terms of cost, flexibility, features, and scalability compared to traditional phone companies like O2. The choice between VoIP and traditional phone service will depend on your business’s specific communication needs or personal use.

1. Cost: VoIP is often more cost effective than traditional phone companies. VoIP calls are often cheaper, especially for international calls, as they utilize existing internet networks, resulting in significant savings on the phone bill.
2. Location flexibility: With VoIP, you can make and receive calls from anywhere with internet access. It allows mobility and flexibility for people frequently traveling or working from different locations.
3. Advanced features: VoIP typically offers a wide range of advanced features such as conference calls, call recording, voicemail-to-email, and call forwarding, often available at an additional cost with traditional phone companies.
4. Integration with other applications: VoIP can easily integrate with other applications and services like CRM, email, and instant messaging, facilitating collaboration and unified communication.
5. Scalability: VoIP is scalable and can adapt to your company’s changing needs. You can add or remove phone lines as needed without significant costs.
6. Sound quality: With a solid internet connection, the sound quality of VoIP calls can be as good as traditional calls and, in some cases, even better.
7. Environmentally friendly technology: VoIP consumes less energy and produces less electronic waste than traditional phone systems, making it more environmentally friendly.
8. Simplified updates and maintenance: Software updates and maintenance of VoIP solutions are often easier to manage than traditional phone systems, which may require expensive and complex hardware.
9. Access to virtual numbers: You can obtain virtual phone numbers from different regions or countries, making it easier to expand your business presence globally without needing physical offices in each location.
10. Security: VoIP providers often offer advanced security measures to protect your communications, such as end-to-end encryption and protection against cybersecurity threats.

Portability to VoIPstudio in the UK

In the United Kingdom, you can port geographic, national, and toll-free numbers to VoIPstudio.
While it is possible to sell UK mobile numbers, at the moment, we cannot port UK mobile numbering to VoIPstudio.

Porting Process to VoIPstudio

To initiate the porting process, you only need to have an active VoIPstudio account and open a support ticket, sharing the following information with our team:

• The completed and signed Letter of Authorization (LOA). Click on this Link to get the LOA.
• A bill no more than two months old from your current operator.

• If the bill does not display the customer number with the current operator, it should also be indicated.

It is crucial to refrain from ending the contract or the number with the current operator. For the portability to proceed correctly, the number must have an active contract.

With this information, the portability team will process the request, and your current operator will receive the request within 24 hours.

The operator typically responds the next day, but has between 7 and 21 days to review and respond to the request, either accepting or rejecting the portability.

Reasons for portability rejection

The operator may reject the portability for various reasons. Here are the main rejection reasons:

• The installation postal address does not match the data associated with the number

It is common if, for example, the number is associated with address A, but the bill lists address B.

Or, if the company has changed its location, the number may still be associated with the initial postal address.

• Installation data does not match the requested data

When the number is registered under a company name, but the request indicates a private individual’s name, portability could be rejected.

• Contracts sometimes involve multiple phone numbers

There is always at least one main number, but sometimes there can be associated numbers.

To facilitate portability, the current operator should provide the contract structure, as porting an associated number without knowing which main number it depends on, can lead to rejection.

The operator must accept the portability if all the data is correct.

Sometimes, the current operator may be reluctant to provide this data. In such cases, we can request the data directly from the operator through a unique process called “Pre-order Validation” or “PoV.”

Once the current operator accepts the request, a porting date will be agreed upon, usually within seven business days. As soon as VoIPstudio is aware of this date, it will be communicated to the customer and added to their customer portal, allowing them to configure the number(s) in advance.

On the day of portability, the user may experience just couple minutes of outage. However, as soon as calls are routed to our VoIPstudio network, the system will direct them to the corresponding resource.

Considerations regarding portability

• If the current operator provides services other than the line or lines to be ported, such as television, broadband, or different numbering, it is essential to verify that these services will continue after the numbers are ported. Once the portability of the main number is executed, associated services may terminate.
• Portability is typically performed between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM during business hours in the order of the queue, so the exact time cannot be predicted. In any case, the current operator’s and VoIPstudio’s platforms can be active simultaneously. This way, there will be no disruption on the day of portability, and calls will be redirected from one phone to another.
• Portabilities from Virgin are often responded to on the same day and, once accepted, scheduled for the following week.
• After the portability date has been agreed upon, changing it to another business day is possible. However, this process incurs an associated administrative cost.

These timelines are specific to the portability of Local or Geographic numbers in the United Kingdom. National or Toll-Free numbers, while following a similar process, may have particular requirements and longer timelines.

That’s why we believe the day has come to make the leap to VoIP.

¡Sign up for a 30-day free trial at VoIPstudio today!