So continuing on from my post yesterday about the Tesco Internet phone fiasco.

I did a bit of digging around and sent one final mail to Tesco last night.

Hi
further to my previous mail, on looking on the OFCOM site and this page

you will see the final point

The provider must inform you about your ability to keep your number if you choose to switch providers at a later date.

Please inform me how I keep my number as I now choose to switch to another provider

Kind regards

Mike

This afternoon I received the following part canned response from Freshtel

Dear Mike,

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

You have recently contacted Tesco Internet Phone to enquire about taking your Tesco Internet Phone number to another provider.

We have been investigating alternative arrangements with a number of parties including the communications regulator, Ofcom, to try and make this possible.

Despite our efforts and after exploring a range of options unfortunately we have not found a workable solution for Tesco internet phone customers to take their internet phone number to another service provider.

Tesco is not exempt from Ofcom’s rules. However, due to the closure of our partner Freshtel’s UK business, number portability is not technically feasible.

This is because the UK number porting system is based on forward routing of calls. As Freshtel will be closing its business, a forward routing porting solution will not be possible.

We can understand this will be disappointing, we are sorry for any inconvenience caused.

From 27th April your Tesco internet phone account will be closed and the service will not be available. You will no longer be able to access your online account or be able to make calls using your Tesco internet phone.

Thank you for contacting us, please let me know if you have any further queries, alternatively call our customer care team on 0845 300 2020* – free from your Tesco internet phone or visit our website http://www.tescointernetphone.com

Kind Regards,

Michael A
Tesco Internet Phone

So it really does seem as if we have no recourse as Tesco / Freshtel are closing the UK operation and therefore can’t allow a number to be ported to another provider.

I’m not sure I can be bothered sending any further E-mails to them as most of the points seem to get ignored, but I will point Tesco Customer Services and Sir Terry Leahy to my posts.