Be Excellent To Each Other

I have a phone number that nobody seems to own. BT don't recognise it as one of theirs, neither do Virgin.

I don't fancy ringing every telephone provider in the UK and asking if they own the line or not... is there an easy way to find out who owns this number so that I can get it turned on again.

Consensus elsewhere on the net seems to be plug in a phone and dial 150 to see who's customer services you get, but sadly the line is dead.

Does the master socket have any identifying marks?

I don't have a master socket at home, you know.

I suspect it is NTL.

I didn't know that.

I don't either

This thread is actually the most interesting of the day so far!

It's very engaging.

It does have a certain ring to it.

I don't like the tone

OK, stick a serious icon on it or something now though please. The master socket says Paypoint on it (it is in a shop) but Paypoint say they don't own the line.

Can you see where the line leaves the building? Is there a telegraph pole?

Don't BT own all the lines? Shouldn't it be just a case of asking them for a new number?

They own all the lines into the exchange. They don't necessarily own the lines to the roadside boxes or into your house.

Probably a case of sending a guy out and charging 150quid for him to flick a switch.

I don't think there are any new numbers anymore. Not since Graham's Number.

BT deny owning the line however. I know it's a real line because up until last week it was working, but *someone* has cut it off, and I don't know who.

There's voltage on the line going out of the store, but apparently not coming in, if that means anything.

There's a good chance it was a now-defunct cable company that own the line into the shop. In which case you'll have to bite the bullet and get a new line put in, unfortunately.

Did anyone go defunct on the 13th June?

Isn't a paypoint line purely for till communication though? It shouldn't be a proper voice line should it?

Oh, it's suddenly shut off? I thought you were saying it had been dead for years.

No, I think it's an ISDN line, but I just want to find out who can turn it back on again.

I cry.

Despite saying I didn't want to do it, I've now phoned BT, Virgin, Talk Talk and Sky, all of whom have laughed at me.

@Craster. No, it was working until the other week.

This is a work thing if you haven't guessed. I've suddenly become 'telephone guy' despite me saying that just because telephones are vaguely electronic, does not make them an IT issue.

I will rename us 'computers.'

See also: Aircon, water coolers, table lamps, shredders, laminators etc, etc

Thinking back to the days I did a POS project, and google seems to confirm. Paypoint use a phone line that is already there, or put their own phone line in if there isn't one. The fact the socket says paypoint on it leads me to believe the latter. I would go back to them and try again...

That's what I thought. Throughtout a lot of the retail world Paypoint use their own lines. For these shops though the lines were all owned by the shops. Apart from this one. Which mysteriously just got cut off. I'm going to pass this one back up the chain I think.

Thanks for your help anyway guys.

Pun away!

So, you're just going to put on hold for now?

What a phreak.

Paypoint will be a point to point isdn line (ie it only connects to paypoint) I am 95% sure that it will be managed by BT, but BT have so many departments and none of them know what the others are doing.

Also, I wouldn't trust anything a BT person said to me.

Malc

If you've connected to Beex using it, we should be able to work out the ISP from your IP number.

Sadly not. My IP will show you O2 from Whitley Bay, and Azurri(?) from Birmingham area recently.

And whatever shows up from using O2 PAYG iPhone thing.

No, it should be a voice line. Paypoint (their hq is 20 feet away) use my old company's (next door) terminals, which contain modems.

Edit: unless you're using lots of terminals and a concentrator, might be isdn then.