hello

Just noticed this never actually got a reply. Vonage and VoIP Talk are two key players and I have successfully ported 2 BT numbers over and another VoIP provider without a problem.

is this specific to a particular VoIP provider ? If so you would ask them about “inbound number portability” or “transferring my number from BT”

most VoIP operators can provide numbers in area area code, but not all do portability inbound or outbound.

OFCOM may have advice or resources on the issue in general.

Hi Charles,

Sorry I do not know you could try asking over at Quora? There seem to be a lot of techies over there answering questions if you do not get any definite answer here? Just an idea. K

@Hector yes guaranteed by BDUK via CCC as the primary delivery organisation. On the basis that by so doing the level of uptake is increased and reached more quick that would otherwise be the case i.e. the catalyst principle. Securing such funding requires a coordinated and concerted push from community broadband champions, Parish and District [...]

@fibreguy thanks for the link. So if I understand you correctly the voucher would be ‘guaranteed’ by BDUK funds? If so that’s exactly what I was hoping for. The question now is do we go about securing such funding? Do you have any advice on how or where pressure could be applied? I’m prepared to put [...]

@Hector

I agree with you that there could be some direct support for local communities and there is precedent in both Wales and rural France for a broadband voucher scheme that requires little admin overhead to deliver as it is outcome based.

Please see http://www.fibrestream.co.uk/2010/12/13/big-society-broadband-vouchers/

I agree Miles, it is far more important that the funding goes into the trunk, providing affordable access to every community. I think it is well within the means of us all to dig to it, or wifi to it. I think that if it is necessary in some areas, parish councils could take out [...]

I think it’s highly unlikely that BDUK will allocate funds directly to individual CICs in the way you propose, given the EU-driven procurement process they are currently engaged in. The nearest they might come to directly supporting community networks is by ensuring that affordable backhaul is made available to every community. Having said that it [...]