Does an Eircom account number change when you move providers?

muffinhead

Since signing up to BT Total Talk & Broadband, I have noticed that the Eircom account number listed on my BT bill is different to the original account number displayed on my old Eircom bills.

I phoned BT once about this and they said they would correct it. I received my second bill recently and the error was still not corrected so I emailed them about it again. They replied and this is what they said:

Dear Mr Muffinhead,

Thank you for your email.

Please note that the Eircom Account Number changes every time you change line provider.

Kind Regards

BT
Customer Care Team

Now, is this statement true or are they trying to fob me off with an excuse to get around correcting it ?

JNive

when you leave eircom your 'eircom account number' is literally deleted. You are then assigned a UAN ( universal account number, used by eircom wholesale to keep track of you between providers )

You are also assigned a new BT account number, only used by BT for their services with you, they will also know your UAN, which is what they quote when dealing with Eircom Wholesale for issues on your line etc.

If you were to then cancel the BT broadband, thus requiring you to return to eircom retail to get your servers back on, you then need to cancel your BT, and that BT account number gets deleted, and you provide Eircom with your UAN identifying your line basically. Once they take back the line off BT, you then signup with a service from Eircom Retail, at which point you are then allocated a new Eircom account number, which will be different from the one you had with them originally, since that one was deleted when you left.


And there you have it

Stench Blossoms

JNive wrote:

If you were to then cancel the BT broadband, thus requiring you to return to eircom retail to get your servers back on, you then need to cancel your BT, and that BT account number gets deleted, and you provide Eircom with your UAN identifying your line basically. Once they take back the line off BT, you then signup with a service from Eircom Retail, at which point you are then allocated a new Eircom account number, which will be different from the one you had with them originally, since that one was deleted when you left.

Incorrect. You don't need to cancel with the other provider (BT in that case). Eircom do that on your behave when you either sign a Customer Authorisation Form (CAF) or go through Third Party Verification.

You cannot be transferred to Eircom or any other provider if your line is not active.

JNive

sorry, about the BT cancelling part, that is incorrect for bitstream resellers, and applies only to LLU services ( Magnet / Smart ). The rest though is more or less still applicable.

For going from resellers back to Eircom, the changes are done quicker, since the actual line remains connected to eircom at all times.
The situation though with account numbers would still be the same

muffinhead

Thanks JNive & Orla - that has cleared up that bit of confusion!