Do MVNOs own numbers or the actual carriers? (2024)

Hey everyone

Just curious about this. When an MVNO (Lebara etc) give you a number when ordering a SIM, who actually owns the number? Do Vodafone say to Lebara "here is number ranges they are yours" or do Vodafone still technically own them when porting time comes? What happens if you do a port between the same MVNO operator such as Lebara to Asda Mobile or VOXI?

Thanks

Most of the time, a MVNO just uses the number ranges that belong to the big brand that they piggyback off. But not always. Some of them like Spusu and Lyca to name a couple off the top of my head do have their own prefixes assigned by Ofcom.

Porting between MVNOs on the same network is no problem as who owns a number range isn't the same as who manages a number to supply you with service. Asda and Lebara may both use Vodafone signal and issue phone numbers owned by Vodafone, but they have their own separate systems that will issue PAC Codes under their own prefixes.

There's a few exceptions like Vodafone to Voxi. Voxi isn't a separate provider but rather just a special price plan that sits on top of Vodafone. So you can't transfer your number with a PAC but rather have to move to a Voxi price plan. Similar case with RWG Who sit on top of Now Mobile as a separate brand. You can't port from one to the other are they are the same provider as far as the PAC codes are concerned.

Most MVNOs just use the same number ranges as their host network, as stated by @Koda.

The only exceptions that I know of (hopefully they should be right) is Sky, Lyca, Spusu and Virgin Mobile (numbers are not yet in O2's range). It's usually the full MVNOs (the ones that operate IMS systems etc) that use their own numbering range.

snarpatroid said:

I would only ever get a number from the big networks then port it into an mvno, that way it's not subject to the same risk as being rendered unusable if an mvno originated number has problems and the provider closes.

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I didn't even consider that but a good point. I should have ordered from Vodafone directly instead of Lebara. It does appear like Lebara has been around since the mid 2000s in some aspect so hopefully it won't have problems for the future.

gameinn said:

I didn't even consider that but a good point. I should have ordered from Vodafone directly instead of Lebara. It does appear like Lebara has been around since the mid 2000s in some aspect so hopefully it won't have problems for the future.

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Even for providers that have been around for a while, you can't trust them.

Lyca is at least a decade old right and look how everything is burning up in flames for them.

Virgin has been around for over two decades and currently people can't port back to them (such as myself if I leave O2), unless they call a special team from what I've been told.

Lebara will give you a Vodafone number anyways, check the spreadsheets that Ofcom has for your originating provider.

insertfloppydiskhere said:

Lebara will give you a Vodafone number anyways, check the spreadsheets that Ofcom has for your originating provider.

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Sorry I'm abit of a noob. Just to make sure:

I go here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/phone-numbers/numbering-data/

Click "Personal Numbers, Radiopaging Service & Mobile Service numbers" to get the correct spreadsheet.

Just say on that spreadsheet line 3777 is 7379 3 which would translate to +4473793?

gameinn said:

Sorry I'm abit of a noob. Just to make sure:

I go here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/phone-numbers/numbering-data/

Click "Personal Numbers, Radiopaging Service & Mobile Service numbers" to get the correct spreadsheet.

Just say on that spreadsheet line 3777 is 7379 3 which would translate to +4473793?

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Yes, it would.

I'm not sure why Ofcom sees it necessary to have the number at the end because that isn't really needed for mobile numbers, it's more of an issue for landlines.

Leasty said:

So how do you find out who actually "owns" your number? I've had the same number for well over a decade and been through a number of providers in that time. Currently with Sky.

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Use the spreadsheet that was linked above:

Download the 07 spreadsheet and look for your number block

insertfloppydiskhere said:

Yes, it would.

I'm not sure why Ofcom sees it necessary to have the number at the end because that isn't really needed for mobile numbers, it's more of an issue for landlines.

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I think the default allocation for any number range now is 10k numbers, so the spreadsheets assume this, even though for 07379 it's a full 100k allocation to Voda so the next digit is not significant.

You can see that 073780 is protected whereas the rest of 07378 is assigned to Three. So the next digit for 07378 is significant. Exactly the same story for 07380.

Can't make this up. Now Lebara is going under.

I hoenstly wonder if the day of cheap mobile tariffs is slowly being phased out.

gameinn said:

Can't make this up. Now Lebara is going under.

I hoenstly wonder if the day of cheap mobile tariffs is slowly being phased out.

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They're not going under though, rather they have been sold to an investor. I wouldn't panic, there are decent deals out there even if Lebara did shut up shop.

Koda said:

There's a few exceptions like Vodafone to Voxi. Voxi isn't a separate provider but rather just a special price plan that sits on top of Vodafone. So you can't transfer your number with a PAC but rather have to move to a Voxi price plan. Similar case with RWG Who sit on top of Now Mobile as a separate brand. You can't port from one to the other are they are the same provider as far as the PAC codes are concerned.

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Do we know how this applies to Gamma (Honest / RWG eSIMs/certain other plans?).

tre3 said:

Do we know how this applies to Gamma (Honest / RWG eSIMs/certain other plans?).

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I unfortunately don't know the answer to that one. My knowledge of the Three network isn't too extensive and I have no first hand experience of using anything under the control of Gamma either.

Hopefully someone else here knows more about them and can advise further about how they work.

tre3 said:

Do we know how this applies to Gamma (Honest / RWG eSIMs/certain other plans?).

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My Honest SIM reports as Gamma Telecom, not Three for the number block (07356).

Koda said:

I unfortunately don't know the answer to that one. My knowledge of the Three network isn't too extensive and I have no first hand experience of using anything under the control of Gamma either.

Hopefully someone else here knows more about them and can advise further about how they work.

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All good, didn't expect you to know everything!

I would guess 1p and UW are separate too given they appear to have separate backend systems although again couldn't say for sure.

plunet said:

This might be an option for another column on the network spec spreadsheet that was started by @Bubblesthefish6 but I realise I am volunteering others to do it!

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Possibly. Only ones off the top of my head are Sky, Lyca, Spusu and possibly now Gamma (RWG/Honest)