nztim: I would have thought if the old copper service was disconnected just reactivate on customerlink (No physical line required) then port to VOIP

I have used this technique to get abandoned numbers back several times.

This was very much how we did it.

Number back with SPARKLOCAL? > raise line link request, have it activated on a dummy provisioning account > port request.

$49 to do it but it stops it becoming a TDR because either no port request was made or they RQ'd the entire service killing the landline before the port was made.