KPN rings in mysterious ways

A few days ago, I cancelled my KPN telephone subscription. I hardly ever use my landline and really don’t like being called on it. It’s interesting how someting once so essential can become superfluous.

Only a handful of people had its – unlisted – number. I generally use my mobile to make the few calls I make and have done for the last decade or so. The KPN subscription was a waste of money.

I got an XS4ALL (my adsl provider) VOIP number at 5 euro per month instead. I don’t expect to use it much, but it’s nice to have anyway. I plugged my old phone into my modem yesterday, it was surprisingly easy. Had to fiddle around with the settings a little. Tested the old number. No answer. Good. Tested the new… yep, it worked.

Five minutes later the phone rang. Huh?

‘Hello, this is KPN, is this Ms Prolific? As a valued customer, we have an offer for you…’

‘I no longer am a KPN customer. I cancelled my number this week.’

‘OK, have a nice evening.’ *click*

How did they get through to me? Did they ring my old number? Or the new VOIP number? How would they even know my VOIP number?

I’m puzzled.