By The ACS team · Published
Your phone number is printed on your vans, your website, your invoices and in years of customers' contacts. The good news: you can keep your business phone number when you change provider or move to a new kind of phone system. It's called number porting, and the rules are on your side.
The short answer
Yes, you keep it. Almost any UK business number can move with you: an ordinary landline number, a block of direct dials or an 0800 number. Your new provider does the work, it doesn't cost you anything directly, and your phones shouldn't be off for more than a working day. Most businesses don't notice the switch at all.
The one thing to avoid is cancelling your old service before the number has moved. Port first, cancel after.
Your number is yours
Ofcom's general conditions for phone companies give businesses clear rights when moving a number:
- No direct charge. Porting has to be on reasonable terms, and you can't be charged directly just for taking your number.
- Fast switching. Once the port is validated, the number should move no later than one working day afterwards.
- No long outages. Any loss of service during the switch must not last more than one working day.
- A safety net. If a port fails, your old service has to be put back while it's sorted out.
- Time to change your mind. You keep the right to port a number for at least a month after leaving your old provider.
These apply whether you're moving an ordinary 01362 or 01603 number, a block of direct-dial numbers or an 0800 number.
Keeping your business phone number when you move to VoIP
With the old analogue and ISDN lines ending on 31 January 2027 (see our switch-off guide), many businesses are moving to hosted VoIP for the first time. A common worry is that "internet phones" mean a new number. They don't. Your existing numbers are ported onto the new system and ring exactly as before, on desk phones, laptops or mobile apps.
You can also add numbers: a local number for a second town you trade in, or a separate number for a department, without any new lines being installed.
How a port works
- Gather your details. You'll need a recent bill showing the numbers, the account holder's name and the installation address. The details on the port request must match what your current provider holds, or it gets rejected.
- Your new provider submits the port. You don't contact the old provider to cancel. The port does that for the numbers being moved.
- A date is agreed. We tell you the switch-over date in advance, and the new system is set up and tested before then.
- Switch-over. On the day, calls start arriving on the new system. Desk phones and apps are already in place, so staff carry on as normal.
- Tidy up. Any lines or services that weren't ported are cancelled, so you're not paying for both.
What slows a port down
- Details that don't match. The most common cause of rejection is a name or address that's different from the old provider's records.
- Partial moves. Moving some numbers on a line but not others needs more care, so tell your new provider exactly what you want to keep.
- Forgotten numbers. Fax lines, alarm lines and old direct-dial ranges are easy to miss. List everything before you start.
- Cancelling first. If you cancel the old service before porting, you risk losing the number. Port first, cancel after.
Getting it right
The easiest way is to let one company handle the lot: check your current numbers and contracts, set up the new phone system, run the port and make sure nothing's missed. That's what we do for businesses across Norfolk. Hosted VoIP is from £7 +VAT per user a month plus £2.50 +VAT per number, and porting is included.
You can read our full number portability policy, or get in touch and we'll check what you've got.