Number Porting: How Long Does It Take and How To Keep Your Number

Moving your number to a new provider is called number porting, and it’s a simple process. It can take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, depending on how many numbers you’re moving and what type they are.

Where businesses get caught out is the timing. You’ll see one working day quoted in a lot of places. That figure comes from Ofcom’s switching rules and it is real, but it covers the final activation step rather than the whole switch.

Name your numbers at the point of enquiry, so porting goes into the order from the start of your move. Your current provider can’t refuse to release them because you’re leaving, and the right to take your number with you is protected under Ofcom’s rules.

Number porting is moving a telephone number from one provider to another. Your number stays as it is, and a different company starts routing calls to it. It applies to both landlines and mobiles.

The 01 number you’ve had since the business opened, the direct dials your team use, the 03 number on your website: all of them can move across.

That one working day runs from the point where every check has cleared and your current provider has been asked to release the number. Activation itself is quick.

Everything before that step is where the time goes, and the length depends on four things.

• Your notice period. Your current contract will have one, and the clock on it starts when you tell them, not when you sign with someone new.
• The application. Your new provider has to apply for the numbers and get them approved before anything can be scheduled.
• Your current provider. How quickly they work through their side of it is their decision.
• Openreach. Different companies run different platforms, but everyone still shares the same underlying infrastructure, and some steps wait on it.

Where a move stretches out, it’s usually the notice period on the contract you’re leaving rather than the port itself. If you’ve ever moved your own mobile to a new network, you already know the shape of this. You get given a date it could take until, and more often than not it lands sooner than that.

Three of those four sit outside any provider’s control, which is why a date given to you at the start of the process should be read as the earliest point the port can happen. It’s why we quote an earliest date rather than a fixed one.

1. Notice. You give notice to your current provider. Contracted notice periods vary, so this is the first thing to check, and it’s usually the longest item on the list.
2. Order and account manager. Your order completes and you’re allocated a dedicated account manager, who sends a welcome letter setting out the stages and the timescales.
3. Application. We apply for your numbers and submit the details your current provider holds on the account.
4. Approval. The numbers are approved for porting.
5. Switch-over date. A date is agreed, and your handsets and system are installed and configured ready for it.
6. Activation. The numbers go live on the new system on the agreed date.

Most ports run without any drama at all. When one does get held up, it is usually for one of two reasons.

Numbers sometimes come back unapproved because of something sitting on the account that nobody flagged at the outset. There’s no single common cause, and it usually only comes to light when we apply for the numbers.

Regardless of how ready you are, a notice period that was never served will hold everything up. Get your notice letter in early. We can start work as soon as notice is given, but your numbers can’t move until the period has expired. That makes your notice period the shortest your move can take.

Yes. The process you’d use at home doesn’t cover business lines.

	Changing broadband at home	Moving a business line
The process	One Touch Switch, brought in by Ofcom in September 2024	No single mandated process yet, and the business equivalent is still being rolled out
Telling your old provider	Done for you, automatically	Coordinated between the two providers by hand
Keeping it moving	Built into the switching system	Down to whoever you appoint to run it

 

A business port is only as organised as the provider running it. Someone has to chase it, and that someone shouldn’t be you. Chasing it is part of what we take on when you move to one of our hosted phone systems.

A move is the other moment businesses expect to lose their number. A wholesaler in Olney with twenty staff was changing premises, with new print equipment, cabling, and the phone system all landing on the same date. We ported their numbers and moved the phone system across, so the phones carried on ringing at the new address.

With a hosted system, this part gets easier. Your numbers sit on the platform rather than on a line running into a particular building, so there’s no port to do. If you’re already with us and you relocate, we point your numbers at the new address.

What does need checking is the connection at the new site, and we assess whether it carries your call volume before anything goes in.

Mobile numbers follow a different process, and they tend to move faster than landlines. You request a code from your current network and give it to the new one, and the port happens from there.

Across a business that means a set of numbers to request, track and bring live together rather than a single handset. The codes have to come from your existing supplier, so that part sits with you. Send them over and we handle the porting alongside the rest of your business mobile solutions.

Think about how changing energy suppliers works now. You pick who you’re moving to, and they deal with the company you’re leaving on your behalf. That’s how a phone move should run.

Number porting is part of onboarding, and we manage the whole of the switching process for you. That includes:

• Dealing with your current provider
• Applying for your numbers
• Agreeing the switch-over date

None of the above will land on your desk.

From day one, you will get a dedicated account manager along with a welcome letter setting out what happens, and when it will happen. If you ring with a question, it will be answered from our Milton Keynes office by someone who works here. You won’t be passed to a third party and nothing goes abroad.

iNTALK is the system we put most businesses on. We designed it, and we implement, install and support it entirely in-house. Because the platform and the contract are both ours, we can change your setup partway through a term rather than working around another company first.

If you’re still on traditional lines, the timing matters more than it used to. Openreach is retiring the PSTN and ISDN network on 31 January 2027, and migration orders have to be placed before that date.

A move involves more than the port itself, so a switch you plan for late 2026 has room in it. One you leave until January 2027 doesn’t. Find out more on that on our ISDN switch-off page.

Can I keep my phone number if I change provider?

Yes, and it applies to landlines, direct dials and mobiles alike. Keep the old service running until the port is arranged, because cancelling first puts your number at risk.

How long does number porting take?

Where a move stretches out, it’s usually the notice period on the contract you’re leaving rather than the port itself.

If you’ve ever moved your own mobile to a new network, you already know the shape of this. You get given a date it could take until, and more often than not it lands sooner than that.

Will my phones stop working while the number ports?

No. Your existing service carries on until the numbers go live on the new system on the agreed switch-over date.

Can I port some of my numbers and leave the rest?

Yes. We’d take one location now and the rest later. That often suits businesses whose sites sit on different contracts.

If you’re weighing up a move, tell us what you have now and which numbers you need to keep. Our Milton Keynes team will come back with a realistic timeline for your business rather than a best case.

If you’re weighing up a move, tell us what you have now and which numbers you need to keep. Our Milton Keynes team will come back with a realistic timeline for your business rather than a best case

Emily Grimes, iNREACH’s Telecoms Specialist, iNREACH Comms. For more information, contact me here.