Moving offices is stressful enough without worrying about whether your phones will work on the other side. Yet phone continuity is one of the most commonly overlooked parts of an office move, often left until the last few weeks, when there's far less room to fix anything that goes wrong.
The good news is that with the right planning, you can move buildings without changing your number, without a single missed call, and without your team even noticing much difference on moving day itself.
Why phone systems catch people out during a move
Traditional phone lines are tied to a physical address. If your business still runs on ISDN or analogue lines, moving premises can mean applying for entirely new lines at the new site, a process that can take weeks, and sometimes means losing your existing number altogether.
Cloud-based phone systems don't have this problem in the same way, but a move still needs coordinating: your internet connection needs to be live and tested at the new site before the old one goes down, and any physical handsets need to be ready to plug in and work immediately.
Keeping your number: what "porting" actually involves
If you're changing telecoms provider as part of your move, or switching from traditional lines to VoIP, your existing number can almost always be ported across rather than replaced. This matters more than people expect — a phone number is often the most established part of a company's identity, appearing on years of invoices, signage, and customer records.
Porting typically involves:
- Confirming the number, account details and current provider match exactly what's on file
- Submitting the port request several weeks ahead of the move (timelines vary, but earlier is always safer)
- Agreeing a cutover date and time with your new provider
- A short window, often just minutes, where the number switches from the old system to the new one
The biggest cause of delays isn't technical, it's paperwork mismatches, like an old business name still on file, or an address that doesn't match. Checking this early avoids last-minute scrambles.
Planning the cutover so nothing goes quiet
The safest way to move is to run both systems in parallel for a short period rather than switching everything off at once. This means:
- Getting internet connectivity live and tested at the new site before moving day
- Setting up and testing handsets, softphones or mobile apps in advance
- Keeping the old system active until the new one is confirmed working
- Choosing a cutover time outside of your busiest calling hours, early morning or a quiet afternoon works well for most businesses
If your team relies on features like call queues, hunt groups or an auto-attendant, these are worth testing thoroughly before the old system is switched off, it's much easier to catch a misconfigured routing rule with both systems running than after the fact.
What to check before the big day
A simple rule: if it isn't tested before moving day, assume it won't work on moving day.
- Internet connectivity: confirm your new site's broadband or leased line is installed and stable well ahead of the move, not the week of
- Handset placement: know exactly where each phone will sit and that network points are ready at each desk
- Call routing: re-test hunt groups, voicemail and out-of-hours messages once handsets are at the new location
- Mobile and remote access: if staff use softphones or mobile apps, confirm they still connect correctly from the new network
- A fallback plan: know who to call and what the backup option is if something doesn't work on the day
The takeaway
An office move doesn't have to mean phone disruption. The businesses that move smoothly are the ones that treat their phone system as part of the relocation plan from day one, not as something to sort out the week before. Number porting, connectivity testing, and a properly planned cutover are all things we handle as standard when we support a business through a move.
Got a move coming up? Get in touch early — the more notice we have, the smoother the cutover.