Switching broadband provider and keeping your landline number: how it works

Your number can come with you. You just have to ask, and leave the rest to your new provider.

The answer in 2 lines. To keep your landline number, contact only the provider you want to move to and tell them you want to keep your number (this is called 'porting'). Under Ofcom's One Touch Switch process, the new provider handles the switch and the end of your old contract. You don't need to tell your old provider, and it's better not to cancel first. If you already have, Ofcom says you can still keep your number for free if you ask within one month of cancelling. The process is the same across the UK.

The 4 steps

Get the details from your bill: the account holder's name, your address exactly as written, your landline number and your current provider.
Sign up with the new provider and say clearly that you want to keep your landline number. They manage the switch, and you don't need a code from your old provider.
Don't cancel anything yourself: under One Touch Switch, your old service ends when the switch goes through.
Return the old router if your old provider asks for it, following their instructions, and keep proof that you sent it.

Who this guide is for

Anyone changing broadband or landline provider who wants to keep a home number that family, the GP or the bank already know. Mobile numbers are switched differently: see Ofcom's page on switching mobile provider.

The steps

Step	Who does it	Watch out for
Choose and sign up	You, with the new provider only	Ask for 'keep my number' when you sign up
Check the old contract	The new provider, through One Touch Switch	Your current provider must tell you about any early termination charges and other effects of the switch
Switch date	Agreed with the new provider	An engineer visit or new equipment is sometimes needed
Old contract ends	Automatically, on the switch date	Ofcom says you don't pay notice-period charges for after the switch date
Old equipment	You	Follow the return instructions to avoid a charge

Special cases

Moving home at the same time: Ofcom warns that you may not be able to keep your number. Ask the new provider before you commit.
Already cancelled: ask the new provider straight away. Ofcom says the number can be kept for free if you ask within one month of cancelling.
Landline and broadband sold together: moving only the landline can affect the broadband linked to it. Ofcom says your current provider will normally ask you to confirm what you want.
Old phone lines are going digital: the old analogue network is due to close by January 2027. You keep the same number, and often you just plug your phone into the router instead of the wall socket. See GOV.UK: moving landlines to digital technologies.

Stop: danger

Telecare alarm, pendant alarm or other equipment that uses the phone line: before switching, tell both providers and your alarm provider. Some devices stop working on a digital line. Ask for a test once the switch is done. See also our guide on medical equipment and power cuts, because a digital phone needs power to work.

What not to do

Calling your old provider to cancel before the switch has gone through.
Agreeing to a switch on a cold call you didn't ask for. Hang up and contact the provider yourself, using the number on its own website.
Forgetting services that use the line: burglar alarm, door entry system, telecare. Tell the companies that run them.

After the switch

Make a test call in each direction, and check that you can reach the emergency services.
Check your old provider's final bill: charges should stop at the switch date.
Ofcom says providers must pay compensation if the switch goes wrong or you are left without service for more than one working day.
If something goes wrong (number lost, billed twice), complain to the provider in writing. If it isn't sorted within the time Ofcom allows, or the provider sends you a 'deadlock letter', you can take it to the free ombudsman scheme the provider belongs to. The scheme is named in the provider's complaints code, and Ofcom explains how to do it on its complaints page about changing provider.

Good to know

One Touch Switch covers home broadband and landlines across the UK, so the same rules apply in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Switching doesn't fix a slow connection on its own: see Slow broadband at home: what to check first.
Keeping your number is free.

Margaret, 76, in Norwich, wants full-fibre broadband but doesn't want to lose the number her family has called for thirty years. With her son, she phones the new provider, gives the details from her bill and asks to keep her number. She mentions her pendant alarm, and it is tested on switch day. Her phone rings on the new router, and the old contract ends without her contacting the old provider.

A made-up story, for illustration.

Bobby

Sources, verification, confidence

Verified on 6 November 2026, for England. Confidence: high for the One Touch Switch process, keeping your number and the one-month window after cancelling; high for the move of landlines to digital by January 2027; medium for the exact waiting period before you can go to an ombudsman, which Ofcom has recently changed: check its page. The time a switch takes depends on the date you agree: we don't give a figure.