Moving house is a new address, not a transferred line

Check the new door before you give notice

The new postcode may not have the network you use today. A full-fibre house can be followed by a cabinet flat. Run the address check before you lock the moving date to an install that cannot happen.

New-build homes sometimes have an empty socket and a wait. 'The estate has fibre' and 'this plot is orderable this week' are different sentences.

Two dates, two providers

Book the new install for a day you can be there if an engineer is required. Keep the old service until you have left, if the contract allows, so a slipped install does not leave you with neither line.

Tell each provider what the other is doing. A home move is not automatically a One Touch Switch. If you also want a different brand at the new address, you are placing a new order, not sending a switch message about the old line.

What to carry with you

Account numbers, the address as the old provider spells it, and any early-termination figure. Photograph the router and the optical network terminal so you know what must be returned and what belongs to the building.

Redirect nothing important to a broadband provider’s app as your only copy of the order. Keep the confirmation email.

The week you move

Check the new address before you exchange or sign the tenancy if you can. The old house being full fibre does not describe the new one. A cabinet, a cable street, a single alt-net, or an empty new-build socket are all common. Book nothing until you know which of those you have bought.

Treat the move as two orders. One starts service where you are going. One ends service where you are leaving. One Touch Switch is a change of provider at the same premises. It is the wrong mental model for a new front door. If the same provider can ‘move’ the contract, ask them whether that is a cease and a new minimum term wearing a friendly name.

Overlap the dates in your favour. Keep the old line until you have left, if the contract and the fee allow it. Book the new engineer for a day you can stand in the new house. A slipped install plus a ceased old line is a night on a phone hotspot, which is fine only if you tested the hotspot indoors first.

New builds deserve extra suspicion. The show home had fibre. Your plot may still be waiting for a release. ‘The estate is covered’ is not ‘this house can be ordered on Tuesday’. Ask the developer which network is in the duct and whether an optical network terminal is already on the wall. Photograph it on day one.

Carry the account number, the spelling of the old address, and the exit-fee email. Know which boxes you must post back and which boxes belong to the building. Then compare providers at the new address the same way you would if you were not exhausted. The move is not a reason to accept the first brand that answered the phone.

Give yourself a week of overlap if the contract allows it without a painful fee. That week is cheaper than a night with no line when an install slips, which they do, especially in flats and new plots. Tell your employer if your job depends on the line, and do not schedule the only onboarding day of a new role for the engineer’s arrival window. Keep the confirmation email outside the provider’s app. When you arrive, test the line with a cable to the router before you blame the Wi-Fi. Then return the old kit on time, with a photograph of the serial number and the postage receipt, so a move does not end as a bill for a router you already sent. If the old contract will charge you for that overlap, ask for the daily or monthly figure first and decide with the number, not with optimism. A paid overlap of a few days is still cheaper than explaining to a school, a client, or a hospital appointment that the new flat has no line.