Moving Office? A Phone & Internet Checklist
A practical checklist for moving your phones and internet to a new office without downtime — lead times, number porting, and what to test.
Moving office is exciting, but it is also the moment when your phones and internet are most likely to let you down. Get it wrong and you could be sitting in a shiny new space with no dial tone and no broadband for days. Get it right and the move is barely noticeable to your customers. This plain-English checklist walks you through what to sort out, in roughly the order you should do it, so your office move phone and internet stays the easy part of the relocation.
Start early: 8 to 12 weeks out
The biggest mistake businesses make is leaving telco until the last fortnight. Internet connections in particular can take time to provision, especially if the new building needs a fresh service installed. Give yourself a buffer.
Check what is already at the new address.
Find out which connection types are available at the building (FTTP, FTTN, HFC, FTTC, FTTB or fixed wireless). What you had at the old site may not be what is on offer at the new one.
Note your existing contract end dates.
You may be paying for services at the old site that overlap with the new one, or face early-exit fees. Knowing the dates helps you plan the cutover.
List your phone numbers.
Write down every number you want to keep, including main lines, direct dials and any 1300 or 1800 numbers. Number porting takes coordination, so flag it early.
Pick the right internet for the new site
Your connection underpins everything, including modern phone systems, so choose it based on how your team actually works rather than on whatever was cheapest last time.
Business NBN
suits most small and medium offices, with speeds up to 1Gbps depending on the technology at your address. Look at business NBN if you want a straightforward, monitored connection.
Gigabit fibre
(250 to 10,000+ Mbps, symmetric, with 1:1 contention) makes sense for larger teams, heavy cloud use or anyone who needs the same fast speed up and down. See gigabit fibre.
5G fixed wireless
(up to 150 Mbps symmetric, 99.95% SLA) can be installed within about seven business days, which is handy if a fixed line at the new site will take longer to arrive. Details on 5G fixed wireless.
Enterprise Ethernet
gives you a dedicated, carrier-grade connection for mission-critical sites. More on Enterprise Ethernet.
A genuinely useful tip: order the new internet to overlap with your old service if you can. A few extra days of double billing is cheap insurance against opening day with no connection.
Sort your phone system before the trucks roll
Moving is the natural time to ask whether your phones still suit you. If you are on ageing copper or an old PBX, the move can be a chance to modernise rather than just relocate the same kit.
3CX
is licensed by simultaneous calls rather than extensions, so you can add people without paying per head. It includes free inter-office and branch calls, free video for up to 250 participants and free live chat, hosted or on-premise. See the 3CX phone system.
Hosted or cloud PBX
keeps the hardware off-site, which is one less thing to physically move. More on hosted PBX.
Microsoft Teams Direct Routing
lets you make and take calls inside Teams with no SBC for you to manage. See Teams Direct Routing.
SIP trunks
replace old ISDN and PSTN lines and work with 3CX and Cisco. Worth a look if you are retiring legacy lines as part of the move: SIP trunks.
A wider point worth knowing: Australia's copper PSTN network is being switched off gradually, premises by premises, as the NBN reaches each area, with roughly 18 months' notice per site. It is not a single national shut-off date. If your current setup still leans on copper or an old on-premise PBX, a move is a sensible moment to plan the switch. If you are running an NEC system that is reaching end of life, we can help you migrate off it cleanly. See NEC PBX migration.
The week before and the day of the move
Confirm install dates in writing
for both internet and phones, and ask who to call if something is not working on the day.
Test before everyone arrives.
Make a few calls and run a speed test the day before go-live, not the morning of.
Update your details.
Website, Google listing, email signatures and voicemail greetings all need the new address. Set up call forwarding or an after-hours message so nothing slips through during the changeover.
Plan a fallback.
Failover and number portability mean a delay at one site does not have to mean silence. Good business VoIP can keep you reachable even mid-move.
A quick word on cost
Relocations are a natural audit point. While you are reviewing everything anyway, it is worth checking whether you are overpaying on lines and plans you no longer need. A free bill analysis is free and no-obligation, and our bill reviews have identified savings of up to 65%. If nothing else, you will move into the new office knowing your telco spend is right-sized.
Frequently asked questions
Can I keep my existing phone numbers when I move?
Usually yes. Geographic numbers, direct dials and 1300 or 1800 numbers can generally be ported to your new service. Start the process early, because porting needs to be coordinated with your provider and can take a little time to complete.
How long does it take to get internet connected at a new office?
It depends on the connection type and what already exists at the building. Some services go in quickly, while a brand-new fixed line can take longer. As a guide, 5G fixed wireless can be installed within about seven business days, which is useful if you need to be up and running fast. The safest approach is to start checking availability and ordering 8 to 12 weeks before the move.
Should I upgrade my phone system when I relocate, or just move what I have?
If your current system works well and is not nearing end of life, relocating it can be fine. But if you are on old copper lines or an ageing on-premise PBX, a move is a good moment to modernise to something like 3CX, hosted PBX or Teams Direct Routing, since you avoid paying twice for transition work. It is worth a quick chat to compare the options for your situation.
Planning a move?
We are a local north-east Melbourne business telco based at Greensborough Plaza, with over 80 years of combined experience and a 5.0 Google rating. No offshore call centre, just real local people who can help you get phones and internet sorted for the new office, often with installation in days, not weeks, and a free bill review to find the savings (ours have identified up to 65%). Have a look at our business relocation page, or get in touch on 1300 747 266 for a no-pressure chat. Real Connections. Real Easy.
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