Ofcom's advice on your next step

The Internet -
Customer service and Quality service

If you are moving house

When moving house, you may decide to remain with your current supplier(s) or you may decide to switch to another supplier.

Either way, your chosen supplier should advise you to cease your existing services (i.e. telephone & broadband) at the old address whilst a separate order is raised to provision your new telephone & broadband services at the new address on the date which you specify although this will be subject to the supplier’s ‘standard lead-times’.

As with ‘switching’ processes, there are three different ways that your services can be provided at the new premises. One is via ‘Linked orders process’, another using the Single order process or via the ‘Sequential orders process’ where you have your new telephone service installed first before ordering your broadband service.

If your chosen supplier supports the ‘Single orders process’, you just need to place one order for all services.

If you decide to use different Service Providers (e.g. SP1 for voice, SP2 for Broadband) and they both support the Linked orders process, you should explain to the 1st supplier whom you approach (e.g. SP1 for voice) that you are obtaining your Broadband from another supplier (you do not have to say who) and that you will require both services to be delivered on the same day. This will prompt SP1 to give you a ‘Linked Order Reference Number’ (LORN) which you must then give to your chosen Broadband supplier (SP2) as soon as possible, in order for the 2 orders to be directly linked within the provisioning process.

If the new provider(s) do not support the ‘Linked orders process’, then you will need to order the telephone services first, and only order the broadband services once the telephone line is activated.

Because of the particular circumstances where the outgoing tenant may not have properly cancelled the old services into your new home, or there is a delay in the cancellation, you may find that a Tag will exist on the line.

The best way to avoid this Tag is to use the ‘Linked orders process’ where possible. If your chosen supplier(s) do not support this, then follow the Tag advice above.

Finally, the more notice you can give to your chosen supplier(s) the better, as provision of your new services into the new house will be subject to your chosen supplier’s standard lead-time and this needs to align as closely as possible with your target removal date. Also, make sure you cancel the services at your old property to avoid leaving a Tag for someone else!