Move your existing number to Birchills

What is number porting?

Number porting is the process of moving a telephone number from one provider to another. It is possible to move over to Birchills's internet based telephony services whilst retaining your current landline telephone number.

How to request a number port

Start by contacting your current telecoms provider and advising them of what you intend to do - they should confirm who the losing provider is for your ports if they use someone else for their porting. Then place your porting order with us by sending an email to Support@Birchills.net along with:

• A copy of your most recent bill
• A completed Letter of Authorisation/Authority (LoA) - Letter-of-Authorisation-(Template).docx  completed on letter headed paper . 

Notes on completing the Letter of Authorisation

Having an incorrect LoA can often cause delays in the porting process. Please see the annotated example below with some helpful hints on how to complete the form:

If you have any questions about completing the form please get in touch

Porting timescales

While we do make every effort to streamline the process, porting timescales can vary depending on how quickly we receive all the correct documentation and agreement from your current telecoms provider. This is also dependent on the type of line(s) from which you are porting numbers. Please get in touch if you have any questions or see more about timescales here.

Although we work hard to minimise any impact relating to the migration or porting of a number, there may be a short period of downtime when the actual port occurs as the losing network updates its systems. This sometimes causes people dialling your number to occasionally reach your old provider rather than Birchills for a short period of time, although this is very rare.

Other services on a BT line may be affected

It is important to remember that when you port a number away from a fixed line, the line itself will usually be ceased as it is generally no longer required.

If you have other services on a BT line, such as (but not limited to) ADSL or RedCare, porting the number away may also cease those services, and you may need to pay additional charges to get them reconnected. Please contact your existing provider for more information regarding this.

You will also lose access to any services provided by your old telecoms provider, such as voicemail. However, following the completion of the port, the full range of Birchills services will be available to you on that number.

Porting a number back out

If you are not happy with our service after porting a number in, you can port back out. This requires full co-operation of the original telecoms provider to accept the number back onto their systems. If you are in doubt, check with them before porting the number into us.