As the NBN roll-out progresses, we’re seeing more and more areas coming up to their nbn disconnection date where all existing copper phone and broadband services will be disconnected in favor of the new NBN services.
The nbn disconnection dates affect those who have had either a Fibre to the Premise (FTTP), Fibre to the Node (FTTN), Fibre to the Basement (FTTB) or Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial (HFC) and occurs 18-months after an area has had its NBN network installed and is considered Ready for Service (RFS).
We have come across customers who had thought the nbn disconnection date was the date they had to order a new NBN service by, which is isn’t incorrect, but also given some of the complexities around transferring phone numbers from copper to VoIP services, could mean you need to allow more time.
As the old copper based phone services are being replaced by Voice over IP (VoIP) services, in most cases your new NBN provider will need to also transfer your old phone numbers from your copper phone services to a new platform, which requires a process called ‘porting’. Porting, the process of moving phone numbers between networks, can take up to 30-business days in some cases.
Imagine this scenario;
Michelle runs a hairdressers; all of their appointments are made over the phone and they have lots of long term clients who either know the number off the top of their heads or it’s stored in their phones.
Michelle’s shop is located in an area which had the NBN rolled out 17 months ago and the old copper phone and broadband services in the area are being disconnected in a month’s time. Not wanting to lose her phone number because everyone know’s it, she rings Provider X who discusses the appropriate service plans with her and she settles and signs on the dotted line.
It is not until after Michelle places the order that Provider X realises that there is approximately 20-business days before Michelle’s old services will be disconnected and the porting process for her phone numbers can take up to 30-business days.
See the problem? It’s purely mathematical. The 30-business days required for most phone number ports does not fit into the 20-business days before the nbn disconnection date for Michelle’s area.
So what happens? It’s possible that Michelle could lose her phone numbers. The very same phone numbers that everyone knows.
That’s a BIG problem for small businesses…
What can you do to prevent that happening to your business?
NBNCo recommends businesses should leave no more than 12-months before the nbn disconnection date for their area to transfer their services. While 12-months seems a long time out, our advice would be, if you haven’t already moved across when the network was rolled out, is to start considering the move to the NBN around 12-months out from the nbn disconnection date, with a view to making the move with 6 or more months out from the nbn disconnection date.
This leaves ample time to organise the NBN Broadband connection and porting of the phone numbers, with little to no downtime for your business.
Are you coming to your nbn disconnection date? Perhaps it’s time we discussed moving you to the NBN sooner rather than later. Give us a call, send us an email or jump on live chat and see what innoTel can do for your business.