The short answer: not you, and not your provider either
UK phone numbers are allocated by Ofcom in blocks to communications providers. Your provider assigns one of those numbers to you. So when a sales rep says "you'll own your number with us", that's marketing. What you actually have — and it's the thing that matters — is a regulatory right to take the number with you when you move. That right is why the number on your van, your invoices and your Google listing is safe, no matter who you buy from.
The practical question isn't ownership. It's: how hard will it be to leave?
Most "providers" don't run a network
There are hundreds of UK business VoIP brands and only a handful of underlying wholesale platforms. A large share of the market are resellers or white-label partners sitting on top of someone else's switch, with their own logo on the portal. That isn't a scandal — resold service can be perfectly good, and the wholesale platforms are more reliable than most companies could build themselves. But it has three consequences nobody mentions in a sales call:
- Faults travel up a chain. Your provider raises a ticket with their supplier, who raises one with the carrier. Ask how many layers sit between you and someone who can actually fix a fault.
- Your number may sit with the wholesaler, not the brand. That's fine while things work, and it matters a lot if the brand goes under.
- Feature promises may not be theirs to make. If the roadmap belongs to the platform, the reseller can't commit to it.
Where people actually get stung: porting out
Porting in is easy — everyone wants your business. Porting out is where the friction lives. The recurring problems are the same handful, every time:
- Port-out or "administration" fees that were never mentioned at sign-up, buried in the terms.
- Notice periods that outlast the port. You move the number, then pay three more months for a service you no longer use.
- Slow authorisation. The losing provider has to confirm details. Nothing stops that taking weeks if nobody is in a hurry.
- Details that don't match. The port request must match the account record exactly — company name, installation address, account number. One typo and it's rejected, and the clock restarts.
- Numbers cancelled instead of ported. The single most expensive mistake: cancelling your old account first. A cancelled number goes into quarantine and is usually gone for good. Always port first, cancel after.
Five questions to ask any provider before you sign
- Do you charge anything to port a number out, in any circumstance?
- What's your notice period, and does it run concurrently with a port?
- How many working days to issue port-out authorisation once I ask?
- Whose network and whose Ofcom number allocation is this service on?
- If I stop paying, how long before the number is unrecoverable?
Get the answers in writing, in an email, before you commit. Any provider confident in their service will send them without fuss. The reluctance is the answer.
Our answers, in writing
- Port out: free. No exit fee, no administration charge, no conditions.
- Authorisation within two working days of you asking for it.
- Monthly terms. There's no long notice period to run down, because there's no long contract.
- Port in free too — free porting and setup is our current offer, worth £174.
We'd rather you stayed because leaving is easy than because it's expensive. If that sounds like an odd thing for a phone company to put on its website, that's rather the point.
Take the checklist with you
Porting goes wrong for boring reasons: a mismatched postcode, a cancelled account, a notice period nobody read. Work through this before you move, and download the PDF to take to your current provider.
The port-out checklist
Everything to line up before, during and after moving a number. Tick as you go, or take the PDF to your current provider.
0 of 25 done
Before you do anything
Details your new provider will need
Questions to ask the losing provider
During the port
After the port
Our policy, in writing
Common questions
No — nobody does. UK numbers are allocated by Ofcom to communications providers, who assign them to customers. What you have is a right to take the number with you when you switch, which is why porting exists and why 'you'll lose your number' is almost never true.
Related reading
See how porting works step by step, or costs and contract length.
Thinking of moving your number?
We'll tell you exactly what your current provider will ask for, and handle the port for you. Free port in, free port out, monthly terms.
- Free number port
- Free setup
- Plans from £19/user/mo
- UK-based support