Moving Your Internet Subscription

Moving house is one of the few moments when an internet subscription genuinely needs thinking about. The order of steps decides whether you spend a week without a connection in the new place.

One mistake recurs and costs the most: cancelling first, then learning the new address isn't covered. After that there's no way back, and a new installation means queueing from scratch.

What to ask first

Before anything, and before mentioning any intention to cancel, ask the provider four things. These four answers determine every decision that follows:

• Whether the new address is in the service area. Give the full address. Don't rely on the coverage map, because availability on one street can stop mid-block.
• What the relocation fee is, and whether it includes new cabling.
• How long the queue is at the destination. This is usually the deciding factor, not the fee.
• When the contract ends and what the penalty is for ending it early.

Get the answers through a channel that leaves a record, such as email or official chat, not just a phone call. If understandings later diverge, that record is what settles it.

If it can be moved

Nearly always the better option when available, especially while your contract still runs. Relocation fees are usually far smaller than termination penalties, and you keep your account number and subscription history.

Points to watch:

• Request it two to four weeks ahead. The paperwork is quick; the technician schedule isn't.
• Keep the disconnection and reconnection dates close together, and ask whether billing continues across that gap.
• Ask whether the same plan exists at the new address. Sometimes the same speed can't be delivered in another area, and that's better known before the move than after.
• Confirm permission to install at the new place. If it's rented or inside a managed complex, that's its own matter and often the slowest part, covered in internet in rented homes.

If you have to cancel

If the new address is out of reach, cancelling is the only option. What matters here is contractual, not technical.

Many promotional plans tie you in for a fixed term, and ending early triggers a penalty. Amounts and how they're calculated are covered in cancelling internet and contract penalties.

One thing worth trying, which often works: if the reason is that service isn't available at the new address, put that in writing and ask for the penalty to be reviewed. It's a different situation from a customer leaving for a competitor, and some providers treat it differently. If refused, you at least have a record of why.

Rented equipment, and bills that appear later

The part that most often causes trouble months after a move. The ONT, router, and TV box usually belong to the provider, not to you.

• Ask which items must be returned, and where. Don't guess.
• Keep proof of return, a receipt or a dated photo. Bills for equipment deemed unreturned arrive when nothing can be proved either way.
• If the hardware is your own, wipe its settings before taking or selling it, because it holds your Wi-Fi password and sometimes service credentials. How, in second-hand router security and factory-resetting a router.

Bridging the gap

A gap of a few days to two weeks is normal, and better prepared for than regretted. Sensible options, cheapest first:

• A phone hotspot, adequate for light use over a few days.
• Daily or weekly data on a MiFi modem, more comfortable with several people or someone working from home (choosing a MiFi or 4G router).
• Cellular home internet, if the new address turns out to have no fibre at all. Compared in 5G home internet versus fibre, and for harder areas, satellite internet.

At the new place

Two things worth doing on installation day, because both are much harder once the technician has gone:

• Check the work before they leave. Full list in testing your network after installation.
• Update your network notes with the new address, account number, and equipment positions. Why, in documenting your own network.

If you brought your own router, its best position in the new place is almost certainly different from the old one. The layout and wall materials changed, so decide again rather than putting it in the same spot (where to put your router).

The order, summarised

Ask about availability at the new address before mentioning any intention to cancel. Compare the relocation fee against the contract penalty, and get both in writing. Request the move two to four weeks ahead. Arrange a temporary connection. Return rented equipment with proof. Check the installation before the technician leaves. That order is what separates a smooth move from two weeks offline plus an unnecessary penalty.

Frequently asked questions