The short version
Switching business phones to 8x8 is mostly a porting exercise. Configuring the platform is the predictable part. What decides whether the switch is calm is getting your numbers moved without a rejection, without a gap, and without taking the alarm or EFTPOS line down by accident.
Three things to hold on to:
- Your numbers are portable. Your current telco has to release local, freephone and local rate numbers when asked, and cannot refuse or delay because money is owed.
- The port date is the cutover date. Until the port completes, calls to your numbers still go to the old provider. The moment of change is the port, not the day the new phones arrive.
- Nothing gets cancelled first. Only active numbers can be ported. A disconnected number is quarantined and your rights to it end.
This guide covers the switch and the porting decisions. Once they are settled, what happens during an 8x8 implementation walks through the project stages.
How porting works in Australia
Number portability is a regulated right. ACMA sets the rules under the Telecommunications Numbering Plan 2025, and industry codes set the procedures carriers follow between themselves. Three terms matter:
- The losing carrier is the telco that holds your numbers now, whether that is Telstra or another provider.
- The gaining provider is the one you are moving to. It raises the port request on your behalf, with your authorisation.
- The port is the moment the number’s routing moves from one network to the other.
There are separate processes for different number types:
| Number type | Examples | How it ports |
|---|---|---|
| Local (geographic) | 02, 03, 07, 08 numbers | Local number portability. Slower, and multi-number services are handled as a coordinated batch |
| Mobile | 04 numbers | Mobile number portability. Usually completed within hours |
| Freephone and local rate | 1800, 13, 1300 numbers | Inbound number portability, under its own code |
ACMA’s guidance is that individual local number ports are generally completed within 8 to 15 days, and more complex ports involving more than one local number can take up to 30 days, with limited exceptions. Mobile ports usually take around three hours. Those figures assume the request is accepted first time. A rejection means the details are corrected and the request goes in again, which is where most of the delays come from.
Two further points from the rules are worth knowing. Numbers in a block, such as a range of 100, can be ported individually. And a customer authorisation for a complex port is only accepted if it is no more than 90 days old, so if a project stalls, the paperwork may need signing again.
What to have ready before you start
Most port rejections come down to a mismatch between the request and the losing carrier’s records. The fix is to gather everything first, from the carrier’s own documents, not from memory.
A recent bill from the current provider. For Australian ports, 8x8 asks for a copy of the latest invoice from the current provider, dated within the last 30 days, alongside a signed Letter of Authority. The bill is also the easiest way to confirm the details below.
Account details exactly as the carrier holds them. The account holder name, account number and registered address need to match the carrier’s records character for character. If the business has changed its trading name or moved since the account was opened, the carrier’s records probably still show the old details.
Any account PIN. Some carriers put PIN protection on numbers. 8x8 lists a missing or incorrect account PIN as a specific rejection reason.
A complete list of numbers. This is where businesses get caught. Include:
- The main number and every direct line
- Number ranges and indial blocks, written as ranges, with a note of which numbers in each range are actually in use
- 1300, 13 and 1800 numbers, which are often on a separate account
- Numbers printed on vehicles, signage, invoices, websites and old advertising
- Fax numbers
- Lines serving alarms, lift phones, EFTPOS terminals, gate intercoms and building systems
Which account each number sits on. A business that has grown over years often has numbers spread across several accounts, or even several carriers. 8x8 notes that the details can differ from number to number and should be checked for every one. Treat each account and carrier as its own request.
One more check: confirm which number types 8x8 will accept for your account. Its Australian porting documentation covers geographic and toll-free numbers. If you rely on 13 or 1300 numbers, or want mobile numbers on the platform, settle how those will be handled during discovery rather than assuming.
The lines that should not move
Every business phone account has a few lines that are not phones. They are the ones most likely to be missed, and the ones that cause the most trouble when they stop working.
| Line | Why it needs a separate decision |
|---|---|
| Monitored security or fire alarm | Many panels report to a monitoring centre over a phone line. The alarm or monitoring provider needs to confirm what it can report over instead |
| Lift emergency phone | A safety device, usually maintained by the lift contractor, who needs to confirm the replacement |
| EFTPOS or health claim terminal | Some terminals dial out over a phone line. The terminal provider can confirm what yours uses and what it needs |
| Fax | Fax over internet voice is best-effort. 8x8 itself recommends keeping an analogue line if the business faxes large documents regularly |
| Gate, door or building intercoms | Often wired to a line nobody remembers ordering |
nbn co gives the same advice for all of these: check with the device provider whether the equipment will work on the new service, and what the alternatives are, before anything changes.
In practice, most of these lines are either left on a dedicated service with the existing carrier, moved to a service the device provider recommends, or retired because the device now uses the internet or a mobile connection. None of them should be included in a port by default. Leaving one off the port is easy to fix later. Porting an alarm line onto a platform that cannot carry the alarm’s signalling is not.
If you are not sure what a line does, have someone find the socket it terminates on before the port request goes in.
How the port runs
The sequence follows a pattern.
- Build first, using temporary numbers. 8x8 recommends claiming temporary numbers from its pool to set up users, handsets, ring groups and auto attendants and test them before any number moves. The platform is ready and tested before your real numbers arrive.
- Submit the port request. The request and documentation go to 8x8, which sends it to the losing carrier.
- Validation. The losing carrier checks the request against its records and accepts or rejects it. 8x8 says this typically takes up to five business days, varying by volume and number type.
- Scheduling. Once accepted, the port is scheduled for a future date. For complex ports, the cutover date and time are agreed between the carriers. The industry code sets standard porting hours as 8 am to 5 pm on business days, and after-hours porting is only available by arrangement between carriers, so do not assume a weekend cutover.
- Port day. Calls keep reaching the old provider until the port completes, then start arriving on 8x8. The temporary numbers are removed and your own numbers take their place.
There is a choice about how staff get onto the new system while the port is pending. In a hard cutover, staff move to 8x8 on port day. In a soft cutover, calls are forwarded from the old provider to the temporary 8x8 numbers while the port completes, so staff start using the new system earlier. The trade-offs, per 8x8: a soft cutover surfaces configuration problems before port day, but outbound calls show the temporary number until the port completes, and not every old provider supports forwarding. A hard cutover avoids running two systems but puts all the risk on one day.
Keep the old service running until the port completes
This is the rule that protects your numbers. A port moves the number, so there is no reason to cancel anything with the old carrier beforehand, and good reason not to.
ACMA is explicit: only active numbers can be ported. A disconnected number is placed in quarantine for six to twelve months and you no longer have rights to it. The industry code also allows the losing carrier to reject a port for a number that is pending disconnection. So a cancellation request lodged “to get ahead of things” can make a number unportable.
If a number is disconnected in error, the carrier holding it in quarantine must reissue it within one business day if asked. That is a recovery path, not a plan.
After the port completes, review what is left on the old account. Hardware rental, internet services, lines you deliberately kept for alarms or EFTPOS, and any numbers that were not ported may still be billing. Close only what should close. Check the contract for early termination fees as well; the gaining provider is required to warn you that switching may involve costs.
Handsets and apps
The handsets from an ageing on-premise PBX usually do not come across. They were built for that system. 8x8 can issue credentials for some third-party devices, but it treats them as best-effort, with limited or no support. For most businesses, supported handsets for desk staff and the 8x8 apps for everyone else is the practical answer.
Mobile services do not have to move at all. Staff can keep their existing mobile plans and install the 8x8 mobile app to take and make calls on their 8x8 extension.
Cloud handsets run across the office network and internet connection, so the site needs checking before port day. Network requirements for 8x8 covers what to verify, and business internet failover covers keeping calls running if the primary connection drops.
Cutover day
Treat port day as a working session, not a background task.
- Have someone at the site and someone off-site ready to make test calls
- Call every ported number from a mobile and from a landline on another network, not just from inside the business
- Check after-hours routing, voicemail delivery and any auto attendant options
- Make outbound calls and confirm the correct caller ID displays
- Confirm the emergency service address for each site is correct
That last check matters more with cloud voice. The address held in the Integrated Public Number Database is what emergency services receive when someone calls Triple Zero, so it needs to be the physical address where the phones are.
8x8 says most ports result in less than ten minutes of downtime. If a number has not arrived well after the expected time, raise it immediately rather than waiting until the next day.
How switches go wrong
Most failed switches trace back to a handful of causes, and all of them can be avoided:
Cancelling the old service early. The most expensive mistake, because it can lose a number permanently.
Details that do not match the carrier’s records. An old address, a previous trading name or a wrong account number gets the request rejected and pushes the date back.
Forgetting a number. The 1300 number on a separate account, the number on the vans, a direct line a senior person gives to key clients. It stays with the old carrier while everything else moves.
Porting a line that should not move. The alarm stops reporting, or the lift phone goes silent, and nobody finds out until it matters.
Porting before the platform is ready. Numbers arrive on a system with half-built call flows. Building and testing on temporary numbers first prevents this.
Assuming a weekend cutover. Porting runs in business hours unless the carriers arrange otherwise.
Treating the port date as flexible. Once scheduled, it is the cutover. Staff training, handset delivery and network work need to be finished before it, not after.
Getting help with the switch
If you are still weighing whether to move at all, UCaaS vs traditional phone systems and on-premise PBX vs UCaaS: the true 5-year cost cover the case. If the decision is made, our 8x8 cloud communications service covers discovery, number porting, configuration, training and support after go-live, including working out which lines should move and which should stay.
To plan a switch from Telstra or another carrier, get in touch with the account details and a recent bill, and we can work through the number list with you.