Lead Times Beat Removal Vans: Ten Comms Jobs to Finish Before Your Office Move
An office move is usually run as a property project. The lease is negotiated, the fit-out is specified, the removal firm is booked months ahead, and the IT and communications work is slotted in somewhere near the end as though it were a matter of plugging things in. That sequencing is the reason so many new offices open with staff working from tethered mobile phones while a circuit sits in a queue.
Broadband and telephony are not logistics. They are dependent on third-party engineering capacity, building access and, frequently, physical construction. Below are the ten jobs that most often get left until after the first failed connection attempt, in roughly the order they need to be tackled.
1. Establish what the building can actually deliver
A postcode is not an answer. Two units on the same industrial estate can have entirely different infrastructure available, depending on what a previous tenant installed and whether fibre has reached the building. Check the address against Openreach's availability data, then ask the landlord or managing agent what circuits already terminate in the building and where the riser runs. Where a site is served only by a single provider, that is a commercial risk worth knowing about before exchange rather than after completion.
2. Place the order early, and expect a range rather than a date
Fibre to the premises is often quoted in weeks, but the estimate assumes there is no need to build anything. Where ducting is blocked, a pole needs replacing or a new chamber is required, the timeline stretches considerably. Ethernet and leased line products are typically quoted in working days measured in the dozens rather than the single figures, and can attract excess construction charges if the site needs additional work. Budget for both the delay and the charge.
3. Serve notice on the old circuits correctly
Most business circuits carry a notice period of one to three months, and leaving it late means paying for two sites at once. Ask the current supplier, in writing, for the contract end date, the notice period and any early termination charge. Do not instruct cancellation until the porting position is settled.
4. Port the numbers rather than abandoning them
Telephone numbers are business assets, and releasing them is harder than keeping them. Porting requires the gaining and losing providers to coordinate, and the request should be raised once the new service is live, not before. List every number in use, including direct dial ranges and any numbers embedded in marketing material, and confirm which ones must survive the move.
5. Treat cabling as a construction task
Structured cabling is the part of a move most often underestimated. A comms room needs space, power, ventilation and lockable access. Cabinets need patching, desks need outlets, and cable routes need containment. Where the building is multi-occupied, the landlord may need to grant permission for cabling through shared areas, and any external antenna or dish will almost certainly require consent. These approvals take time and are not something a supplier can shortcut on the day.
6. Test the service, do not just accept the installation
An engineer attending site and declaring the line installed is not the same as a working service. Before staff arrive, verify throughput in both directions, latency, and the stability of any voice traffic. Check that static addresses are assigned as ordered, that firewall rules have been reproduced, and that remote access works from outside the building. Run a test call from every type of handset in use.
7. Build the failover plan while everything is still working
A second connection is only useful if it takes over automatically and has been proven to do so. Confirm what the backup service is, how much data allowance it carries, and whether it will support voice and cloud applications for a full working day. Then unplug the primary circuit during a quiet afternoon and watch what happens. A failover that has never been tested is a diagram, not a capability.
8. Write down what you have inherited
New premises bring new contracts, and often a legacy supplier nobody can identify. Record circuit identifiers, contract dates, account numbers, administrator credentials, and who holds the keys to the comms room. If the previous occupier left equipment behind, establish ownership before you rely on it.
9. Agree the supplier handoff in writing
Most move failures occur in the gaps between suppliers. The internet provider blames the cabling contractor, the cabling contractor blames the landlord's electrician, and the IT support provider is not booked for that week. Set out in writing who is responsible for each item, who will be on site, and who the single point of contact is on the day.
10. Keep a week of slack and name an owner
However well the plan is built, one dependency will slip. Holding a week of contingency between the technology cutover and the first working day absorbs most of that risk. Assigning one person to own the communications workstream, with the authority to chase suppliers, is worth more than any project plan that has no name against it.
The practical conclusion
The measure of a well-run move is not that nothing went wrong, but that the problems surfaced before staff did. Starting the connectivity workstream alongside the lease negotiation, rather than alongside the furniture order, is the difference between an office that opens and an office that works.
