10 September 2026
Keep your landline number after cancelling BT (or anyone else)
Cancelling the line doesn't mean losing the number. Here's the order to do things in — and the one mistake that loses it for good.
£9.99 a monthUp to 300 minutes a month to a UK mobile included, then 5p a minute.
Landline numbers belong to you, not to your provider. The rules that make that true have been in place for years, and every provider has to honour a request to move your number to another one. The process is called porting, and it's routine — but the order you do things in matters more than anything else.
The mistake that loses numbers is cancelling first. If you cancel your line before the transfer has completed, the number goes back to your old provider's pool, and once it's there you have no right to it. So the sequence is: sign up with the new provider, request the transfer, wait for it to complete, and only then let the old line go. Your old provider will usually end the old contract automatically on the day the number moves.
To transfer a number you'll need to prove you're the account holder: photo ID, proof of address, and a recent bill for the number. Single landline numbers typically transfer in two to four weeks. If you're in a contract with your old provider, the transfer doesn't cancel any early-termination fees they're entitled to — check your terms before you start.
With Landline for Mobile the number moves onto a network that rings your mobile. You sign up, get a temporary number as soon as your details are checked so nothing is on hold, tell us the number you want to transfer, and upload the documents through the link we send. When the transfer completes, your old number replaces the temporary one and everything you set up — the mobile it rings, your greeting, your hours — carries over. Transfers are free, and after that it's £9.99 a month, the same as any number.
One honest limit: we can't transfer mobile numbers in yet, only landline and freephone numbers. If your business runs on a mobile number you want to keep, the usual answer is to get a landline number for the business and set your mobile's voicemail to tell people the new number for a few months.