One Touch Switching now Live

Today is the day!

There are now 166 providers on One Touch Switching. Congratulations to all of those CPs that have put in the work to make this happen.

These are retail provides of residential, fixed location, IAS (Internet Access Service) and NBICS (Number Based Interpersonal Communications Services, aka telephone service).

If you are trying to switch from a residential, fixed location, service and your retail provider is not on the list, please do let OFCOM know. I don't see Starlink, so that is the first complaint to OFCOM today.

I suspect OFCOM will take this pretty softly, given all of the challenges, so I expect more CPs to come on line soon.

Technically, I have seen no problems yet today, but I have reported one ramp up issue which was before OTS started, 21:24 last night. Even so, it looks serious, so it will be interesting to see how quickly it is fixed. I cannot provide any details because of the ramp up rules.

Stuff not happening yet...

Some of the faster switching of broadband service (next day even) is not happening yet - OFCOM have extended the 14 day (actually 10 working day) lead time on migrating services. However, I don't think there is a reason not to switch quickly if changing to a new provider - expect that the new provide probably has to put physical infrastructure in place.

The faster switching of telephone services is not happening yet - it seems this is not something that One Touch Switching does right away (yes, that fooled me too). A new process is underway way to do this, and gradually, over time, the new zero day process will come along. For now it is still 4 or 9 working days depending on the switch type. This also means it is still possible for a number port to fail, but using One Touch Switching should reduce that risk (as it checks postcode).

Switching 07 mobile numbers are not changing, that still uses a PAC (Porting Authorisation Code).

Business services are not covered - but it looks like many CPs are allowing switching of business services if you can match the details correctly as a residential match - we are. There are, of course, a lot of business only providers that are not on the One Touch Switching system at all, as they do not need to be.

Things break

None of us are perfect, though in all frankness I believe A&A are more ready than a lot of CPs, and we have been for some time. Again, I am not allowed to go in to any detail on this due to ramp up rules.

If you have any problems switching to us, please let the sales team know right away - we are monitoring the process closely and have means to raise issues with the other provider, if necessary.

If you have any problems switching away from us, you should normally contact the new provider, but you are welcome to contact us and we will be happy to look in to it. As I say, none of us are perfect.

Do remember our telephone services are not fixed location services (they are not a landline replacement) so are not covered by One Touch Switching. The non OTS porting process, as used for business services, will need to be used to switch number away from us.

Good luck to everyone involved. It may be a fun few days!