Moving a client off an on-premise phone system: a checklist

1. Find out what the old system does

• List every extension, who uses it and what kind of device it is (desk phone, cordless, fax, door phone, overhead page, alarm line).
• Write down how calls are answered: auto-attendant menus, hours, holiday greetings, ring groups, hunt groups, after-hours routing.
• Ask what people actually use. Voicemail to email, call recording, call forwarding to a mobile, a reception console.
• Note anything unusual: a line that must keep working in a power cut, a fax machine, a credit-card terminal, an elevator or alarm line. Some of these should not move to a hosted service at all; keep them on their own line until you know.

2. Collect the paperwork for the numbers

• Every phone number, with the company that provides it today, the account name and number, and the billing address exactly as it appears on the latest bill.
• A recent bill for each account.
• The contract end date, any early-termination charge, and who at the client is allowed to authorise a move.

Do this first, because number moves take the longest and depend on the old provider. See porting business numbers in Canada.

3. Check the network

• Measure the internet connection at the busy time of day. Voice needs little bandwidth per call, but it needs a connection that does not stall.
• Check that the router and firewall treat phone traffic sensibly and are not set to rewrite or drop it.
• Plan where phones get power: a network switch that supplies power to the phone, or a small power adapter at each desk.
• Give the phones their own network segment if the site is large enough to make that worthwhile.

4. Settle 911 before anything goes live

Each number needs a correct civic address on file. Collect it for every number and every site, and tell the client who is responsible for keeping it current. Explain the limits of softphones and outages in writing. Details: 911 for hosted phones in Canada and our 911 and compliance page.

5. Choose and prepare the phones

• Match each user to a desk phone, a softphone, or both.
• Label phones with the user's name and extension before they go on site.
• Decide who sets up each softphone and how the user signs in.

6. Build the new setup before the day

• Create users, extensions, ring groups, menus, greetings and voicemail boxes on the new platform and test them with the numbers you already control.
• Walk the client's administrator through the portal and agree who changes what.
• Agree the cut-over date with the old provider, and a time of day with the client when a short break matters least.

7. The day of the move

• Confirm the move date and time with everyone involved. Check that the port completed and calls reach the new system.
• Place test calls in, out, between extensions, to the mobile and after hours. Test voicemail and the menu.
• Keep the old system powered and untouched for a short time, so you can fall back if something is wrong.
• Have someone on site, or on the phone with someone on site, for the first busy hour.

8. The day after

• Ask reception what is not working. They notice first.
• Check call history for failures and for calls that went to the wrong place.
• Cancel the old services only after the numbers are confirmed moved, and remember the old contract's notice period.
• Send the client their admin guide and your support contact.

If you sell phone systems today and want to move customers to a hosted platform under your own name, see phones for dealers; for IT companies, phones for MSPs. Our how it works page shows what we handle during a migration.