One Touch Switching is an OFCOM mandated system to help consumers switch their fixed location internet access and telephone services easily and quickly.
The whole system has had a lot of delays, and is now expected to be live on 12 September 2024.
We have already updated our ordering and back end systems for this, ready to go live on 12th Sep. We have passed all tests at TOTSCO (The One Touch Switching Company that coordinates it all) and are on their live platform. However, the way it works means we cannot do One Touch Switching either way until the 12th Sep.
We are live on the ramp up for OTS from 22nd August.
The process is not without its hurdles, as covered by our director's blog. This means we fully expect a lot of issues in the first few months when this is live. Our staff will do their best to make everything work as smoothly as possible, but the whole thing is, in the humble opinion of the director, "a fiasco".
The changes only apply to consumers. Business customers are not impacted.
Well, actually, that is not quite true - business customers will still migrate in the old way, but BT Wholesale appear to be withdrawing their advance notice of a migration, even for business customers. So if your line is slammed (moved without your consent) we are unlikely to know about it until it has happened.
The process involves an extra page, with extra checks, when ordering. It does not help when moving an existing Openreach or CityFibre connected service, just adds extra checks in the process. We have made the whole extra step optional for such cases, and continue to allow migration with the old systems (as required for business customers). But if you have service with someone else, like Virgin or Starlink, you should be able to coordinate ceasing that service (with us providing you with a service), in a more streamlined way. That is the theory, anyway.
The process to move consumer internet service away from us will be slightly different - your new provider (even if not using Openreach or CityFibre) will need additional checks on installation address matching, account number, and surname. The surname and address must match. If moving to some other technology, this process will co-ordinate ceasing your service with us at the same time as your new service is provided.
When you start the process we email you details, along with any early termination charges. When you complete the process, as before, we email a credit or invoice covering any early termination charges and credits for charges already invoiced in advance. Any balance is sent automatically in a few days, or any charges collected by direct debit (or you need to pay if not direct debit).
Moving a mobile number to us uses a PAC in the same way as before, and is usually next day.
Moving a landline to us, if an existing fixed location consumer service, will involve extra steps to confirm the address and surname. If confirmed this should allow faster and more reliably porting numbers to us.
Otherwise, for services not at a fixed location, or not consumer, we offer porting in the same way as before, which is slower, and can involve a charge if the port fails for some reason.
To move a mobile number from us, ask for a PAC, as now, and give this to the new provider.
We don't offer fixed location consumer telephone services, so porting numbers away from us uses the existing process of a port request from the gaining provider.
All of our telephony services are business, or not fixed location, so One Touch Switching does not apply.
We are very worried at how the new system impacts possible slamming, see our directors blog (here).
This process is not simple to implement, and is not just "large providers". Every single retail communications provider for consumer fixed location internet or telephone services has to make this work, no matter how small! This even includes local area WiFi services with only a few dozen customers!
This is a shock for a lot of smaller providers, and we expect a lot to be caught out and miss the new deadline.
However, we have launched a free, external, unofficial, testing platform for One Touch Switching, and welcome all CPs to make use of the service to help develop your platforms. We launched this because the official TOTSCO do not have anything like this.
The service is NOTSCO, and located at https://notsco.co.uk/ and is sponsored by FireBrick. Helping small CPs.
We are also on the TOTSCO pre-production platform, so can help other CPs with their integration testing (but we'd want you to use NOTSCO first to make sure you are ready, as this can be quite time consuming).
