- Simple port
- Often 3 to 5 business days
- Complex port
- Two to six weeks
- Most common delay
- Details not matching the losing carrier record
- Cost
- Free with some providers, around $65 per number with others
Number portability is a regulated right in Australia. Your business number belongs to your business, not to whoever currently bills you for it. That’s the simple version, and it’s true.
The complicated version is that the time it takes to exercise that right varies from three days to six weeks, and almost none of that variance is technical.
What a simple port looks like
One geographic number, one service, one carrier, account details that match the carrier record exactly, no outstanding balance, no contract with hardware attached. Submit on Monday, cut over by Thursday or Friday. This is genuinely routine and most small business ports look like this.
What makes a port complex
- Number blocks. Ten or a hundred consecutive numbers move as a block and the block has to be handled as a unit. More paperwork, more elapsed time.
- Multiple underlying carriers. Businesses that have added services over fifteen years frequently have numbers sitting with three different carriers without knowing it. Each one is its own port.
- Inbound numbers. 1300 and 1800 services follow a different process to geographic numbers. Add time.
- Bundled services. A number attached to an internet service that’s itself attached to a contract creates a dependency that has to be unpicked first.
The single most common delay
It’s not technology and it’s not carrier obstruction. It’s that the details on the port request don’t match the details the losing carrier holds.
The trading name on the form is the current trading name. The record says the name from 2011. The address is the new office. The record says the old one. The authorised contact left in 2023. Every one of these bounces the request, and each bounce costs days.
The fix is unglamorous: before you submit anything, get a copy of your most recent invoice and use exactly what is written on it. Not what is correct. What is written.
The sequence that avoids a bad morning
- Build the new system first. Users, call flow, handsets, everything tested on temporary numbers. The port should be the last step, not the first.
- Check the account is clean. No arrears, no unreturned hardware, no disputed invoice. Any of these is a legitimate rejection reason.
- Submit with invoice-exact details. See above.
- Pick a quiet window. Tuesday or Wednesday morning. Not Friday, not the day before a public holiday, not end of month if you’re a business that bills then.
- Keep the old service alive for a week. One extra month of line rental is cheap insurance.
- Test inbound from a mobile on a different network the moment it cuts. Not from the desk phone next to you.
Don’t pay for this if you don’t have to
Porting fees are a provider choice, not a regulated cost. Some charge around $65 per number. Both Australian platforms at the top of our comparison currently port for free, and Uniden Voice over Cloud also waives setup. On a business with a dozen numbers that’s a few hundred dollars that simply doesn’t need to be spent.
The two that topped our 2026 scorecard
Uniden Voice over Cloud scored 95/100 at $34.90 per user per month with calls, AI agents and 40+ call-flow features included. VOCPhone scored 92/100 and is the one to shortlist if the phone is a sales tool.
Questions
Can my current provider refuse to release my number?
They can’t refuse simply because they would rather keep you. They can reject a port request where the details don’t match their records, where the account is in arrears, or where the service is in a contract with outstanding hardware. Fix the reason and resubmit; don’t accept "we don’t allow it" as an answer.
Will my phones stop working during the port?
A well-run port cuts over in minutes and you keep taking calls either side. The risk window is real but small. Schedule it for a quiet morning rather than a Friday afternoon, and have the new platform already built and tested before the number moves.
Can I port a 1300 or 1800 number?
Yes. Inbound numbers move between carriers, though the process differs from a standard geographic port and usually takes longer. Smartnumbers held under a rights-of-use arrangement have their own paperwork.