Press & PR

People moving house in the UK are forced to cough up £195 each simply to keep their previous phone service provider when they move house, according to new research.

Price comparison website uSwitch.com noted that with up to three million people moving home each year, this amounts to £44 million in charges going to phone companies.

New homeowners are hit by a charge levied by BT's wholesale arm Openreach to change the line over to a new provider at the local exchange.

And uSwitch added that additional fees can push the price up to £195 just to carry on a previous phone contract.

Steve Weller, the head of communications services at uSwitch, called for action from the telecoms industry regulator, saying: "Ofcom urgently needs to grab this issue by the neck.

"It's unacceptable that loyal phone customers are effectively being thrown back on to the streets when they decide to move home."


However, another solution for new homeowners may be to switch their voice calls to an internet telephony provider, such as Vonage, allowing them to avoid incurring such charges.

In addition, by choosing a call plan from Vonage, consumers will be able to keep the same phone number and contract whenever they move again simply by taking their lightweight portable phone adaptor with them.