How far in advance should we order internet for a new office?

60–90 days. Circuit installation is the longest pole in any move: on-net fiber installs run 2–6 weeks, off-net construction 3–12 months. Order before you sign the lease if possible — providers will quote an address under a letter of intent.

Can we move our phone numbers to the new office?

Yes — numbers follow your account, not your address, but update the service address for 911/E911 at cutover. Porting or moving service usually takes 2–4 weeks; coordinate it with your provider or advisor.

Office Relocation IT Checklist

Written by Ivan Elias, Founder & Principal Advisor · Published September 15, 2026

No fee · no obligation

Office moves are won or lost in the two months before moving day. After 25 years of moves, this is the checklist that keeps day one productive — phones ringing, systems reachable, nobody sitting in a beautiful new office with no internet.

60–90 days out: circuits and contracts

Order circuits first. Internet is the longest-lead item. Get quotes for the new address (fiber DIA primary + a different-network backup — see our redundancy guide).
Check your existing contract. Moving often triggers termination fees or renewal traps. Note your term end date; moves are your best renegotiation moment (see contract negotiation).
Confirm phone system portability. Cloud VoIP moves with you (update E911 address!). On-prem PBX moves cost $3–10k in vendor labor — often the trigger to finally switch to hosted (see hosted PBX).

30–60 days out: design and order

New floor plan: network drops per desk, WiFi ap locations, phone positions, conference rooms, printer locations.
Order network gear (switches, APs, firewall) — 2–4 week lead times typical.
Schedule low-voltage cabling contractor for the moment construction finishes.
Inventory what moves vs what dies: old phones, aging switches, that UPS from 2016. Replace during the move, not after.
Confirm elevator/alarm/fire lines at the new building — many must stay POTS or move to compliant POTS replacement.

2 weeks out: pre-stage everything

Rack and configure the new network in the old office. Test firewall rules, VLANs, WiFi, VPN.
Pre-provision every phone with the new system config; label per desk.
File porting paperwork for any number changes; schedule cutover windows — the number porting guide maps the 2–4 week timeline.
Book movers for the server/IT room separately from furniture crews.

Moving weekend: cutover

Friday evening: power down, pack, move, rack, power up in order: firewall → core switch → APs → phones.
Verify in this order: internet, internal DHCP/DNS, WiFi, one test call, all ring groups, door access, alarms.
Update the E911 address with your VoIP provider. Seriously — this one saves lives and takes four minutes.

Week one: the list everyone forgets

Update address with ALL vendors (including your old landlord’s forwarding for any stray mail-in payments).
Test inbound from outside (cell), outbound, fax, and the front-door buzzer.
Walk the floor with the first 20 users’ issues — fix patterns, not tickets.
Decommission the old circuit only after a full business week of stable new service. Then confirm the old contract actually cancelled in writing.

Most moves are the right moment to re-platform everything — you’re touching every desk anyway. If you’d rather have an advisor run the telecom side of the move (circuits, quotes, porting, cutover), that’s free.