why does porting my landline on nbn take so long? | MATE

Unfortunately, porting (transferring) an existing landline number from one provider to another is a slow, mostly manual process. It can take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks to complete.

MATE can transfer your current landline number as long as it’s still active – that means you’re still paying a bill for it. If it’s cancelled or disconnected during the porting process, we won’t be able to complete the transfer.

Here’s how it works:

1. Once your MATE nbn service is active, we submit a port request to your current provider (the ‘losing’ carrier).
2. The losing carrier has to manually accept the request and suggest a cutover date (when your number moves to us).
3. If both providers agree on a cutover slot, it goes ahead. If not, the request gets pushed back until a date is confirmed.

Common reasons for porting delays:

• Incorrect account details (like the wrong account number)
• Multiple landline numbers on the same bill – these need to be split onto separate accounts before porting

If you have more than one landline number on your current bill, ask your provider to split them onto individual accounts. Once that’s done, we can start the port again.

Just a heads up: MATE provides a residential-grade home phone service.