Text to switch – a year of making it easier to change mobile provider

Published: 1 July 2020
Last updated: 16 March 2023

It’s been a year since the introduction of text to switch, a change that has made it quicker and easier to change your mobile network.

Since text to switch was introduced, mobile customers have been able to change provider simply by sending a free text to their mobile company. They can do this if they want to keep their current number, or if they want to get a new number.

This is how it works:

text-to-switch-process

Previously, if you wanted to keep your number they needed to call your provider to ask for your porting authorisation code (PAC). But lots of customers were frustrated by the need to do this, as it often led to attempts by their provider to persuade them to stay.

Since text to switch was introduced, there’s been an increase in the number of customers switching, and we’ve also heard from customers about how much easier they’ve found the process.

For more information on text to switch, take a look at our guide.

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