Moving house? It’s probably time to switch broadband providers.

A house move is often a time of renewal, drawing a line under one chapter of your life while starting a new chapter.

As such, it’s also an ideal time to close old accounts and seek new service providers.

This is especially true for home broadband provision, with almost nine million people in the UK paying more than they need to after the end of their fixed-term contracts.

Service provision at your new address could also hasten the end of your existing supplier, depending on the speed of Openreach cabling and the presence of alternative full fibre networks.

If you’re among the UK residents benefiting from full fibre broadband but you’re moving to a location where Fibre to the Cabinet connectivity is the best option, downgrading your package is unavoidable.

However, it may be simpler and more practical to change your ISP while moving house, rather than trying to shoehorn existing services into a different property…

Postcode lottery

From one street to the next, there can be huge variations in broadband speeds.

Your correspondent once lived one house away from full fibre connectivity, yet had to rely on an antiquated Midband service at his (uncabled) property.

Given the importance of broadband in modern life, it’s worth running a prospective new home’s address through our postcode search tool, to see what speeds and deals come up.

Dropping from 1Gbps symmetrical broadband speeds to an outdated 11Mbps ADSL connection might mean a particular property isn’t right for you.

If average speeds at the new address are comparable with (or even greater than) your current address, there are several reasons to change your ISP while moving house:

In with the old?

Of course, this advice doesn’t apply to everyone.

People moving to or within the East Riding will almost certainly have to retain the services of KCOM, for instance.

If you’re happy with your existing ISP, they’re likely to have a dedicated moving team ready to assist with address changes and any potential costs.

This might also be a good time to negotiate discounted home broadband in exchange for remaining a customer.

Mid-contract customers may have to retain their existing ISP, unless the provider is unable to service the new address – or if the benefits of ending the contract prematurely outweigh the costs.

Regardless of whether you’re looking to change your ISP while moving house or retain your current supplier, it’s vital to ensure you’re not temporarily forced offline during the move…