Moving abroad: your UK broadband, number and email

Full processes: cancelling Sky broadband, cancelling Virgin Media, cancelling Vodafone and cancelling BT. The moving-abroad specifics:

• Sky may remove early termination charges for customers moving to live outside the UK who send proof, such as an overseas residency permit. It doesn't accept flight tickets, holiday bookings or short-term visas.
• Vodafone asks for 30 days' notice, and its terms say early termination fees will apply if you end the agreement during your current minimum period.
• Virgin Media also asks for 30 days' notice, charges you until the services are disconnected, and says you may have to pay a cancellation fee if you're still in your contracted period.

Don't pack the router. Sky's broadband terms say loaned equipment must not be taken outside the UK unless Sky says otherwise, and Virgin Media says its equipment must be returned when you cancel for a move abroad. Vodafone's 5G Broadband plan and equipment are for the approved UK home address only. Ask how to return anything on loan before you go.

Broadband is one item on a longer list. GOV.UK tells people moving abroad to give their council a forwarding address and to tell the offices dealing with their benefits, pension and tax, including HMRC. Package extras such as security software may stop too; see the extras you lose when leaving a provider.

Ofcom's General Condition C7.6 says providers must offer number porting to a switching customer who asks for it, with no direct charge, for at least one month after the contract ends, unless the customer expressly agrees otherwise when ending it. That last part matters if you cancel everything in a rush before a flight: don't agree to give up the porting right when you end the contract.

Treat the month as a safety net, not a plan: chasing a lost number from abroad, without the old bills to hand, is harder, so start the port while you're still at home. Our guide to keeping your landline number when you switch explains porting rights in full.

• Start it with the VoIP provider, from the UK. The new provider handles the request. Voipfone says most single-number ports take 7 to 14 days and can take longer, so count back from the day you want your UK broadband to end, not from your flight.
• Leave the old line alone. Voipfone tells customers not to ask their current provider to cease or stop the line, because the porting process does that. If you've already given notice that ends the phone service too, tell the VoIP provider at once.
• Expect the broadband to go with it. Porting your number away can end the old line's other services, broadband included: Voipfone asks you to accept that before it ports. So time the port for your last weeks in the UK, and keep mobile data for those final days.

We found no VoIP provider's terms saying clearly whether you can keep a UK number for years while living in another country. A&A's "use it anywhere" describes how its service works, not a promise about living overseas. So ask, and keep the answers in writing:

1. Can I keep the number on your service while living outside the UK, and is there any limit on that?
2. Will you hold a geographic number (one starting 01 or 02) for someone living abroad? Ofcom's numbering plan ties a geographic number to a connection in its area, unless the customer asked for that area code and calls to it are charged like other numbers in the code. How a provider applies this is for its terms.
3. Can calls I make from abroad show my UK number, or could they be blocked? See the caller ID section below.
4. What do you need from me to keep the account going? For example a UK address or a UK payment method.
5. How does 999 work on my account, and which address is registered for it?

If the answers don't suit you, you can divert your home phone to a mobile, but only while the UK line is live. Wi-Fi Calling on your UK mobile is a different thing: check your network's rules on using it abroad.

Leaving the number on a line at the old address isn't a simple holding option either. Openreach says traditional phone lines are being replaced by digital phone lines, which usually work through a broadband router, with all traditional lines going digital by 31 January 2027. If a line hasn't been switched by then, its service may be limited and it may be moved to EVAc (Emergency Voice and Access Continuity), which Openreach describes as a limited, temporary service that may keep basic voice calls working. So a number kept on a UK landline will usually need a working broadband connection at that address. Our guide to the digital landline switchover explains the change. Porting to VoIP takes the number off the address altogether.

ISPreview reported that from 29 January 2025, under Ofcom's updated caller ID guidance, UK phone providers are expected to identify and block calls from abroad that display a UK landline or non-geographic number, apart from a limited number of legitimate cases. Comms Council UK lists those cases in its summary of the guidance. The one most relevant to you: a call from outside the UK may show a UK number where the provider can demonstrate the call is being made by a UK customer, even though it started on a non-UK network.

Whether a customer living abroad counts, and whether your calls qualify, depends on how your VoIP provider handles them, so ask it directly before you rely on the UK number to ring your bank or GP. Incoming calls are simpler: people in the UK dial the number as before (see our guide to home phone call charges for how they're billed).

An address that isn't tied to any internet provider removes the problem for good; our email guide explains how to move to one. Two points matter more when you're going abroad:

• Recovery details that work overseas. Set up the new address's account recovery with contact details you'll still have abroad, then update banks, pensions, HMRC and other government accounts first. A security code or password reset sent to a closed mailbox could lock you out when you can't easily call a UK helpline.
• Forwarding isn't signing in. Sky counts a forwarded account with no sign-ins as inactive, and Virgin Media's forwarding stops when the mailbox is deleted. Set a calendar reminder to sign in to any provider mailbox you keep.

The BBC gives two answers that matter here. On rights, it says you have to be in the UK to stream or download programmes or watch BBC TV channels on iPlayer. On living abroad, its answer is a plain no: iPlayer is paid for by the UK TV licence and its use is restricted to UK residents only. It says it is interested in letting UK licence fee payers use iPlayer abroad, but that depends on future UK legislation.

Downloads don't change that. The BBC presents them as a way to watch while you're travelling: download on a phone or tablet with the iPlayer app while you're in the UK, and you can watch anywhere, only on that device, until the programme expires at the same time as its online version. That is a feature for trips, not a way round the residents-only rule, so don't plan your viewing after the move around it.

For people living outside the UK, the BBC lists BBC News, BBC Sport, BBC Podcasts and its radio content, with some content restricted. It also blocks iPlayer playback when it detects a VPN (virtual private network) or proxy; see our guide to VPNs on home broadband.

Netflix's rule is about your account's country, not just your connection. It says that if you move to a new country you need to cancel your membership and sign up again there: cancel, let the membership run out, then restart once you're in the new country. Until you do, it keeps charging the plan price in the currency of the country you signed up in. Your history and account details are saved for 24 months after closing.

Expect things to look different. Netflix says the shows and films on offer, audio and subtitle options and maturity ratings vary by country, and that titles on My List or Continue Watching may not be available.

If Netflix is billed through your broadband provider, sort that out first: see streaming subscriptions on your broadband bill.

The EU Portability Regulation lets people from one EEA (European Economic Area) country use their online subscriptions as if at home when temporarily in another. GOV.UK says it no longer applies to travel between the UK and the EEA and has been revoked in the UK. So online content services don't have to give a UK customer their UK content while temporarily in the EEA, though they may choose to with rights-holders' permission.

We haven't checked other UK streaming and catch-up services for this guide, so read each one's help pages on living abroad before you go.