Lumen has stopped selling and renewing business voice services. For organizations still using Lumen for voice, that means a move to another provider is coming.
Existing contracts will continue through their current term. After that, services move to a month-to-month arrangement. Rather than leaving the decision until renewal, it makes sense to start planning the migration early.
Voice migrations like this happen all the time. With enough time to plan around contract dates, porting and the wider cutover, there is no reason for it to become a last-minute exercise.
What "migrating your voice" entails
Migrating your voice provider doesn’t necessarily mean changing the way people make and receive calls. In many cases, your existing phones, applications and calling environment, whether Microsoft Teams, Webex, Zoom or desk phones, can stay in place.
What changes is the carrier providing the underlying voice service. Your existing phone numbers can also be ported to the new provider, helping minimize disruption for customers and employees.
The migration itself is planned in stages. That includes confirming what you have today, preparing the new service, porting numbers and managing the cutover. Emergency calling also needs to be accounted for throughout the move.
There is work on both sides. Your organization provides the information needed to plan the migration and makes decisions about the new service. Your provider handles the technical setup, number porting and cutover. Having those responsibilities clear from the start makes the project much easier to manage.
The move, step by step
Step 1: Take stock of what you have
You can't move what you don't know about, so the first job is a simple list of everything Lumen provides for your calls. Two things make this easier. Your Lumen service might appear on your bill under an older name, so look out for CenturyLink, Qwest, CenturyTel, US West, or Embarq as well. And you don't need to understand the technical side of each item to list it; you just need to capture what's there. Note down:
- Your phone numbers: all of them, including main numbers and any toll-free (1-800-style) numbers, which move on a separate track.
- Your phone lines and connections: whatever Lumen provides to carry your calls, including anything you're not sure about.
- Emergency calling: where 911 calls are registered for each of your locations.
- Call handling: anything tied to your contact center or the way calls are routed and answered.
- Contract dates: when each agreement ends, because that date sets your deadline.
- Start early: moving numbers runs on the phone network's schedule, not yours, so give it plenty of time.
- Get the details right: the account information you give your new provider has to match exactly what's on your Lumen account, or the request gets bounced and you lose days. This is why the list from Step 1 matters.
- Don't cancel Lumen yet: your numbers only move once the transfer finishes, so never shut off the old service first, or you could lose them.
- Toll-free is slower: 1-800-style numbers move through a different, slower process, so flag those early.
- Forgetting about emergency calls: numbers that move without their 911 setup leave a dangerous gap.
- Overlooking the odds and ends: alarms, elevators, and fax machines on old lines are easy to miss until they stop working.
- Leaving toll-free to the last minute: those numbers move more slowly, so they need a head start.
- Skipping the testing: switching over without checking the new setup first is how small issues turn into outages.
- Having no way back: without a fallback, one problem can knock out a location with no safety net.
It also helps to grab a recent phone bill or two, which shows roughly how busy your lines get. Your new provider uses that to size your service correctly. Keep all of this in one simple document, because it becomes the checklist you and your provider work from for the rest of the move.
Step 2: Choose where your calls go next
Next, you need to choose the provider that will take over your voice services from Lumen. They should assess your current environment and determine how your existing phones, applications and calling setup will connect to the new service.
Look at the practical requirements first. Can they support the countries where you operate? Do they work with platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Webex or Zoom? How will they manage call quality, number porting and the migration itself?
Our guide to what to look for in a provider covers these considerations in more detail.
The provider should also set out what they need from your team, when they need it and who is responsible for each part of the migration.
Step 3: Move your phone numbers across
Keeping your phone numbers is usually the most important part of the whole move, and it's also the part that takes the longest, so it tends to set the pace. The technical term is "porting," but it just means transferring your numbers from Lumen to your new provider. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Start early: moving numbers runs on the phone network's schedule, not yours, so give it plenty of time.
- Get the details right: the account information you give your new provider has to match exactly what's on your Lumen account, or the request gets bounced and you lose days. This is why the list from Step 1 matters.
- Don't cancel Lumen yet: your numbers only move once the transfer finishes, so never shut off the old service first, or you could lose them.
- Toll-free is slower: 1-800-style numbers move through a different, slower process, so flag those early.
Your new provider handles the mechanics of the transfer. Your part is mostly to supply accurate information and to resist the urge to cancel Lumen before everything has moved across.
Step 4: Set up the new service alongside the old one
Rather than switching everything at once, your provider sets up the new service next to your existing Lumen service and gets it working before anything moves. Running the two side by side is what makes the move safe: the new setup can be tested properly, and if anything isn't quite right, nothing has been lost.
Before any real calls move, the new service is checked with test calls in and out, including the everyday things people rely on, like transferring a call, putting someone on hold, and your main menu sending callers to the right place. You don't have to run these tests yourself, but do ask your provider to confirm they've covered the situations that matter most to your business.
Step 5: Make sure emergency calls still work
Emergency calling needs to be planned as part of the migration. As numbers move to the new provider, the associated emergency calling information also needs to be configured correctly.
That includes making sure each location has the right address information and accounting for employees working remotely. Emergency calling should be tested before each cutover, so any issues are identified before users move to the new service.
Step 6: Switch over in stages
When everything's ready, you switch over in stages rather than all at once, usually one location or group of numbers at a time. Each stage is checked, calls in and out, emergency calling, and call quality, before the next one goes. Lumen stays running for anything not yet moved, and there's always a way to switch back if a stage hits a snag. Moving in stages keeps any hiccup small and contained, and your business keeps taking calls the entire time. Let the people affected know before their turn comes, so they understand when their numbers are moving and who to flag if something looks off.
Step 7: Switch off Lumen
Once a location is fully moved and running smoothly on the new service, the final step is to switch off its Lumen service and close the contract, so you stop paying for something you've replaced. Before you do, run a last check that nothing is still relying on the old Lumen lines, like a fax machine, a building alarm, or a number that slipped through. It's also sensible to leave the old service running for a short grace period after each switch, just to be sure no calls are still coming in on the Lumen side. This is the step where the savings land, so do it carefully, one location at a time, and only once each is confirmed.
How long does migration from Lumen take?
Every move is different, but as a rough guide, a small single-site business can switch in a few weeks, while a larger organization with many locations or a busy contact center is more likely looking at a few months. Moving your numbers is usually what sets the timeline. The most useful thing you can do is start early. Working back from the date your Lumen contract ends, giving yourself three to six months is sensible for most businesses, and more if you run a contact center or operate in several countries. Starting before the deadline looms keeps the move calm and on your terms, with room to handle any bumps along the way. If that sounds like a lot of lead time, bear in mind that much of it is spent waiting for numbers to move rather than on hands-on work for you, so it rarely feels as busy as it sounds.
What can complicate a move
Most problems with a move like this come down to the same handful of avoidable mistakes:
- Forgetting about emergency calls: numbers that move without their 911 setup leave a dangerous gap.
- Overlooking the odds and ends: alarms, elevators, and fax machines on old lines are easy to miss until they stop working.
- Leaving toll-free to the last minute: those numbers move more slowly, so they need a head start.
- Skipping the testing: switching over without checking the new setup first is how small issues turn into outages.
- Having no way back: without a fallback, one problem can knock out a location with no safety net.
None of these are hard to avoid once you know they're there, which is really the whole point of planning the move rather than rushing it.
Getting help with the move
You can manage a migration like this internally, but it takes time and specialist voice expertise. For many enterprise teams, bringing in a provider with experience managing carrier migrations is the more practical option.
That’s where Pure IP can help. We manage voice migrations as a structured project, from technical setup and number porting through to emergency calling and cutover. We work alongside your team to keep disruption to a minimum throughout the move.
If you’re planning a move away from Lumen, or want to understand what it would involve, get in touch.
