Move Day: What to Bring Up First and What to Test

Moving Your Office Without Losing Your Mind (or Your Phones): Part 5 of 8

If you've followed the steps in the previous posts, move day should be relatively anticlimactic. The internet is installed and tested. The router and firewall are configured. Phones have been tested at the new location. You know the infrastructure works. Move day is about connecting everything, verifying it's operational, and getting people productive.

But even with preparation, the physical move day has its own logistics. The order in which you bring things online matters, and having a testing sequence ensures that you catch problems early rather than discovering them when a customer calls and can't reach you.

The order of operations

Work from the infrastructure out. Get the foundation working first, then build on it.

Step 1: Verify internet connectivity

Before touching anything else, confirm that the internet connection at the new location is up and working. Plug a laptop into the router and verify internet access. Run a quick speed test and a VoIP quality test to confirm latency and jitter are within acceptable ranges. This takes a few minutes and confirms that the foundation is solid.

If the internet isn't working, everything else stops. This is why the overlap period and pretesting are so important. If you tested successfully last week but the connection is down on move day, call the ISP immediately. Having the old location still active as a fallback gives you options while the issue is resolved.

Step 2: Verify the network core

Confirm that the router, firewall, and core switches are operational. Check that DHCP is handing out IP addresses. Verify that VLAN trunks are passing traffic correctly (if you're using VLANs for voice and data separation). Connect a device to each VLAN and confirm it gets the right IP range and can reach the internet.

If you're using a managed firewall, log into the management interface and verify that all rules are active and the configuration matches your production settings. A firewall that got reset to defaults during the move (from a power interruption or accidental reset button press) will block VoIP traffic and leave you troubleshooting for hours.

Step 3: Bring up phones in stages

Don't plug in all 30 phones at once. Start with two or three at key positions: the main reception phone, one direct line, and one phone in a common area. Connect each one, wait for it to register, and then test:

Registration. The phone should show as registered on its display within a minute or two of being connected. If it doesn't register, check the network connectivity from that phone's location (can it reach the PBX or provider?), verify DHCP is providing the correct settings, and check for VLAN issues.

Inbound calls. Call the phone from an external number (a mobile phone works). Does it ring? Does the audio sound clear? Test both the handset and the speakerphone.

Outbound calls. Place an outbound call to an external number. Verify that it connects and audio works in both directions. Check that the outbound caller ID is displaying correctly.

Features. Test hold, transfer to another extension, voicemail, and any other features the phone uses regularly.

Once the first few phones check out, connect the rest in batches. If you're using PoE, watch the switch's PoE utilization as you add phones. A switch that's powering 24 phones and several wireless access points might hit its PoE budget limit, causing some devices to lose power or fail to boot.

Step 4: Test critical workflows

Once the phones are up, walk through the workflows that matter most to your business. If you have an auto attendant, call the main number and go through every menu option. If you have ring groups, call each group and verify all phones ring as expected. If you use call queues, place a test call into the queue and confirm it routes correctly.

Test conference calling. Test the intercom if you use one. Test the paging system. Test the doorbell or buzzer if it's connected to the phone system. Test fax if you have a fax machine. Every feature that someone depends on should be verified before that person needs to use it.

Step 5: Verify external access

If your business has remote employees who connect to the office (through a VPN, remote desktop, or other access method), verify that those connections work from outside the new location's network. The public IP address has changed, which means any access rules based on the old IP need to be updated. VPN configurations, remote desktop gateways, security camera systems, and any other service that relies on the office's public IP address all need to be pointed at the new address.

Who should be on site

On move day, you need specific people available:

Someone who knows the network. Your IT person, your MSP, or whoever configured the router, firewall, and phones. This person needs to be physically on site at the new location, not on the phone from somewhere else. Network troubleshooting is dramatically faster when you can walk to the wiring closet and look at the lights on the switch.

Someone who knows the phone system. If this is a different person from the network person, have them on site or at least immediately available by phone. PBX configuration changes, trunk adjustments, and extension troubleshooting may be needed.

A contact at the ISP. Have the ISP's business support number and your account information ready. If there's a connectivity issue, you don't want to be searching for a phone number while the team waits.

A contact at the VoIP provider. Same idea. If trunk registration fails or calls aren't routing correctly, you want to reach their support team immediately.

The building manager or landlord's contact. If there's an access issue, a power issue, or a question about the building's infrastructure, you need to reach the right person quickly.

The move day checklist

Print this and check off each item as you go:

Internet connection active and speed tested. Router and firewall configured and operational. DHCP issuing correct addresses on all VLANs. Core switches powered up with all uplinks connected. First phone connected, registered, and tested for inbound, outbound, and audio quality. Remaining phones connected in batches and registered. Auto attendant tested. Ring groups and queues tested. Voicemail tested. Conference calling tested. Fax tested (if applicable). Remote access verified (VPN, remote desktop). Backup internet connection tested (if applicable). Building WiFi operational and tested. Printer and copier network connectivity verified.

Not every item will apply to every business, but the framework is the same: verify each layer before building on it, and don't assume anything works until you've confirmed it.

When something goes wrong

Despite the best planning, something might not work on move day. The key is to have fallback options and to triage effectively.

If the internet is down, everything waits for it. Use a cellular hotspot as a temporary bridge if the ISP needs time to resolve the issue. A few phones can register and work over cellular until the primary connection is restored.

If phones won't register, the issue is almost always DNS, firewall, or VLAN related. Check that the phone can ping the PBX or provider's server. Check that the SIP port (usually 5060 or 5061) isn't being blocked -- a SIP response code reference can help you interpret any error codes you encounter. Check that the phone is on the correct VLAN and getting the right network settings from DHCP.

If calls connect but have no audio, it's the same NAT and firewall troubleshooting covered in the one way audio post from the troubleshooting series. The new router's SIP ALG settings and firewall rules are the first things to check.

If something is truly broken and you can't fix it within an hour, use the old location as a fallback. Forward calls to mobile phones, send people back to the old office temporarily, and take the time to diagnose and fix the problem properly rather than improvising a broken solution under pressure.

Next up: After the Move: The First Two Weeks, covering the issues that surface once everyone starts using the new setup for real.