Broadband contracts to be made easier to exit

Being able to exit your broadband contract if “speeds fall below acceptable levels” is the showpiece measure of new consumer-friendly reforms being put in place by Ofcom.

According to the regulator, it this month secured a strengthened Code of Practice on broadband speeds with the UK’s largest providers, although it will not apply until October.

From then, anyone with BT, Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media, Kcom and EE who do not receive the “minimum guaranteed speed” stated on sign-up can walk away.  

Currently, they can only leave within three months of sign-up (after which they face a penalty), but soon they can quit the contract at any time if problems they suffer cannot be resolved.

Sharon White, Ofcom’s new chief executive, has also outlined plans to make the process of changing mobile, landline and broadband provider easier for consumers.

In a speech last week, she said that a new ‘one touch’ process would place the responsibility for the switch in the hands of the company the customer is moving to.