Pricing
& regulation.
Mid-contract price rises, the Ofcom April rule, automatic compensation, contract loopholes. The stuff providers don't put on the marketing page.
Edited by Ade·UPDATED 30 MAY 2026Know your rights.
The ones providers test.
Each route below is a single right or rule that providers regularly try to test. We explain the rule, the wording and what to do when they do.
★Featured by AdeThe broadband ombudsman: the third-party route when complaints stall
When a broadband complaint stalls, a free independent adjudicator can settle it. How to escalate to the Communications Ombudsman or CISAS, the six-week rule and what the decision is worth.
Mid-contract price rises and what you can do
The pounds-and-pence rule for contracts from 17 January 2025, what it changed, what it left alone and when a mid-contract price rise lets you walk away without a fee.
Bundle pricing and the cancel-one-cancel-all trap
Broadband, TV and phone in one bundle can each carry their own minimum term. How cancelling one affects the others, and how to unwind a bundle without an exit-fee surprise.
Ofcom automatic compensation: when you're owed and how much
Ofcom's automatic compensation pays you when broadband fails: £10.34 a day for lost service, £32.31 for a missed engineer, £6.46 a day for a late start. When it applies and how it lands.
Advertised vs minimum guaranteed speed
What advertised average speeds actually promise, the minimum guaranteed speed your provider must hit, and the 30-day window that lets you leave penalty-free if it does not.
When you can leave without a fee
Every legal way out of a broadband contract without a fee: the 14-day cooling-off period, a price rise or material change, speed below the guarantee and being out of contract.
Recent pricing & regulation.
What broadband really costs, and your rights when it changes
Most broadband prices aren't fixed. Of the 352 broadband only and broadband with phone deals we track today, 169 have a rise written into the contract and 78 are fixed price with the provider's own promise. The middle advertised price is £28 a month, but the middle deal works out at £30.32 a month over two years. See every provider's rises
Since 17 January 2025, Ofcom has required any rise written into a new contract to be shown in pounds and pence, and rises linked to inflation or set as a percentage are banned. The guides here cover your rights when the bill goes up, when to leave without a fee and where to complain.