UK: Ofcom to make it easier to quit slow broadband providers

The broadband industry’s watchdog has announced it will make it easier for customers to leave broadband contracts if their speeds are too slow.

The new chief of communication watchdog Ofcom Sharon White will outline details of the new rules on Thursday in her first speech since taking post.

Customers can find themselves locked in contractually once the first three months of a deal had passed unless they paid a penalty fee, but under the new measures they will be able to walk away at any point if certain conditions are met.

“When Ofcom was established, access to a reliable internet connection and mobile phone was a ‘nice to have’,” Ms White will tell a conference hosted by the consumers association Which. “Now it is essential to the functioning of the economy, to the way people work and live their lives.”

She will say people still find it difficult to cancel contracts and are often frustrated with customer service.

The new rules come under a strengthened Code of Practice on broadband speeds and apply to internet service providers using digital subscriber line technology. The move will affect BT, EE, Sky and TalkTalk, but not Virgin Media, which is exempt as it uses a cable-based system.

Full content: The Guardian

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