Find out how to cancel your home broadband service and how much it will cost you if you cancel during your contract.

There are many reasons you might want to change your home broadband provider. For instance, you might be looking for faster download speeds elsewhere, you might be moving to another address or you might have found a better broadband deal from another provider.

In some cases, an early exit fee or early termination charge (ETC) will apply when you cancel your home broadband service in the UK. This will normally be the case if you had agreed to stay with your provider for a given amount of time (e.g. 12 months, 18 months or 24 months) and are now looking to cancel your service during the minimum commitment period.

In this article, we’ll explain the cancellation process for home broadband in the UK, how you can cancel your broadband service and how much you’ll need to pay when you cancel. We’ll also discuss a few alternatives to cancelling your broadband service such as improving your download speeds another way.

How To Cancel Your Broadband Service

The way you cancel your home broadband service differs depending on whether you’re moving to another provider or whether you’re cancelling for another reason such as moving to another address:

  • If you’re switching between two broadband providers that use the Openreach network, there’s no need to get in touch with your old provider. Simply order your broadband package from the new provider and they’ll arrange the cancellation of your old service for you. Both your old and new internet service providers (ISPs) will send you a letter in the post to confirm the switchover of your service.
  • If you’re switching between broadband providers that use different physical networks, you’ll need to get in touch with your old provider to cancel your service. This won’t happen automatically.
  • If you’re moving home or cancelling your service for any other reason, you’ll need to get in touch with your internet provider to cancel your broadband service.

Providers using the Openreach network include BT, EE Broadband, Now Broadband, Plusnet, the Post Office, Shell Energy, Sky, TalkTalk and Vodafone Superfast Broadband. If you’re changing between these providers, it isn’t necessary to contact your old broadband provider first.

Providers using a different physical network include Virgin Media (which uses a cable-based network) and full fibre broadband providers such as Hyperoptic, Community Fibre, TalkTalk’s Ultra Fibre Optic and Vodafone’s Gigafast Broadband. You’ll need to contact your old provider if you’re moving between any of these networks or an Openreach-powered service.

If you’re inside the minimum term of your contract, an early exit fee may apply to your cancellation. Outside of the minimum term, there won’t be an early exit fee but there could be a 30-day notice period.

The following in-depth guides can take you through the process of how you cancel your home broadband service:

Overview of Early Exit Fees

The following table shows a list of broadband providers in the UK and how much you’ll currently need to pay as an early exit fee if your cancel your service during the minimum initial term:

Internet Service Provider Early Exit Fee
BT Broadband 82.5% of remaining monthly charges
EE Broadband Plan dependent (25-35% of remaining monthly charges)
Hyperoptic Up to £20 for broadband-only, £25 for broadband and phone
Now Broadband Plan dependent (£10.32 to £11.81 per remaining month)
Plusnet Plan dependent (£9.63 to £12.15 per remaining month)
Post Office Broadband Plan dependent (£6.19 to £20.37 per remaining month)
Shell Energy Broadband £15 cease charge, plus £6.50 to £18.50 per remaining month
Sky Plan dependent (£12.41 to £24.23 per remaining month)
TalkTalk Plan dependent (£8.50 to £10.50 per remaining month)
Virgin Media Plan dependent (£30.54 to £50.46 per remaining month)
Vodafone Broadband Up to 83.3% of remaining monthly charges

If you’re outside the minimum term of your contract, you won’t need to pay an early termination fee. However, you may still be charged for the 30 days notice that you give to end your contract.

In some cases, you might be able to cancel your broadband service without penalty. This is possible if you cancel your service within the initial 14-day cooling off period. It might also be possible if your broadband speed drops below a guaranteed minimum speed, or if your broadband provider raises your price by more than the rate of inflation.

Early Cancellation Charge: By Internet Service Provider

BT Broadband

Most of BT’s services including BT Broadband, BT Sport and BT TV have an initial contract length of either 12 months, 18 months or 24 months. If you’d like to cancel your service during this minimum term, you’ll need to pay an early termination charge (ETC) to cover the remaining months on your contract.

BT’s early termination charge is the total of the remaining monthly charges on your BT plan, less VAT and then a 1% discount. This works out as being 82.5% of your remaining monthly charges. The following example calculations are given in BT’s price guide:

  • Contracts prior to 2nd February 2020 – you have a monthly plan for £30 a month, with three months left. We multiply £30 by three, totalling £90, and take VAT off that figure, leaving it at £75. Finally, we take 1% off that figure, making your final Early Termination Charges £74.25.
  • Contracts started after 2nd February 2020 including a discount – you have a monthly plan for £45 a month, with six and a half months left. You also may a monthly recurring discount of £10. We multiply £35 (£45 -£10 discount) by six and a half, totalling £227.5 and take VAT off that figure, leaving it at £189.58. We take 1% off that figure, making your final Early Termination Charges £187.69.

If you cancel your service outside the minimum initial term, only a 30-day Notice Period Charge will apply to your cancellation.

If you have a BT Mobile SIM card attached to your BT account, different cancellation fees will apply for BT Mobile. For more information, see our guide on how to cancel a BT Mobile contract. Alternatively, you can continue using your BT Mobile SIM cards after cancelling your other services but you’ll lose the £5/month discount for BT Broadband customers.

You can cancel your BT service by calling them on 0800 783 1401.

Source: BT Website: Thinking of leaving BT?
Plan Information: BT Website

EE Broadband

If you’re cancelling your EE home broadband service during the minimum contracted term, an early cancellation fee will apply.

You’ll need to contact EE to get a quote for your early cancellation charge, but it’s typically around 25-35% of the remaining charges for your minimum term. This is because EE makes a reduction for VAT and any costs they save as a result of your cancellation (e.g. wholesale costs). They’ll then remove a further 4% as an early receipt discount:

How do we calculate Early Cancellation Charges?

  1. We add together all outstanding monthly (or other periodic) charges, excluding VAT. If you have a monthly recurring subscription discount we will take that into account
  2. We then reduce the charge to take account of any costs we save as a result of you leaving early, such as wholesale costs where applicable
  3. We then take off 4 per cent for early receipt
  4. Finally, we multiply this by the remainder of your minimum term to get the final cancellation charge

The following example calculations are given in EE’s home broadband price guide:

Example 1: you are on the Standard Broadband plan at £31 a month, with a £12 monthly discount, and cancel with 2 months left in your minimum term;
We remove VAT from your monthly charge of £19 (£31-£12) to get £15.83
Then we reduce the charge to take account of costs we save to get £7.09
We take 4% for early repayment to get £6.81
Finally we multiply this by the 2 months to get a cancellation charge of £13.62

Example 2: you are on the Fibre Broadband plan at £36 a month, with an £11 monthly discount, and cancel with 6 months left in your minimum term;
We remove VAT from your monthly charge of £25 (£36-£11) to get £20.83
Then we reduce the charge to take account of costs we save to get £6.58
We take 4% for early receipt to get £6.32
Finally we multiply this by the 6 months to get a cancellation charge of £37.92

If you have the old EE TV service, you’ll need to return your EE TV box within 30 days of cancelling your service (otherwise, a fee of £175 will be charged on your final bill).

If your EE mobile phone is in receipt of a mobile data boost, you’ll lose this when you cancel your EE home broadband service.

You can cancel your EE home broadband service by giving them a call on 0800 079 0544.

Source: EE Help article: How do I cancel my broadband, landline or TV plan?
Plan Information: EE Broadband Website

Hyperoptic

If you cancel your Hyperoptic service during the minimum commitment period (normally the first 12 months), you’ll need to pay a £20 service termination fee for a broadband-only service and a £25 service termination fee for the broadband and phone service.

Alternatively, if the remaining charges for your minimum commitment period are less than this, you’ll only be charged the remaining amount as your service termination fee.

Source: Hyperoptic Price Guide
Plan Information: Hyperoptic Website

Now Broadband

On Now Broadband, you’ll need to pay an early termination charge (ETC) if you cancel your service during the minimum 12-month term (unless you’re on the No Contact broadband option).

The early termination charge is based on the plan you’re on and the number of months remaining on your Now Broadband contract:

Now Broadband Plan Early Termination Charge
Brilliant Broadband £10.32 per remaining month
Fab Fibre £10.33 per remaining month
Super Fibre £11.81 per remaining month

This is pro-rated based on the number of days remaining on your contract with the final early termination charge rounded up to the nearest 25p. To give an example, a customer with three months remaining on Brilliant Broadband would be charged £31 (£10.32 x 3 months = £30.96, which is then rounded up to give £31).

Source: Now TV Help: Early Termination Charges
Plan Information: Now Broadband

Plusnet

On Plusnet, the charge for ending your broadband or TV contract early will depend on when you started your contract.

For customers who signed up to Plusnet before the 10th December 2019, the early termination charge will be as follows:

Plusnet Broadband Plan Early Termination Charge
Unlimited (ADSL) £11.85 per remaining month (Broadband Only)
£12.15 per remaining month (Broadband + Phone)
£3.66 per remaining month (Line Rental Saver customers)
Unlimited Fibre £9.46 per remaining month (Broadband Only)
£11.29 per remaining month (Broadband + Phone)
£2.80 per remaining month (Line Rental Saver customers)
Unlimited Fibre Extra £9.63 per remaining month (Broadband Only)
£11.61 per remaining month (Broadband + Phone)
£3.12 per remaining month (Line Rental Saver customers)
YouView TV £1.80 per remaining month

Customers who signed up to Plusnet after the 9th December 2019 will need to obtain a personalised quote for their cancellation cost from Plusnet. The cancellation cost will be based on your remaining monthly payments, less VAT, any costs saved by Plusnet (e.g. wholesale) and 1% for early receipt of your payment. We expect this is likely to come out at around 30-40% of your remaining monthly costs.

Source: Plusnet Website: Early Termination Charges
Plan Information: Plusnet Website

Post Office Broadband

If you cancel your Post Office broadband or home phone service during the minimum initial term, you’ll incur an early termination charge based on the number of months remaining on your contract:

Post Office Broadband Plan Early Termination Charge
Post Office Home Phone £6.19 per remaining month (sign ups until the 31st January 2019)
No early termination charge (sign ups from the 1st February 2019)
Post Office Broadband Connect £11.53 per remaining month
Post Office Unlimited Broadband £11.53 per remaining month
Post Office Unlimited Fibre Broadband £20.15 per remaining month
Post Office Unlimited Fibre Broadband Plus £20.37 per remaining month
Post Office Broadband Basics £11.53 per remaining month

This charge is detailed within the Post Office broadband & home phone price guide.

Source: Post Office: Broadband & Home Phone Price Guide
Plan Information: Post Office Broadband & Phone

Shell Energy Broadband

If you’re a customer of Shell Energy Broadband, you’ll need to pay a £15 cease charge and an early termination charge for ending your broadband contract early:

Shell Energy Broadband Plan Early Termination Charge
Fast Broadband £6.50 per remaining month plus £15 cease charge
Superfast Fibre £16.50 per remaining month plus £15 cease charge
Superfast Fibre Plus £18.50 per remaining month plus £15 cease charge

You’ll also need to return your router within 30 days of cancelling the service, or a fee of £35 will be charged on your final bill.

Source: Shell Energy Broadband: Terms and Conditions
Plan Information: Shell Energy Broadband Website

Sky

If you’d like to cancel your Sky Broadband or Sky TV contract before the end of the minimum term (usually 12 months or 18 months long), you’ll need to pay an early termination charge for this.

The following table shows the early termination charge for Sky Broadband contracts that include line rental within the price:

Sky Broadband Plan Early Termination Charge
Sky Broadband Essential £13.91 per remaining month
Sky Fibre Unlimited Pro (where taken after 15 May 2019) £22.49 per remaining month
Sky Broadband Superfast £12.41 per remaining month
Sky Broadband Ultrafast 1 £24.23 per remaining month
Sky Broadband Boost £3.14 per remaining month

Any discounts you have on your plan will be taken into account when calculating the early termination charge. The final amount will then be rounded up to the nearest 25p. The following worked example is given on Sky’s website:

You have Sky Broadband Essential for £27.00 a month, and the Sky Broadband Boost Product for £5.00 per month with four months remaining on your contract and a £5.00 discount on Sky Broadband Essential.

For Sky Broadband Essential (£27.00) we’ll deduct VAT, business costs and accelerated receipt discount, leaving £13.91. We’ll then deduct the £5 discount for Sky Broadband Essential, giving a £8.91 monthly ETC rate, then multiply this by four (your remaining months) and round up to the nearest 25p, totalling £35.75.

For Sky Broadband Boost (£5.00) we‘ll deduct VAT, business costs and accelerated receipt discount, leaving £3.14. Again, we’ll multiply this by four (your remaining months) and round up to the nearest 25p, totalling £12.75.

Your total payable ETC would be £48.50.

If you’re also cancelling your Sky TV contract, the early termination charge will be calculated as follows:

TV Plan Early Termination Charge
Sky TV Package £16.36 per remaining month
Multiscreen (taken before 4 March 2020) £10.53 per remaining month
Multiscreen (taken after4 March 2020) £11.67 per remaining month
Sky Q Multiscreen £11.88 per remaining month
Sky Q Bundle £31.16 per remaining month
Sky Q Silver Bundle (Including Sky Q Bundle) £42.04 per remaining month
Sky Q Silver Bundle (If keeping another Sky TV package) £10.88 per remaining month

If you have a Sky Mobile handset or SIM card, your early termination charges will be different. See our guide on how to cancel your Sky Mobile contract.

Source: Sky: Charges for ending your Sky contract early
Plan Information: Sky Website

TalkTalk

On TalkTalk, it’s possible to cancel your broadband service during the minimum term of your contract by paying an early termination charge. This is based on the number of months remaining on your contract:

TalkTalk Broadband Plan Early Termination Charge
Fast Broadband £9.00 per remaining month
Faster Fibre £8.50 per remaining month
Ultra Fibre Optic £10.50 per remaining month
Future Fibre £5.00 per remaining month

To cancel your service, you can call TalkTalk Customer Services on 0345 172 0046.

Source: TalkTalk Community – Cancel your TalkTalk service
Plan Information: TalkTalk Website

Virgin Media

If you’re a Virgin Media customer, you can cancel your contract subject to an initial 30-day notice period where you’ll pay full fees, followed by an early disconnection fee to take you to the end of your contract period. The early disconnection fee is as follows:

Virgin Media Broadband Plan Early Termination Charge
M50 Broadband £30.54 per remaining month
M100 Broadband £35.52 per remaining month
M100 Broadband with Oomph £32.20 per remaining month
M200 Broadband £40.50 per remaining month
M200 Broadband with Oomph £37.18 per remaining month
M350 Broadband £45.48 per remaining month
M500 Broadband £50.46 per remaining month
Gig1 Broadband £49.98 per remaining month

If you have other Virgin Media services such as home phone and TV, your early disconnection fees will be higher and will be listed on this page.

The Early Disconnection Fee is capped at a maximum of £240 across all of your Virgin Media services. You’ll need to return all of the kit provided to you by Virgin including your Virgin TV V6 box and your Hub 3 or Hub 4 home broadband router.

To cancel your Virgin Media services, you can contact Virgin Media on 0345 454 1111 or through a page on their website.

If you have a Virgin Mobile handset or SIM card, see our guide on how to cancel your Virgin Mobile service.

Source: Virgin Media Terms & Conditions: Early Disconnection Fees
Plan Information: Virgin Media Website

Vodafone Broadband

If you’re a Vodafone home broadband customer, you can cancel your contract during the minimum contract period by paying an early termination fee. This is typically 83.3% of all of the remaining payments on your contract (Vodafone offers a discount as they don’t charge VAT on the early termination fee).

The following worked examples are given in the Vodafone home phone and broadband price guide:

Example 1: If you are a Pay Monthly Customer on the 24 month Superfast 2 plan with a £3 Vodafone Together Discount and terminate your agreement with us with 6 months remaining in your Minimum Period, your Early Termination Fee would be £32.76 (£5.46 x 6 months left in contract).

Example 2: If you are on the 12 month standalone Gigafast 100 plan and terminate your agreement with us with 4 months remaining in your Minimum Period, your Early Termination Fee would be £108.44 (£27.11 x 4 months left in contract).

If you’re moving home to an address where Vodafone Broadband isn’t available, the early termination fee will be waived by Vodafone.

If you’re cancelling your Vodafone mobile contract, see our guide on how to cancel your Vodafone mobile contract instead.

Source: Vodafone Home Phone & Broadband Price Guide
Plan Information: Vodafone Broadband Website

Alternatives to Cancelling Early

In general, it’s normally best to try and avoid cancelling your broadband contract early as you’ll need to pay an early exit fee for a broadband service that you aren’t able to use.

In the following section, we’ll discuss a couple of alternatives to cancelling your home broadband service early, depending on the situation you’re in.

Improving Download Speeds

If you’re suffering from poor download speeds, it’s worth checking a couple of things before you can change your internet provider.

Firstly, it’s important to see if the poor download speeds are actually being caused by your internet connection or by your wi-fi connection.

The best way to check is by plugging a wired device into your home broadband router using an Ethernet cable. If the poor download speeds are happening only when you’re connected to wi-fi, consider getting a wi-fi repeater or a mesh wi-fi networking solution (e.g. BT Whole Home Wi-Fi or Google Wi-Fi). Your broadband provider may also offer a service that improves your home wi-fi connection (e.g. BT Complete Wi-Fi, Sky Broadband Boost or EE Smart Wi-Fi).

If the issue with poor download speeds is indeed from your broadband connection, your provider may offer you penalty-free cancellation if it doesn’t meet the minimum guaranteed download speed. In this case, you could consider moving to another provider but you may experience the exact same problem elsewhere if it’s still being delivered through the same Openreach phone line connection. If so, you should consider changing to a broadband provider that uses a different physical network such as Virgin Media (which uses a cable connection) or Three Broadband (which uses a 4G or 5G connection).

Moving Home

If you’re moving to another address, it might be possible to transfer your home broadband service to it. When you do this, you’ll be able to continue your current contract without paying any early exit fees (though some ISPs may require you to commit for another minimum term when you request a home move).

In many cases, the broadband service available at your new address will be different to what you’re able to get at your current address. For instance, you might be moving to a home where you’re unable to get a service from your current broadband provider. In this case, you’ll need to check with your ISP to see what their policies are. For instance, Virgin Media will require you to pay the early disconnection fee in full. Meanwhile, Vodafone will waive their early termination charge when you move to an address where it isn’t possible to get Vodafone Broadband.

Found A Better Deal

EE offers £50 early cancellation credit on their home broadband service.

If you’ve found a better broadband deal elsewhere, you’ll need to decide whether you’re still better off after paying the early exit fee from your old provider.

To minimise any early exit fees you might need to pay, check to see if your new provider will allow you to delay the start date. Alternatively, they might agree to credit you for some of the early exit fees. For instance, EE offers a £50 early cancellation credit for customers who receive an early termination charge from their old provider.

More Information

For more information on how to cancel your home broadband service, refer to your internet service provider’s website as linked to above.

You can also read our in-depth guides to home broadband in the UK, including our detailed reviews of all the major home broadband providers.

Your Comments 37 so far

We'd love to hear your thoughts and any questions you may have. So far, we've received 37 comments from readers. You can add your own comment here.

  • Robin said:

    I have 8 months left of an 18 month contract with Sky for broadband only. I live in a rural area with very poor broadband coverage. I was getting around 4mbps on a good day at the start but this has now fluctuates from 1 to 3mbps. The guaranteed speed in my contract is 0mbps! Is there likely a way to cancel without charge due to Sky not being able to provide an adequate service? I’m looking to switch to satellite Internet.
    Many thanks

    • Ken replied:

      Hi Robin,
      Sorry to hear about the problems you’ve been experiencing on Sky Broadband. Ordinarily, it’s unlikely they’ll offer a free cancellation but you should definitely make the argument to them that they’re not providing the services they described. The best thing to do would be to put in a formal complaint in writing with Sky, asking them to remedy the situation or to offer you a penalty-free cancellation. It’s possible they would then decide to grant this to you, if you’re able to make your case. As an aside, I’m not sure if you’ve considered 4G home broadband but that’s also a possible option if you have coverage in your area. At the moment, for Black Friday 2020, you can get unlimited 4G home broadband on Three for just £17/month (see here) – possibly one to consider as you can also use it alongside Sky Broadband. Normally, latency and speeds should be better than using a satellite-based service (providing you can get it where you live, of course).
      Ken

  • June said:

    I had Virgin package installed on 12 October but the phone line never worked I have tried phoning many times with no answer I have made complaints by email and received only confirmation. The service is non existent therefore I would now like to cancel. My first direct debit is due in a couple of days can I cancel it?

    • Ken replied:

      Hi June,
      Thanks for your comment, and sorry to hear about the issues you’ve had with Virgin Media. I’d recommend making a formal complaint in writing to Virgin Media here through their website. That’s likely to be the best way of getting the issue resolved.
      I wouldn’t recommend cancelling your Direct Debit with them. If you do, they’ll still try to pursue you for the money and may add a record of the missed payment to your credit files.
      Ken

  • L said:

    I am with Talk Talk and am being moved by my housing association locally because of severe problems with my current flat that are causing serious health problems, so it is an emergency that they are moving me and are paying removals for me because of my financial poverty. I have a very basic broadband with TT. I have just learned they charge £60 for moving, which I simply can’t afford. Nor can I afford cancellation fees. I would have liked to keep TT and the same contract but I can’t with such charges and will have to do without any phone/internet at all with this cost.

    Is there anything I can do to avoid the £60 charge? I notice many companies don’t so why do TT charge this?

    • Ken replied:

      Hi L,
      I’m really sorry to hear about the problems with your flat and with TalkTalk. Unfortunately, I’m just a third-party blogger writing about them so I wouldn’t be able to respond on their behalf. I’d recommend getting in touch by giving them a call on 0345 172 0046 to see whether they’d be able to waive this for you.
      Ken

      • L replied:

        Hi Ken~

        Many thanks. I understand your position and will see what I can do directly with TalkTalk. I really don’t know how they can justify such a high cost, particularly when not all broadband companies charge as they do.

        Best Wishes,

        Leandra

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