It's easy changing your broadband provider between BT and Shell Energy. Find out how in our step-by-step guide.
Whether you're changing your broadband provider from BT to Shell Energy, or from Shell Energy to BT, it's a straightforward process. Start by letting us know in which direction you'd like to change your provider:
Are you switching from BT to Shell Energy, or from Shell Energy to BT?
You can follow the instructions below if you're switching from BT to Shell Energy Broadband.
Are you switching from Shell Energy to BT instead? Tap for instructions.
Step 1: Check your BT cancellation fee
To start with, check whether a cancellation fee will apply for ending your BT broadband service.
If you’re already outside the minimum term of your contract with BT, there will be no cancellation fees for ending your BT broadband service. You’ll simply pay for your BT service until the Shell Energy Broadband go-live date which will be given to you here.
If you’re still within the minimum term of your contract with BT (i.e. the initial 12 months, 18 months or 24 months you signed up for), an early exit fee will apply for ending your BT broadband service. This is typically 82.5% of the remaining monthly charges for the rest of your contract. You can get a quote for what this exit fee will be by calling BT customer services on 0800 800 150. Alternatively, there’s more information on how to calculate it within our guide to cancelling BT.
If you’re not sure when your current BT broadband contract comes to an end, you can check by logging in to My BT and going to the My orders section. You’ll find the contract end date within the terms of your previously signed BT Broadband contract.
If you have a BT TV subscription, this will be cancelled automatically along with your BT Broadband service. Meanwhile, if you have a BT Mobile plan, you can keep this but you’ll lose the £5 monthly discount for being a BT Broadband customer.
Step 2: Order your Shell Energy Broadband service
To progress with your broadband switch from BT to Shell Energy, go to Shell Energy’s website to order your new Shell Energy broadband service.
For more information, select the type of broadband service you're planning to switch to on Shell Energy:
At present, Shell Energy offers a range of home broadband plans including the following:
| Service | Average Speed | Contract Length | Upfront Price | Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Fast Broadband | 11Mbps download | 18 month contract | £9.95 | £17.99/month |
Superfast Fibre | 38Mbps download | 18 month contract | £9.95 | £22.99/month |
Superfast Fibre Plus | 67Mbps download | 18 month contract | £9.95 | £24.99/month |
Full Fibre 100 | 109Mbps download | 18 month contract | £9.95 | £26.99/month |
Full Fibre 200 | 207Mbps download | 18 month contract | £9.95 | £29.99/month |
Full Fibre 300 | 311Mbps download | 18 month contract | £9.95 | £40.99/month |
Ultrafast Fibre | 145Mbps download | 18 month contract | £9.95 | £41.99/month |
Full Fibre 500 | 525Mbps download | 18 month contract | £9.95 | £43.99/month |
Full Fibre 900 | 944Mbps download | 18 month contract | £9.95 | £45.99/month |
Ultrafast Fibre Plus | 290Mbps download | 18 month contract | £9.95 | £46.99/month |
See all Shell Energy Broadband Deals →
During the online order process, Shell Energy will give you an expected download speed as well as a minimum guaranteed speed for your service. Both of these will be specific to your address. You'll also be given a go-live date for when your broadband service will transfer from BT to Shell Energy.
If you'd like to keep your current home phone or landline number, remember to provide this phone number when ordering your broadband package from Shell Energy. As long as you do this, Shell Energy will arrange for your phone number to be moved over to their service.
There's no need for you to contact BT to cancel your old home broadband service. This is because the old BT service will be cancelled for you automatically on the go-live date when your broadband service transfers to Shell Energy.
Step 3: Plug in your Technicolor router on the go-live date
In advance of your broadband service switching over, Shell Energy will send you a new Technicolor router through the post.
On the go-live date for your Shell Energy broadband service, you can expect your broadband service to stop working for a couple of minutes. When this happens, it'll be time to plug in your new Technicolor router. There'll be instructions inside the package on how you can set up the new Technicolor router.
Your new Technicolor router will initially be configured with a different Wi-Fi network name (SSID) and password. On all of the devices that were previously connected to your BT router, you'll therefore need to sign in again to the Wi-Fi network using the new details provided by Shell Energy. For instance, you may need to log in again on your laptop, tablet, smartphone, smart TV and other smart home devices.
Alternatively, if it's too much hassle setting up Wi-Fi again on all of your devices, you can log in to Technicolor router administration screen to change the Wi-Fi network details back to what you had before on BT.
If you’re using a Wi-Fi repeater or a mesh networking solution such as BT Whole Home Wi-Fi or Google Nest Wi-Fi, you’ll need to set it up again at this point to work with your new Technicolor router.
Step 4: Return or recycle your old BT router
Once your new Shell Energy broadband service goes live, your old BT broadband service will be cancelled automatically. You’ll receive a final bill from BT following the cancellation, which will reflect your usage of their service up until cancellation.
After the transfer of your service to Shell Energy, you may need to return your old hub to BT:
- If you signed up to BT Broadband after the 13th December 2019, you’ll have 60 days to return your old BT Broadband Hub. A fee of around £50 will be charged if you fail to return it.
- If you signed up to BT Broadband before the 13th December 2019, you can decide what to do with the old hub. You’re encouraged to return it or recycle it if possible to minimise electronic waste.
Alternatively, if you bought your own equipment through BT’s online store, it’s yours to keep and there’s no need to return it.
If you’re still using a BT-provided e-mail address, this will stop working 60 days after you cancel your BT Broadband service. If you’d like to keep it, you’ll need to pay for BT’s Premium Email service which costs £7.50/month for up to 11 email addresses. Email addresses provided by BT end with @btinternet.com, @btopenworld.com or @talk21.com.
We'd typically recommend signing up for a free email provider instead (such as Gmail or Outlook.com). These free email services aren’t linked to your broadband provider so you can easily change your broadband service again in the future with a lot less hassle.
Start your switch from BT to Shell Energy →
More Information
Please see the Shell Energy website for more information about switching to their broadband service.
You can follow the instructions below if you're switching from Shell Energy to BT Broadband.
Are you switching from BT to Shell Energy instead? Tap for instructions.
Step 1: Check your Shell Energy cancellation fee
To start with, check whether a cancellation fee will apply for ending your Shell Energy broadband service.
If you’re already outside the minimum term of your contract with Shell Energy, there will be no cancellation fees for ending your Shell Energy broadband service. You’ll simply pay for your Shell Energy service until the BT Broadband go-live date which will be given to you here.
If you’re still within the minimum term of your contract with Shell Energy (i.e. the initial 12 months, 18 months or 24 months you signed up for), an early exit fee will apply for ending your Shell Energy broadband service. This cancellation fee is plan-dependent and is between £6.50 and £18.50 per month. You may also need to pay a £15 cease charge when you end your Shell Energy Broadband service. You can get a quote for what this exit fee will be by calling Shell Energy customer services on 0330 094 5801. Alternatively, there’s more information on how to calculate it within our guide to cancelling Shell Energy.
If you have other services from Shell Energy like electricity and gas, these are separate from your Shell Energy broadband service. You’ll need to contact Shell Energy separately if you’d like to cancel these services at the same time.
Step 2: Order your BT Broadband service
To progress with your broadband switch from Shell Energy to BT, go to BT’s website to order your new BT broadband service.
For more information, select the type of broadband service you're planning to switch to on BT:
At present, BT offers a range of home broadband plans including the following:
| Service | Average Speed | Contract Length | Upfront Price | Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 ADSL Broadband | 10Mbps download | 24 month contract | £29.99 | £29.99/month |
Fibre Essential | 36Mbps download | 24 month contract | £29.99 | £31.99/month |
Fibre 1 | 50Mbps download | 24 month contract | £29.99 | £32.99/month with £50 reward card |
Fibre 2 | 67Mbps download | 24 month contract | £29.99 | £35.99/month with £50 reward card |
Full Fibre 100 | 150Mbps download | 24 month contract | £29.99 | £37.99/month with £50 reward card |
Full Fibre 500 | 500Mbps download | 24 month contract | £0 | £47.99/month with £50 reward card |
Full Fibre 900 | 910Mbps download | 24 month contract | £29.99 | £57.99/month with £50 reward card |
During the online order process, BT will give you an expected download speed as well as a minimum guaranteed speed for your service. Both of these will be specific to your address. You'll also be given a go-live date for when your broadband service will transfer from Shell Energy to BT.
If you'd like to keep your current home phone or landline number, remember to provide this phone number when ordering your broadband package from BT. As long as you do this, BT will arrange for your phone number to be moved over to their service.
There's no need for you to contact Shell Energy to cancel your old home broadband service. This is because the old Shell Energy service will be cancelled for you automatically on the go-live date when your broadband service transfers to BT.
Step 3: Plug in your BT Smart Hub on the go-live date
In advance of your broadband service switching over, BT will send you a new BT Smart Hub through the post. Most customers will be sent the original BT Smart Hub. However, if you sign up for a Hybrid Connect, Complete Wi-Fi, Digital Voice or Full Fibre service, you’ll be sent a BT Smart Hub 2 router instead.
On the go-live date for your BT broadband service, you can expect your broadband service to stop working for a couple of minutes. When this happens, it'll be time to plug in your new BT Smart Hub. There'll be instructions inside the package on how you can set up the new BT Smart Hub.
Your new BT Smart Hub will initially be configured with a different Wi-Fi network name (SSID) and password. On all of the devices that were previously connected to your Shell Energy router, you'll therefore need to sign in again to the Wi-Fi network using the new details provided by BT. For instance, you may need to log in again on your laptop, tablet, smartphone, smart TV and other smart home devices.
Alternatively, if it's too much hassle setting up Wi-Fi again on all of your devices, you can log in to BT Smart Hub administration screen to change the Wi-Fi network details back to what you had before on Shell Energy.
If you’re using a Wi-Fi repeater or a mesh networking solution such as BT Whole Home Wi-Fi or Google Nest Wi-Fi, you’ll need to set it up again at this point to work with your new BT Smart Hub.
Step 4: Return or recycle your old Shell Energy router
Once your new BT broadband service goes live, your old Shell Energy broadband service will be cancelled automatically. You’ll receive a final bill from Shell Energy following the cancellation, which will reflect your usage of their service up until cancellation.
After the cancellation of your Shell Energy Broadband service, you’ll need to return your old router to Shell. If you don’t return your router at the end of your contract, an additional charge of £35 will be added to your final bill.
Start your switch from Shell Energy to BT →
More Information
Please see the BT website for more information about switching to their broadband service.
Alternatively, for further information, read our in-depth guides to switching broadband provider or cancelling your home broadband service in the UK.
Andy said:
VM to Plusnet: “Step 3: Plug in your Plusnet router on the go-live date”
Plug the Plusnet router into what? Don’t they need to install the thing it gets plugged into, first?
Ken replied:
Hi Andy,
Thanks for your comment. Do you have an Openreach master socket (for fibre), or an Openreach modem/ONT (for full fibre)? If not, this will be installed by an engineer during their visit to your home. You’ll then be able to plug in your Plusnet Hub router into that.
Ken
Peter Stanley said:
Does Sky use underground fibre cable or fibre via the Openreach poles? I am currently with Virgin Media.
Ken replied:
Hi Peter,
Thanks for your comment. Sky uses the Openreach network. This can be delivered either via an underground duct or an overhead pole, depending on what is normally used in your area (e.g. if your neighbours have their telephone line delivered on a pole, the fibre optic cable will also come from that pole).
Hope this helps,
Ken
Andy said:
The easy switching wasn’t so easy for me. I was out of contract and switched from TalkTalk to Vodafone, I selected keep my old number and it said they would contact TalkTalk so I didn’t have to do anything. It to the date when Vodafone installed, that went fine. I hadn’t heard anything from TalkTalk about leaving so I rang them, Vodafone hadn’t informed them but oddly now my landline number is same for Vodafone as it is for TalkTalk so how that happens who knows. Anyway, now I have to pay an extra month to TalkTalk for a notice period. So if doing a switch I would always ring your current providor and tell them you are leaving.