How to switch broadband provider in the UK: the nine steps, on one map

The whole switch on one map

Direct answer: Four parties take part in every switch: you, your new provider, your old provider and the industry hub that passes messages between them. Three of the nine steps are yours.

Follow the numbers. Everything up to step 5 happens before the switch order is placed: your new provider asks your old one to find your account, your old provider tells you in writing what leaving will cost, and nothing goes further until you say yes.

The pink line is the one to notice. It is the only message in the whole process that comes straight to you from the company you are leaving, and it is where an early exit charge shows up before the switch goes ahead. Ofcom's wording is plain: “Your current provider will send you important information, including details of any charges.”

The dashed line is the snag with a number on it. In August 2026 the hub carried 601,491 match requests and 213,359 match failures, which is about 35 for every 100 requests. A failed match is not a failed switch. The match is made on the address and then the surname, so the first thing to do is check both and ask for the request to be sent again.

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The nine steps, one at a time

Direct answer: You order, you read one message and you plug in a router. The other six steps happen between the two providers.

Ofcom sums the whole process up in two sentences: “Switching broadband is simple with One Touch Switch. Contact the provider you want to move to, and they will manage the switch for you.” The nine steps below are what sits behind them. Each one says who acts, what you have to do, and the one thing worth knowing at that point.

1. 1
   You

   Order with your new provider

   What happens. You pick a deal and order it online, by phone or in a shop. From here your new provider runs the switch.

   What you do. Ofcom lists what you will be asked for: “They will ask for your address, your current provider, and the services you want to switch.” Give the account holder's surname as it appears on the bill, and say now if you want to keep your landline number.

   Good to know. An account number is optional. It can rescue a match that fails first time.

2. 2
   New provider

   Your new provider sends a match request

   What happens. Your details go to the TOTSCo hub, the message system providers plug into, and the hub passes the request to your old provider.

   What you do. Nothing. Stay on the page or on the call.

   Good to know. 349 provider brands were live in the hub directory when we checked.

3. 3
   Old provider

   Your old provider looks for your account

   What happens. It finds the address first, then checks the surname on the account against the one you gave. If both line up it confirms the match.

   What you do. Only if it cannot find you. Check the address as your bill shows it, the account holder's surname and that you named the right provider, then ask your new provider to send the request again.

   Good to know. Brands change hands, so the name on the router is not always the company that bills you. The name on the bill is the one to give.

   No match? Nothing is lost and no switch order has been placed. Correct the details with your new provider and the request goes again.

4. 4
   Old provider

   Your old provider sends you the switching information

   What happens. Your old provider must tell you in writing what leaving will cost and what else it affects: any early exit charge, and any services that would end with the switch.

   What you do. Watch for an email or a text. It comes by post if that is how you asked to be contacted.

   Good to know. It is sent by the quickest route your old provider has for you, and no switch order has been placed yet.

5. 5
   You

   You read it, then say yes or no

   What happens. Nothing, until you decide. The switch only goes ahead if you tell your new provider to proceed.

   What you do. Read the exit charge and the list of affected services. If you are happy, tell your new provider to go ahead.

   Good to know. The match stays valid for 31 days, so there is time to think. Your 14 days to cancel can start on the day you agree the contract, not the day the service goes live.

   Say no and nothing changes. Your current service carries on as it is.

6. 6
   New provider

   Your new provider books the switch date

   What happens. It places the switch order through the hub and your old provider accepts it. If you are keeping your landline number, your new provider arranges that as part of the switch.

   What you do. Agree a date that suits you, and be in if an engineer is coming.

   Good to know. Ofcom on the date: “If you decide to go ahead, the new provider may be able to arrange the switch for your preferred date.” New equipment or an engineer visit makes it later, and your new provider should tell you which applies.

7. 7
   New provider

   Switch day: your new service goes live

   What happens. Your new provider turns the service on and tells your old provider, through the hub, that the switch is done.

   What you do. Be in if an engineer is booked. Otherwise there is nothing to do until the service is live.

   Good to know. Ofcom sets the limit on any gap: “Any loss of service should not last longer than one working day.”

8. 8
   Old provider

   Your old service and billing stop

   What happens. You do not ring to cancel. Ofcom again: “Once your new service is working, your old service should cease automatically.” A final bill follows.

   What you do. Return the old router if you are asked to, and cancel any extras that were not part of the switch, such as pay TV.

   Good to know. The rule on billing is one sentence long: “Your old provider must not charge you for any notice period after the switchover date.”

9. 9
   You

   You plug in, and you are online

   What happens. Once the new service is working the switch is complete.

   What you do. Plug in the new router and reconnect your devices. Then run a speed test and check the first bill against the price you were quoted.

   Good to know. Your 14 days to cancel can run from the day you agreed the contract, so check how much of the time is left. If you use it, Ofcom's warning is blunt: “Your old service will not automatically be reinstated.” Line up an alternative first.

Before you order: three things to check first

Direct answer: Find out whether you are still inside a minimum term, what reaches your address, and which parts of your current package you want to keep.

Are you in or out of contract?

Your provider has to tell you when your minimum term is about to end. The notice arrives by text, email or letter between 10 and 40 days before the end date, and it has to show what you pay now, what you will pay afterwards and the provider's best deals. Once your minimum term has ended, an early exit charge no longer applies. If you are not sure where you stand, your bill, the provider's app or its website will tell you.

Out of contract is usually the expensive place to be. Ofcom's figures put a household taking broadband, landline and pay TV from one provider at an average of £78 a month out of contract, against £69 for customers still in one. Those are averages across providers, and what you would save depends on your address and your package. Our guide to out of contract prices has the detail by provider.

What reaches your address?

One Touch Switch works across networks, so you are not limited to providers on the network you use today. That includes Virgin Media's cable network and the independent full fibre networks. Ofcom's count is wide: “More than 300 providers are signed up to the process, making it easier to shop around for a better deal.” A postcode check lists the ones at your address. If you are curious which network your current provider runs on, this guide shows you how to tell.

What do you want to keep?

• Your landline number. Say so when you order. What happens to your number when you switch.
• An email address from your provider. Ask your current provider what happens to it before you order. Will you lose your email address?
• Pay TV. It is not moved by the switch and may need cancelling separately. What happens to your TV package.
• A care alarm or pendant on the phone line. Tell the new provider before the switch date is booked. Care alarms, pendants and security alarms.

How long a switch takes

Direct answer: Your new provider sets the date with you. Ofcom designed the process to allow a switch in as little as one day where that is possible, and the only fixed limit is on how long you can be left offline.

Neither Ofcom nor TOTSCo publishes a figure for how long a whole switch takes. Ofcom publishes a limit on how long you can be left without service, which is a different question.

What decides the date is the work at your home rather than the paperwork. Moving between two providers on the same network often needs nothing done at your home. Moving to a different network, or from part fibre to full fibre, usually means new equipment and often an engineer. Ofcom puts that inside the process, not outside it: “If you're moving to a different network, your new provider should tell you if you need an engineer visit, new equipment or any other setup steps.”

The limit that is fixed is the gap. “Any loss of service should not last longer than one working day.” If it does, you are owed compensation, which is covered further down.

Some people want both lines running side by side for a few days, for instance when they work from home. You can arrange that yourself, but read Ofcom's caution first: “You might choose to manage your own switch, for example if you want an overlap between your old and new service. However, bear in mind the One Touch Switch process would not apply in this case.” Our guide to overlapping old and new services sets out when the extra cost is worth it.

If a day offline would hurt, pick a switch date you could absorb one on. Not the morning of a deadline, and not the day before you go away. For what happens on the day itself, see the installation day checklist.

What switching costs, and what it cannot cost you

Direct answer: The one charge tied to leaving is an early exit charge, and it only applies inside your minimum term. Your old provider must tell you the figure before you switch, and it cannot charge you notice past your switch date.

Ofcom states the one real cost in a sentence: “If you switch before the end of your contract, you might need to pay early termination charges.” And the protection that goes with it in another: “If you switch using One Touch Switch, your provider must tell you about any charges before you switch.” That is step 4 on the map. The figure reaches you in writing before the switch goes ahead, so you can decide with the real number in front of you.

Some providers will pay towards an exit charge to win your custom. We keep a list of providers that pay your exit fees, with the limits on each offer. If the charge is larger than the saving, it can be cheaper to wait: our guide to leaving a contract early shows how to work it out.

On notice, the rule is short. “Your old provider must not charge you for any notice period after the switchover date.” If a final bill carries notice beyond that date, it is wrong and worth challenging.

When a switch goes wrong

Direct answer: The rules put the cost on the provider. You are owed compensation if a switch leaves you without service for more than one working day, or if a confirmed appointment is missed.

Ofcom's rule, in its own words: “Your provider must compensate you in certain cases, including if you are left without service for more than one working day, or if they miss a confirmed service or installation appointment.”

Two sets of rules sit behind that sentence and they are easy to confuse. Ofcom's switching rules apply to every provider. They require compensation when a switch goes wrong, and the two examples Ofcom gives are more than one working day without service and a missed appointment. They do not fix an amount. The amounts in the table come from the automatic compensation scheme, which is voluntary and has ten members.

The ten members are BT, EE, Hyperoptic, Plusnet, Sky including NOW, TalkTalk (with restrictions for customers not on the Openreach network), Utility Warehouse, Virgin Media, Vodafone and Zen Internet. Unless you agree otherwise the payment is a credit on your bill, and it should arrive no later than 30 calendar days after the problem is resolved or the appointment was missed. With any other provider the switching rules still apply, so you are still owed compensation when a switch goes wrong. Ofcom's guidance says the payment should be “proportionate to the length and amount of disruption and inconvenience caused to the customer”, and that it is good practice for providers to consider the scheme's minimum payments. Our compensation calculator works out the figure for your dates, and the rates guide keeps the history.

Not fixed? Three rungs to climb

1. Tell your new provider. They run the switch, so they are the first call even when the fault sits with the old one.
2. Make it a formal complaint. Ask for a reference and keep the date, because the six weeks are counted from your first complaint.
3. After six weeks, or sooner with a deadlock letter, take it to an independent scheme. One of Ofcom's conditions is that “it has been at least six weeks since you made the initial complaint or you've been unable to reach an agreement and you have received a deadlock letter”. There are two schemes: “Ofcom currently approves two ADR schemes: the Communication & Internet Services Adjudication Scheme (CISAS) and Communications Ombudsman.” You can check with them which one your provider belongs to, and using it is free. The six week wait has applied since 8 April 2026.

For a switch that has collapsed altogether, our guide to a switch that fails completely goes through it in order, and complaints and your rights covers the wider rules.

What One Touch Switch does not do

Direct answer: It does not waive exit charges, cancel your TV, follow you to a new address, or cover mobile and business lines.

The scope is wide. Ofcom's statement says that “all residential customers can use a single process (One Touch Switch) to move providers, regardless of who their provider is or the technology or network their provider uses”. The edges are worth knowing all the same. The statement describes two of them in the proposals Ofcom went on to adopt: “They would not cover circumstances in which a customer switches provider and changes location at the same time (these are covered by our home-moves requirements) nor provider-initiated migrations (e.g. providers migrating their customers from copper to full-fibre broadband).”

After the switch: four things to check in the first fortnight

Direct answer: Check the speed, the first bill, the old router and the final bill from the company you left.

1. The speed. Test it with a device plugged into the router and compare the result with any minimum guaranteed speed your provider gave you. If it falls short, this guide sets out your rights. If the speed at the router is fine and the far bedroom is not, that is the Wi-Fi rather than the line, and where the router sits is the first thing to change.
2. The first bill. Check it against the price you were quoted, including any set-up fee and any credit you were promised.
3. The old router. If your old provider asks for it back, send it and keep the proof of postage. Router return charges explained.
4. The final bill. It should stop at your switch date. Any credit on the old account should come back to you.

You may still be able to change your mind. “You have the right to cancel your order within 14 calendar days.” For a service contract the law ends that period “at the end of 14 days after the day on which the contract is entered into”, so the count began when you agreed the deal and not when it went live. Remember Ofcom's warning before you use it: “Your old service will not automatically be reinstated.”

Live broadband at your postcode

Direct answer: A switch starts with knowing which providers reach your address.

The check below shows every provider that reaches the address, lowest price first. Prices vary by postcode, so the list you see is the one that applies to you.

What this page used to say, and why it changed

Direct answer: Four things in the previous version were wrong or could not be sourced. All four are corrected here.

This page was rebuilt on 12 October 2026 around the map above, with every rule checked against Ofcom's and TOTSCo's own pages. That check found four things we had wrong.

Corrections to any page on this site are logged at our corrections page.

In short

1. You only contact the provider you are joining. They run the switch, and your old service stops when the new one starts.
2. One Touch Switch covers home broadband and landline on every UK network, and by 3 September 2026 3,431,195 people had started a switch through it.
3. Your old provider must send you the switching information, including any exit charge, before you switch.
4. “Your old provider must not charge you for any notice period after the switchover date.”
5. “Any loss of service should not last longer than one working day.” If it does, you are owed compensation.
6. A failed match is not a failed switch. Check the address and surname as your bill shows them and try again.
7. You have 14 calendar days to cancel the new order, a count that can start on the day you agree the contract, and a complaint that is not resolved in six weeks can go to an independent dispute scheme for free.

Each line stands on its own and carries its date. Reviewed by a person at least quarterly, last on 12 October 2026.