Broadband adverts: the rules on prices and claims

The CAP Code was updated on 7 April 2025 for the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (the DMCC Act). Our guide to who regulates broadband in the UK covers the wider picture, including complaints about service rather than ads.

Broadband pricing has its own rules: in joint ASA and Ofcom research, 81% of participants couldn't correctly work out the total cost of a broadband contract from an ad. The ASA's tighter approach took effect on 31 October 2016, and CAP's advice (dated 30 April 2026) still sets out its three principles:

1. Everything compulsory, close together. Upfront costs, monthly costs and contract length appear together, without one played up and the others played down.
2. One inclusive monthly price and one inclusive upfront price. Line rental goes into the monthly figure where the provider supplies it.
3. Introductory discounts spelled out. The ad must make clear the total monthly cost during the discount, the cost after it, and how long the discount lasts.

CAP Code rule 3.18 says a quoted price must include non-optional taxes, duties, fees and charges that apply to all or most buyers. For charges that can't be worked out in advance, rule 3.19 says the ad must state they're excluded and how they'll be calculated.

Set-up and installation fees

CAP's advice is direct: if a one-off upfront charge such as installation is non-optional, it must be included in the advertised price. Before the DMCC Act, they could be shown separately. CAP says that with no ASA ruling since the Act, exactly how to present one-off charges isn't yet settled, and it points advertisers to the CMA's guidance (below). In August 2020 the ASA ruled against Sky because set-up fees were material information (something you need to make an informed decision) presented in a way likely to confuse.

Drip pricing means showing a low price first and adding compulsory fees, taxes or charges later in the buying process. The CMA says it is illegal under the DMCC Act, which has applied since April 2025.

Section 230 of the Act is the key part. An invitation to buy (an ad or page that gives you enough to make a purchase) leaves out material information if it misses the total price, including fees you'll necessarily pay, or, where the price can't be calculated in advance, how it's calculated. Information that's unclear, comes too late or is hard to spot counts as left out.

The CMA's 3 Step Pricing Check sums it up: show the total price up front; include all mandatory charges; and if you can't give a total yet, make clear how customers can work it out. The CMA can now fine a business up to £300,000 or, if higher, 10% of its global turnover, and order compensation for customers. Its first investigations under these powers, opened on 18 November 2025 into eight businesses, didn't involve broadband providers.

Since 17 January 2025, Ofcom has banned inflation-linked and percentage price rises in new phone and broadband contracts; any rise must be set out in pounds and pence at the point of sale, with when it applies. Our guide to mid-contract price rises explains how that affects your contract and when a rise lets you leave.

How a rise appears in the ad itself is covered by CAP and BCAP guidance that took effect on the same date, replacing the version in place since December 2023. It isn't binding, but sets out the approach most likely to comply, for two kinds of contract:

• Tiered contracts have a set rise on a set date. The ad should give the new price and when it starts; a percentage, or an amount to add to today's price, is unlikely to be enough.
• Variable contracts say the price may rise but not by how much. Under Ofcom's rules you get a month's notice of any rise and can leave without a penalty. The ad should say the price may rise.

The guidance says an ad is more likely to comply when:

• It doesn't imply the price lasts the whole term when it won't. "Fixed" or "£X for X months" is likely to mislead if the price rises before the minimum term ends, and small print about the rise contradicts the claim rather than qualifying it.
• The fact that the price will (or could) rise is shown as prominently as the price, with the new price close by: in a printed or on-screen ad no more than one step further down, and in a TV or video ad in the main copy rather than on-screen text. An asterisk pointing further away, a link you must click or hover over, or a mention only in a radio ad's closing terms is unlikely to be enough.
• Every rise is flagged if a contract over 12 months rises more than once, and you'll pay the advertised price at least once before the next rise.
• Linked products are explained. For a variable contract tied to another product, such as another telecoms contract, a device finance plan or a TV or content subscription, the ad should say if leaving after a rise means losing that product, paying more for it or paying charges to end it.

ASA rulings show how this is applied:

• TalkTalk, 29 September 2021: "fixed for 24 months" claims were misleading because prices rose during the contract.
• EE, 9 October 2024: the text explaining price rises was much smaller than the headline price and set apart from it.
• O2, 9 October 2024: rise information "pinned" at the top of the page wasn't close enough to the prices.

Claims about a rival's prices need evidence too. On 8 July 2026 the ASA found a Grain Connect referral email misleading for implying YouFibre customers would face in-contract price rises after a Virgin Media takeover, with no evidence for that. The firm said the email went only to existing customers who had opted in to marketing, but the ASA still upheld the complaint.

Crossed-out and 'was' prices

A reference price (the higher price a deal is compared with) must be a genuine established selling price. In February 2021 the ASA ruled against a Sky ad whose crossed-out price was the cost of buying TV and broadband separately, not a price the package had sold for.

Savings compared with another provider

Savings claims need evidence behind them. In January 2024 the ASA found a Zzoomm annual saving claim against BT unsubstantiated because it assumed the offer price would last all 24 months, with no guarantee of that in the second year. In July 2023 it ruled that Sky shouldn't have compared its promotional price with BT's usual price while BT had its own promotion running.

'Free' and 'free trial'

An ad can't call something free if you pay anything beyond the unavoidable cost of responding and receiving it. Things already in the package price should be called "inclusive". A "30 day free trial" where you pay upfront and get a refund if you cancel is a money-back offer, not a free one.

On 9 September 2026 the ASA ruled against Onestream over free trials added at the checkout: two subscriptions with free trials that renewed for a fee were added automatically at the checkout without being mentioned in the ad. Their cost didn't have to be in the headline price, but the fact they'd be added and then renew was material information, so the headline price misled. At the checkout, look for extras you didn't pick and remove any you don't want.

Since 23 May 2018, CAP's guidance has said a number in a home broadband ad should be the speed at least 50% of customers get at peak time (8pm to 10pm), described as an "average". It replaced the old "up to" basis, which needed only 10% of customers to get the speed. Our guide to broadband speed promises and your rights covers your personal estimate and minimum guaranteed speed; here we stick to what the ad must do:

• Point you to your own speed. Ads should urge you to check your likely speed, because the average describes the package, not your line.
• Flag big limitations. Significant factors that stop some customers getting the speed must be stated prominently in the main text.
• Label estimates. A speed for your postcode that's an estimate should say so. In December 2021 the ASA ruled against BT because a "guaranteed" figure in its Stay Fast Guarantee ad was an estimate that could be revised.
• Don't imply technology you aren't getting. In August 2023 the ASA ruled that the name 6G Internet misleadingly implied 6G technology.

No. In 2017, after independent research, the ASA concluded that "fibre" is unlikely to mislead in ads for part-fibre services, where fibre runs to a street cabinet and copper covers the last stretch. Its limits: a service with no fibre mustn't be called "fibre", speed claims must suit the technology, and part-fibre mustn't be presented as the most advanced service. After a challenge by CityFibre, the High Court found for the ASA on all grounds on 15 April 2019.

Ofcom has gone further, but not for adverts: since September 2024 its guidance has meant providers should describe the technology as full-fibre, part-fibre, cable or copper at the point of sale and in the contract summary, rather than using "fibre" on its own. Earlier, the ASA had said it would evaluate whether to review its 2017 decision once Ofcom's work concluded. In September 2024 it told ISPreview it was "keeping a watching brief" on whether Ofcom's guidance affects advertising claims. As of October 2026, we haven't found a published change to the ASA's position.

So treat "fibre" in an ad as a hint, not a description. Before you order, look for "full fibre" or "FTTP" (fibre to the premises) on the order page or contract summary. Our guide to what full fibre broadband is explains the difference, and our fibre broadband deals page shows what's on offer.

Check the order against the ad before you commit:

1. Screenshot the ad or deal page, with the date. If the order turns out different, you have evidence of what you were shown.
2. Read the contract summary. You must get this short standard document before you're bound by the contract. It sets out the monthly price, one-off charges, time-limited discounts, the contract length and your speeds, with examples of how any price rises affect what you pay. Our guide to the broadband contract summary walks through each section.
3. Match the numbers against the ad: monthly price, upfront cost, contract length, any rise, and the technology label.
4. Ask if anything doesn't match, and get the answer in writing.

Our broadband providers hub links to each provider's deals page. We don't sell broadband or switch you; the deals we show come through a partner's comparison, so rely on the provider's own order page and contract summary.

As a customer, you can complain to the ASA through the form on its website; someone who works for a rival company must first show they've tried the ASA's inter-party resolution process (our guide to who regulates broadband covers how it works). For a broadband ad, three things help:

• A dated screenshot showing the headline price and the small print near it, so the ASA sees what you saw.
• The specific problem, tied to the rules above. The form asks you to keep to three issues at most.
• Your name and contact details, as anonymous complaints aren't accepted.

Example (hypothetical): "The headline monthly price didn't include the compulsory set-up fee, which only appeared at the checkout", or "The ad said the price was fixed, but the contract summary shows a rise in April".

You get an automated reply with a reference number. The ASA tells you if it decides to investigate, though it says it may not always reply individually.

A complaint about the ad and a complaint about your contract are separate. If an ad led you to buy something that isn't what you were told:

1. Gather your evidence: the screenshot, order confirmation, contract summary and any webchat transcripts.
2. Complain to the provider in writing, saying what you were told, what you got and what you want, for example the advertised price or to leave without a fee. Our guide on how to complain about your broadband provider covers the steps, including independent dispute schemes.
3. Get advice. In England and Wales, the Citizens Advice consumer helpline can refer complaints to Trading Standards and share them with enforcers such as the CMA. In Scotland, Advice Direct Scotland gives free consumer advice through consumeradvice.scot (0808 164 6000). In Northern Ireland, use Consumerline (0300 123 62 62).

If you ordered by phone or online, Citizens Advice says you can usually cancel free within 14 days, though you're likely to pay for what you've used. If you were sold something unsuitable, our guide to mis-sold broadband and your rights explains your options.