Broadband cooling-off period: cancelling in 14 days

The right depends on how you signed up, not on what you bought.

A distance contract is made without you and the provider being physically together, for example online or by phone. An off-premises contract includes one agreed face to face away from the provider's business premises, such as on your doorstep. Anything else, such as signing up in the provider's shop, is an on-premises contract, which the cancellation right does not cover. Citizens Advice says it is still worth asking, as a provider might let you cancel if you explain how your circumstances have changed.

Before the contract exists, you can simply withdraw

Until the contract is made, you can withdraw your order without a reason or liability. Ofcom's rules (General Condition C1, as quoted by the telecoms law firm decoded.legal) say a provider must give you a free Contract Summary before you sign up, and the contract only becomes effective once you give your express consent after receiving it. Our guide to reading your broadband contract summary explains what that document contains.

The legal minimum

For a service contract such as broadband, the cancellation period begins when the contract is entered into and ends at the end of 14 days after that day. If you buy equipment outright as part of the order, it can differ: the regulations count a contract for both goods and services as a sales contract, where the 14 days generally run from when the goods arrive.

Example (illustrative dates): if your contract is made on 1 March, day one is 2 March and the legal minimum ends at the end of 15 March. If installation is three weeks later, the legal minimum could run out before your broadband works, which is one reason many providers start the clock later.

If you were never told about your right to cancel

If a provider fails to give you the required information about your right to cancel, the period is extended. If it gives you the information within 12 months, the period ends 14 days after you receive it; if it never does, the period ends 12 months after it would normally have ended.

These start points come from each provider's own help pages or terms when we checked in October 2026.

So with POP Telecom the period can end before the service starts, while with toob it only begins once you are live. Our broadband providers hub links to a page for each provider, such as Sky broadband deals and Virgin Media broadband deals. For others, search your terms for "cancellation period", "cooling-off" or "right to cancel".

Tell the provider you are cancelling, using the model cancellation form or any other clear statement; Citizens Advice says phone, post, email or webchat all work. If you use a provider's online cancellation form, it must acknowledge receipt without delay on a durable medium (paper, email or another format you can keep unchanged).

1. Find your dates and details (order reference, account holder's name, installation address) in the order confirmation, Contract Summary or welcome email.
2. Say it plainly. Citizens Advice suggests saying you want to cancel because you are still in the cooling-off period and giving your account reference. A suggested wording of our own: "I am cancelling my broadband contract, order reference [number], within the cooling-off period."
3. Get it in writing. After a call or chat, ask for written confirmation, save the transcript and note the date, time and who you spoke to.
4. Ask what happens next: when service stops, how and when you will be refunded, what (if anything) you will be charged, and how and by when to return equipment.

Cutting it close? The send date is what counts

A cancellation sent before the period ends counts as in time. Citizens Advice says a letter posted or email sent within the cooling-off period cancels the contract from the date you send it. But in a dispute it is up to you to prove you cancelled in time, so use recorded delivery if you can and keep copies of everything.

For cancelling at any other point, see our guide on how to cancel broadband.

As the broadband news site ISPreview puts it, the 14-day right for services is not a free trial.

Service you asked to start early

A provider must not start a service during the cancellation period unless you expressly ask it to (on a durable medium, for doorstep sales). Some treat placing the order as that request: Virgin Media says that by ordering you ask it to start as soon as possible, even within the cooling-off period, and that you may need to pay for services already provided.

If the service started at your request and you cancel, you pay for the service supplied up to the time you told the provider, in proportion to the full coverage of the contract and based on the total contract price (or market value, if that price is excessive).

You pay nothing for service used during the period if the provider did not give you the required information about cancelling or about paying for service used, or if the service was not started at your request.

Installation and set-up fees

Some providers keep certain one-off charges:

• Sky refunds all payments, including equipment delivery, minus a proportionate amount for service you asked to begin. It does not refund one-off activation or set-up fees if you cancel after activation, or a Managed Installation charge unless you cancel before 3.30pm on the working day before.
• Ogi will not start service before the 14 days end unless you ask for early supply. If you do and then cancel, it charges for services consumed and installation costs incurred; its price guide says the installation cost is payable if you cancel after installation.
• toob refunds the first monthly payment and charges no early termination fee if you cancel by 2pm the day before activation or within 14 days of it, but its terms say it won't refund any installation fee (its fees guide says standard installation is free unless your order says otherwise). Cancelling an appointment after 2pm the day before may mean a missed appointment fee.
• Virgin Media charges no early disconnection fee in the 14 days, but discounts linked to a cancelled service may stop applying to services you keep.

Early starts and "fully performed" services

The regulations say the right to cancel a service ends once it has been fully performed, if it started at your express request and you acknowledged you would lose the right. How that applies to an ongoing broadband contract is debated, and we have not found official guidance settling it. Some provider terms go further than that wording: Rebel Internet's say that if you ask it to start services before the 14-day cooling-off period ends, the right to cancel ends. Check a provider's terms before agreeing to an early start, and if it refuses your cancellation on this basis, ask for its reasons in writing and get advice (see below).

Your refund

The provider must refund all payments it received, including standard delivery, without undue delay and no later than 14 days after you told it you were cancelling, using the same payment method unless you agree otherwise and without charging a fee. A proportionate charge for service you used can reduce the refund.

Returning the router and other kit

The regulations' return rule is for goods supplied under a sales contract, meaning goods you are buying: unless the provider collects them, you send them back without undue delay and no later than 14 days after telling it you are cancelling, and you pay the direct return cost unless the provider agreed to pay or did not tell you that you would.

A router is often only lent to you. Quickline and Rebel, for example, say their equipment stays their property. For loaned kit, the deadline and method come from the provider's own terms, and these vary:

• Sky: return equipment without undue delay using the returns method it provides.
• Virgin Media: says it will either collect the kit or send you a pack to return it free of charge.
• TalkTalk: its help page asks for equipment back within 42 days in its cooling-off section, but says 28 days in another part of the same page, so work to the shorter date.
• Rebel Internet: loaned equipment must go back within 14 days of cancellation at your own direct cost; its terms say kit that is not returned is charged at its full original value.
• Quickline: equipment stays Quickline's property and must be returned on cancellation.

Whatever the deadline, send kit back promptly, and keep proof of postage or collection until the account is closed with nothing owed.

Add-ons usually end too

Cancelling the main contract automatically ends linked ("ancillary") contracts for related goods or services from the provider or a company it has an arrangement with, without extra cost beyond limited exceptions. Still list every extra when you cancel.

Under One Touch Switching, introduced in September 2024, you contact only your new provider, and the switch can happen as soon as the next day, though it can take longer. Your old provider keeps supplying you until the new service is activated, then automatically ends your contract when the switch completes. Our guide to switching broadband providers walks through the process.

Switching does not change whether you have a cooling-off right on the new contract; that still depends on how you ordered. What changes is the timing: a switch can complete, ending your old contract and starting the new service, well inside the 14 days.

• Cancelling the new contract. Use your cooling-off right as normal, checking what you might pay for service used or installation.
• Your old service does not simply return. The old contract ends when the switch completes, and we have found no rule that restores it if you cancel the new one. Exit fees from your old provider still stand: toob's terms, for example, say you are responsible for them, including after a One Touch Switch. To go back, ask your old provider whether you can rejoin and on what terms, in writing.
• Before the switch date. If you cancel first, ask the new provider to confirm in writing that the switch is stopped.

Rewards often depend on getting past cooling-off

Reward cards, gifts and contract buyouts have their own terms, and some only pay out once cooling-off is over:

• Zzoomm pays its contract buyout only after installation, the first bill is paid and the cooling-off period has cleared.
• Quickline's exit-fee reward, in the promotional terms we read, could be claimed only after 14 days connected, with proof of your old provider's termination charges sent within 48 days of installation, and was not available on rolling monthly contracts.

Read your offer terms before relying on a reward. If you picked a deal from our broadband deals with a free gift page, our guide to claiming broadband reward cards explains how claim windows usually work.

Guarantees that go further than the law

Some providers add their own rights, under separate terms with conditions:

• Sky: the 31-day UK cooling-off period described above.
• Community Fibre: a 30-day satisfaction guarantee from successful installation. If you are not happy and it can't fix the problem, you can leave with no cancellation fee, though its terms say you won't get money back for services you have already paid for.
• Hyperoptic: "30 days to decide", up to the 30th day your service is first active. Its price guide says cancelling in that period carries an Order Cancellation Fee covering services used, including installation or activation costs already incurred.
• Zzoomm: a further right to cancel within 40 days of activation, without an early termination charge, if you report a material issue it cannot fix.

Read the terms rather than assuming they work like the legal right.

After cooling-off, leaving during your minimum term normally means giving notice and paying any early termination charges in your contract; Virgin Media, for example, asks for 30 days' notice and charges early disconnection fees during the minimum term. Citizens Advice lists two main exceptions. If your terms do not allow a yearly price rise, the provider should give 30 days' notice of one and you can leave without a fee within those 30 days (see mid-contract price rises). And if your provider has signed up to the voluntary codes of practice on broadband speed, it has a month to fix a reported speed problem, after which you can leave without a fee. Otherwise, explaining your situation may get the fee reduced. Our guide to leaving broadband without an exit fee covers every route.

1. Complain formally, quoting your cancellation date and how you sent it, with your evidence (email, proof of postage, chat transcript or call notes), and ask for a specific outcome, such as confirmation the contract is cancelled or a refund of a stated amount.
2. Escalate to the provider's dispute scheme. Every provider must belong to an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme, which is free to use. Under Ofcom's rules, for complaints first raised on or after 8 April 2026, you can go to ADR once the complaint is still unresolved six weeks after the provider first received it (complaints first raised earlier keep the old eight-week wait). If the provider sends a deadlock letter sooner, saying it can do no more, you can go straight away.
3. Get free advice. In England and Wales, the Citizens Advice consumer helpline is on 0808 223 1133. In Scotland, Citizens Advice points you to Advice Direct Scotland's consumer service (freephone 0808 164 6000, consumeradvice.scot). In Northern Ireland, Citizens Advice says its website does not cover NI and points you to Consumerline for help with consumer rights.

Our guide on how to complain about a broadband provider covers each step.

• Note how you are signing up (in a shop there is no legal right), then find the cooling-off start point and put your last day in your calendar.
• Check what you would pay if you cancelled after installation, and whether agreeing to an early start affects your right to cancel.
• Find out whether the router is loaned or sold, and the return deadline if you cancel.
• Read any reward terms, and keep your Contract Summary, order confirmation and the router box.

When you are ready to compare, our broadband deals page shows live deals for your postcode from our comparison partner. We do not switch you ourselves: you order directly with the provider you choose, so your contract and cooling-off rights are with that provider.