Broadband sales at your door or by phone: your rights

If a business rings you hoping to sell you a contract, it must say at the start of the conversation who it is, who it is calling on behalf of (if it's calling for someone else) and that the purpose of the call is commercial.

A phone call is short, so the rules allow some of the information to follow in another form. But certain items must still be given to you during the call: the main features of the service, the trader's identity, the total price, any extra charges, the cost per billing period for an ongoing contract, your cancellation rights and the contract length or how to end it. If you're rushed past any of those, ask for everything in writing.

For a doorstep sale the information has to be given to you on paper, or in another durable form such as an email if you agree, before you're bound. Where you have a right to cancel, the seller must also give you a cancellation form. If a rep only shows you a screen, ask for it to be emailed before you agree.

After the sale, the trader must send you a confirmation (or, for a doorstep sale, a copy of the signed contract or a confirmation of it) on paper or another durable medium. It has to arrive within a reasonable time and before the service starts, and it must include the full required information unless you already had it in a durable form. If installation is near and you have nothing in writing, chase it.

Broadband providers have an extra duty under Ofcom's rules. As quoted by the legal blog decoded.legal, they must give you a free Contract Summary before the contract is made, and the contract only takes effect once you give your express consent after receiving it. On a doorstep or phone sale, that means you should see the summary before you say yes, not afterwards. Our guide to what a broadband contract summary should show explains how to read one.

This rule has teeth. In May 2024 Ofcom fined BT £2.8 million after the company, including its EE and Plusnet brands, failed to give about 1.1 million customers the required contract information before they signed up. Ofcom said that where the contract summary and contract information are not given, the contract is not binding on the customer (Ofcom statements as reported by ISPreview, 22 May 2024 and 9 July 2025). ISPreview reported in July 2025 that BT had refunded or credited £18 million to customers as a result.

1. Get the names and address. Ask for the trading name, the registered company name and the geographical address, and whether the rep works for the provider or a sales agency. The seller has to give you these anyway. Citizens Advice says a genuine address should include a street, not just a PO box.
2. Look the company up yourself. The Companies House register can be searched by company name, number or officer name. Treat a match as a starting point only: Companies House says it does not check the accuracy of what companies file.
3. Contact the company on a number you find yourself. Citizens Advice advises calling a company on a trusted number, such as the one on its official website, and not using a different number printed on a bill or invoice. The same goes for a number the rep or caller gives you. Ask whether the rep and the offer are genuine.
4. Read reviews on more than one site, not only the company's own, as Citizens Advice suggests.
5. Compare what you're offered. Before agreeing, check the provider's page on our broadband providers hub and compare deals at your postcode, so you know whether the doorstep offer stands up. If the rep quotes a price or a speed, our guide to the rules on broadband prices and claims explains what a quoted price should include, such as set-up fees and mid-contract rises, so you can ask the right questions. If the rep is selling a network you hadn't heard of, our guide to altnets and independent full-fibre networks explains what to check before you sign.

A trader must tell you which out-of-court dispute scheme it belongs to, where that applies, and it's a useful test. Ofcom approves two dispute resolution schemes for phone and broadband: CISAS, run by CEDR, and the Communications Ombudsman. Both are free to customers. CEDR publishes a searchable list of CISAS members and asks you to contact CISAS if a provider says it is a member but isn't listed; the Communications Ombudsman's website has a "search for your provider" box. If a seller can't name its scheme, or the scheme doesn't list it, don't sign. Our guide to complaining about your broadband provider explains how each scheme handles a dispute.

Openreach looks after the copper and fibre cables behind many phone and broadband lines, and its customers are the providers that sell to households, not households themselves. Its guidance on engineers is that a genuine Openreach engineer shows a photo ID badge, calls or texts ahead, and is expected because your provider booked the visit. Openreach never asks for bank details or computer access by phone or email, and if you're unsure it says to call your provider on the number on your bill. The same approach works for a sales rep who says they're from a provider: verify on a number you've found yourself, with the door closed while you do. Our guide to broadband scams and nuisance calls covers fake engineers and switchover calls in more detail.

Under One Touch Switch, you contact only the new provider and it arranges the move. The new provider must take reasonable steps not to switch you without your consent, and your current provider must send you switching information, including any early-termination charges you'd owe. If you agree to a doorstep or phone deal, read that message from your current provider before the switch date: if the exit costs don't match what the rep said, you can still cancel within the cooling-off period. If a switch is under way that you never agreed to, see what to do if broadband was taken out in your name.

1. Tell the caller to stop. Say clearly that you don't want further marketing calls, and note the date, time, company name and number. Once you've said it, the company must not make live marketing calls to you, and repeated unwanted approaches can also fall within the banned pressure tactics above.
2. Register with the TPS. It's free, and Citizens Advice says it's against the law for UK or overseas salespeople to call TPS-registered numbers. It doesn't stop automated or scam calls, and anyone asking you for money to register you is a scammer. Our scams guide's section on the Telephone Preference Service explains how to register and how long it takes.
3. Withdraw old consent. If you agreed to a company's calls before registering with the TPS, the ICO says it can still call you, so contact it directly and tell it to stop.

The ICO can fine organisations that break the rules. Trading Standards investigates rogue traders and can take businesses to court, but Citizens Advice notes it won't get you a refund and only contacts you if it needs more information. The Citizens Advice page on reporting to Trading Standards covers England; it has separate advice for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.