Who regulates broadband in the UK?

Ofcom's rulebook for providers is called the General Conditions. A few that matter to households:

• Complaints handling. General Condition C4 and its annex set minimum standards for how providers deal with complaints from households, small businesses and not-for-profits. Each provider must publish a Customer Complaints Code, easy to reach from its homepage, that names its ADR scheme and your right to use it after six weeks (as summarised by CEDR, which runs CISAS).
• Information before you sign. General Condition C1 means the contract summary and contract information come first, and your contract doesn't begin until you've consented having had the summary. We walk through each part of that document in our broadband contract summary guide.
• Describing the technology. Since 16 September 2024, Ofcom guidance under General Conditions C1 and C2 has said providers should give a short description of each product's underlying technology, such as full fibre, part-fibre, copper or cable, at the point of sale and in the contract summary, and should not use "fibre" on its own to describe it, as ISPreview reported. The guidance covers providers' own sales information, while adverts stay with the ASA.
• Compensation. If automatic compensation you think you're owed doesn't arrive, Ofcom says to raise it with your provider and take an unresolved complaint to ADR.

"I can't find your complaints code from your homepage" or "I wasn't given a contract summary before I agreed" is much harder to brush aside than a general grumble.

When a provider breaks a condition, Ofcom can fine it. Under section 97 of the Communications Act 2003 the penalty can be up to 10% of the turnover of the provider's relevant business, and must be appropriate and proportionate.

On 1 December 2025, for example, Ofcom announced a £23.8 million fine for Virgin Media, including a 30% discount for settling, over failures when moving telecare customers (people who use personal alarms) to digital landlines between August 2022 and December 2023, as reported by ISPreview.

Ofcom doesn't investigate individual complaints. Citizens Advice puts it plainly: you can report mis-selling to Ofcom, but it can't look into your own case, so complain to your provider first, with any evidence you have. Report to Ofcom if you think a provider is breaking the rules more widely, but treat it as a report, not a complaint someone will resolve; Ofcom's website lists how to get in touch.

Ofcom also publishes quarterly complaint figures for the larger providers. Our guide to checking a provider's complaints record explains how to read them.

You can only use your provider's scheme. As examples, Ofcom's ADR checker (last updated June 2025) listed BT, EE and Plusnet with the Communications Ombudsman, and Sky, NOW, TalkTalk and Vodafone with CISAS. CEDR's own CISAS list also includes Zen Internet and TalkTalk Group, including Shell Energy Broadband.

The lists don't always agree. That same Ofcom table put Virgin Media with the Communications Ombudsman, but Virgin Media's own complaints page and CEDR's CISAS list both name CISAS. So go by the scheme named in your provider's current Customer Complaints Code, which must give the scheme's contact details. Pages can lag, too: in October 2026 Virgin Media's still mentioned 8 weeks, not the six-week rule below. Our broadband providers hub links to a page on each provider we cover.

Your provider gets six weeks, counted from the day you first complained to it, to put things right. Ofcom cut the wait from eight weeks with effect from 8 April 2026; complaints first made before that date keep the eight-week wait. A deadlock letter, which is the provider telling you in writing that it can't do any more, lets you skip the wait and go to ADR immediately. Don't sit on one: the Communications Ombudsman says a dispute must reach it within 12 months of the deadlock letter.

The Communications Ombudsman can tell a provider to take practical action, such as crediting or cancelling an account or fixing a service, to apologise and to pay up to £10,000. CISAS's adjudicators can award up to £10,000 too, a total that includes refunds, credits and waived charges as well as compensation. Neither scheme regulates: the Communications Ombudsman says it has no power to fine providers or tell them how to run their business, which is Ofcom's territory.

CISAS uses adjudication, where an independent adjudicator decides on the evidence, and says it takes roughly six to eight weeks; you can accept or reject the final decision. Citizens Advice notes that an ombudsman won't investigate once you've started court action, whereas a court can take an ADR decision into account afterwards. So ADR normally comes first.

• Note where and when you saw or heard the ad, ideally with a screenshot or recording.
• Keep to no more than three issues.
• Give your details: anonymous complaints aren't accepted.

The ASA can act on a single complaint, and an ad that breaks the rules must be withdrawn or amended. But, as Citizens Advice notes, it can't help with individual disputes. If a misleading claim led you to sign up, complain to the provider too, then go to ADR if needed. Our guide to your rights if broadband was mis-sold covers that side.

Natural (unpaid) listings on search engines and price comparison sites fall outside its complaints process, though paid-for search listings are covered, and misleading claims on shelves or at tills go to Trading Standards. If an advertiser won't cooperate, the ASA's legal backstops are Trading Standards for non-broadcast ads and Ofcom for broadcast ads. Our guide to the rules for broadband adverts explains what ads must show about prices and speeds.

Since the consumer provisions of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 came into force in April 2025, the CMA can decide for itself whether consumer law has been broken, order redress for consumers and fine a business up to 10% of global turnover. Its early priorities included aggressive sales practices, fees hidden until late in the buying process, false information and unfair contract terms, and the Act bans drip pricing. You might be owed money if the CMA orders a business to refund customers, but only through a case it chooses to take on.

The CMA also reviews mergers. TalkTalk went into administration, and BT bought its consumer broadband business and its wholesale arm, PXC (PlatformX Communications), out of administration on 5 October 2026. The same day the CMA opened a merger inquiry and the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, issued a public interest intervention notice under the Enterprise Act 2002. That lets her weigh the wider public interest, such as keeping services running for vulnerable customers, and the CMA must report to her by 5pm on 19 October 2026.

Until the CMA reports, BT and TalkTalk are run separately and nothing changes for TalkTalk customers: BT says there is no change to price, contract or billing, and the government said customers need take no action. The review looks at the deal, not at individual accounts, so a problem with your TalkTalk broadband still starts with a complaint to TalkTalk and, if needed, its ADR scheme.

ISPreview noted in 2019 that the commitments carry no penalties of their own, though most are backed by consumer law and Ofcom rules, and Ofcom said it would step in where firms fell short. Its May 2021 progress report, as reported by Which?, found progress on fair deals, clear information and support, but said customer service, call waiting times and complaints handling needed more work.

They can still help: if your provider confirms it signed up, quote the relevant commitment; if not, rely on the General Conditions and consumer law. If you're coping with illness, bereavement or job loss, our guide to telling your provider you need extra support explains what to ask for.

When you're ready, you can compare broadband deals available at your postcode; the deals come from a comparison partner, and you sign up with the provider you pick. If price is the main reason, start with our cheap broadband deals, and if you're still in contract, read our guide to leaving broadband without an exit fee first. Before signing anywhere new, check which ADR scheme the provider uses, so you know where a dispute would go.