Ofcom gives more power to broadband users
Ofcom has announced that it is going to make it easier for broadband customers to switch providers if they are not getting fast enough speeds.
The UK's communications regulator says that broadband users can escape costly charges of cancelling a contract with their internet service provider (ISP). One of the first acts of the organisation's new head, Sharon White, was to reveal the strengthening of Ofcom's Code of Practice on broadband speeds, allowing customers to exit a contract should speeds fall below acceptable levels.
Although the changes have come into effect already as of mid-June, ISPs have been given until October to update their own rules with regards to customers terminating contracts early. Ofcom will introduce penalties if the broadband suppliers have not made the necessary changes by the end of January, it has said.
The move is expected to benefit millions of businesses and homes that are currently frustrated having signed up to long-term deals with broadband providers only to find that the speeds they are receiving are slower than they need or was advertised.
Under previous laws, a customer was entitled to walk out of their contract within the first 90 days if their connection’s speed dropped below the MGALS (minimum guaranteed access line speed), as stated by the ISP. The new regulations will enable customers to exit their contract at any time as long as they have given their provider a “reasonable” amount of time and access to the property to fix the problem.
White said: "Our job is to ensure that markets work for consumers and citizens, principally by encouraging competition.
"Where markets don’t work well enough – or where competition alone isn’t enough to secure good outcomes for customers – then we have the power to intervene."
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