I've just discovered that BT might impose a Broadband Cease Charge, where the service is ended in certain circumstances. At present it is £31.


Quote:

The Broadband Cease Charge is a compensatory charge raised in certain circumstances to cover the additional cost to BT of the work required within an exchange to recover equipment and amend records when a Broadband line is ceased. When will the charge be raised? This charge will be raised should you:     Switch to a Cable provider     Switch to another Broadband provider without following the standard transfer process*     Cease your Broadband completely     Cease your Broadband and move outside of the UK When won't the charge be raised? This charge will not be raised should you:     Live in an exchange area with no cease charges (use the checker to see this)     Move home and you re-connect to BT Broadband via the homemover process     Move home and we are unable to provide the service at your new UK address     You are ceasing service due to bereavement or severe illness […] * This requires you to contact your new provider.

This, according to Plusnet which makes an equivalent charge, is because BT Wholesale levy a fee "to cover the cost of removing broadband from a phone line."

I took it as read that whilst under contract the subscriber would have to pay to leave, but assumed that once the term is up that ending the service would be at no charge.

There is an article from Which? on this: Hidden broadband ‘cessation’ charges. According to it, Sky doesn't impose such a charge, but BT, Plusnet, EE Broadband, John Lewis Broadband and Utility Warehouse do. So it seems varied as to whether ISPs absorb the charges made to them or not.

I am a new user of this forum. From this post I came to understand that network companies would charge a fine if we cease from their broadband services. I need to know whether all companies are charging this fine? We often switch from one service to others depending on the offers provided by them. If we are fined for it stopping the service will be unprofitable.

Hi rolandm and welcome to the forum.

I am not sure where we are on this one. I am interested to learn of any further developments in this area.

I don't know whether such cease charges have been abolished or not. They are not there to disincentivise ceasing broadband per se, but are there to cover the cost of cessation. A fine is a penalty and only the state can impose such – this is not a fine.

While it might apply to other network operators, this thread was started in relation to broadband supplied by BT's wholesale division (BT Wholesale), which is sold by its retail arm (BT), Plusnet, EE and others.

At the exchange end of the line, the wires connect to equipment which provides the broadband, meaning that the line is occupying capacity on that equipment. This is for the older type of broadband, ADSL. With what is often marketed as 'superfast' broadband, fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), the broadband is applied at the cabinet rather than the exchange. When broadband on a line is ceased, it must be disconnected (either at the exchange or the cabinet) in order that the equipment becomes vacant to supply broadband to another user. The charge is for this work to be carried out.


The question is whether such costs should be passed on directly to those end users who choose to cease – or whether they should be absorbed by the business, as a general expense of providing service.

In most cases there are no charges if you switch from one ISP to another. AFAIK there are still charges if you cease a service. But that's not the same as moving to another provider.

Virgin of course is outside all of this, it has its own physical network. If you switch to Virgin you will have to cease your previous ISP, switching isn't possible. If you switch away from Virgin they may well charge a fee for ceasing their service.