What it costs to leave a UK broadband contract early – ranked by each ISP
Comparison service Switchity has taken data submitted by 2,472 UK households between May and August 2026 and used it to work out how much it typically costs to cancel a broadband ISP contract early, both generally and by each internet provider. The average (median) household faces a cost of £279 and Virgin Media came out as the most expensive to leave (£360).
The data source for all this reflects people who used the site’s own calculator to work out the cost of cancelling their broadband contract early. The typical estimated exit fees that resulted from this revealed how 45.5% (1,124 households) faced a fee of between £100 to £300, while 30.5% (753) faced a fee of £300 to £500, 13.2% (327) faced a fee of £500 or more and, finally, 10.8% (268) expected to be hit by a charge of under £100.
According to the study, the typical household also checks the cost of leaving when there’s 12 months left on their contract, at almost every major provider (i.e. the median average remaining months on a contract). Interestingly TalkTalk households push this up slightly to 13 months, which perhaps reflects the impact from their well-publicised financial challenges.
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However, the above data tends to catch other services that may ship alongside broadband packages, such as pay TV. If we separate these then households with a broadband and TV bundle face a £396 median exit fee against £261 for broadband-only. The results for the largest providers in the survey can be found below, but the figures for NOW TV (NOW Broadband) should be taken with a pinch of salt due to their small sample size.
Median exit fees by provider (broadband-only)
| ISP | Households | Median monthly bill | Median exit fee |
| Virgin Media | 805 | £35 | £340 |
| Vodafone | 546 | £31 | £314 |
| NOW Broadband | 85 | £30 | £304 |
| Sky Broadband | 688 | £35 | £264 |
| EE | 577 | £39 | £247 |
| BT | 550 | £39 | £202 |
| Plusnet | 261 | £30 | £197 |
| TalkTalk | 349 | £30 | £135 |
Median exit fees by provider (broadband and TV)
| ISP | Households | Median monthly bill | Median exit fee |
| Virgin Media | 1,001 | £38 | £360 |
| NOW Broadband | 94 | £30 | £324 |
| Vodafone | 554 | £31 | £317 |
| Sky | 813 | £39 | £286 |
| EE | 670 | £40 | £270 |
| BT | 623 | £40 | £208 |
| Plusnet | 267 | £30 | £198 |
| TalkTalk | 369 | £30 | £146 |
The figures help to explain why so many broadband providers that offer a Contract Buyout (Switching Credit) promotion tend to offer bill credits of up to £200-£300 for new customers (i.e. this reflects the most any major provider is prepared to pay toward covering a new customer’s exit fees from their old ISP), often varying by package choice.
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Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I was very lucky, I was stuck on a VDSL package for £34 a month due to the odd place I was located there was no other option.
When I moved to a NB estate they had FTTP, I knew I had to move and serve the rest of my contract.
One person tried to re-contract me for another 24-months as they said “you are getting FTTP now and it’s better”.
I ended my call with them and spoke to a woman who moved me and only with what remained on my contract.
Then she said the magic words: “due to the fact you were on VDSL and now are on FTTP we have had to make a brand new contract for you and a 14-day cooling off period applies”
This gave me the out I needed, I waited until the internet was active at the new property then cancelled my overpriced contract.
I suggest anybody who can do this does, I also suggest you try not to get caught up in 24 month contracts if you can help it. 24 is becoming very common and the price is far lower to lock people in, not sure if we’ll see 36 month contracts at some point.
I now use 5G Three internet with business sims and I am happy to be flexible and contract free.