New UK Broadband Switching System Now Fully in Control, But Some ISPs Not Ready

The new, if still imperfect, One Touch Switching (OTS) system, which is Ofcom’s solution for making it quicker and easier for consumers to switch between broadband ISPs and phone providers, is now fully in control after the old backstop (NoT+) system was decommissioned today. But some issues remain with customer matching and ISP support.

Just to remind. Implementation of OTS is being handled by the industry-led One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), which went live on 12th September 2024 after being delayed from 3rd April 2023. But Ofcom initially opted to retain the old NoT+ (Notification of Transfer) migration process – until 24th October 2024 – to act as a fallback for OTS failures. For example, there were (and still are) some problems with getting the “matching process” right, which is necessary to ensure that customer switches are correctly verified and migrated between providers.

Ofcom’s view is that the “system overall is working well for the vast majority of customers“ (here), thus NoT+ has been decommissioned as planned. The latest update from TOTSCo echoes this viewpoint below, despite there still being some problems with the matching process left to resolve.

However, some ISPs have echoed concerns to ISPreview because not all providers have managed to get their systems live on TOTSCo’s platform in time for the removal of NoT+. This in turn has made it difficult for customers who want to leave ISPs that aren’t yet live on the switching platform, which is extremely frustrating for gaining providers that are live (i.e. switching them is difficult as the losing ISP isn’t yet listed as a supported brand).

Paul Bradbury, TOTSCo’s CEO, said:

“This week marks a significant milestone just six weeks after the launch of One Touch Switch: 100,000 orders have been successfully completed! With 197,000 orders placed, we expect the lag between order and completion following the decommissioning of NOT+ earlier this week. This achievement highlights industry’s commitment to adoption and the effectiveness of the new switching process.

This makes collaboration among users more crucial than ever. I’m encouraged to see a continued increase in sign-ups for the CP-to-CP tool, which is vital for facilitating communication and resolving issues during the OTS process.”

The reality is that the remaining bugbears may still take a little longer to iron out (check out TOTSCo’s live system data to see the current switch match success rate), while Ofcom’s patience with ISPs that have failed to get themselves live on TOTSCo’s new platform in time may have been exhausted. “We are monitoring communications providers compliance with their responsibilities under OTS, and we will take appropriate steps should we have any concerns,” said a spokesperson for Ofcom to ISPreview.

At this stage, ISPreview isn’t yet at the naming and shaming stage, but that may change if we see more gripes coming our way from consumers who are being prevented from switching because their ISP is not yet using OTS. The regulator’s rules suggest that providers risk penalties if they fail to follow the new OTS rules.

One final point to make is that TOTSCo’s membership list isn’t a useful guide for identifying which ISPs are NOT live on the platform. This is because quite a few providers will be sitting – often unseen by the public – behind a third party Managed Access Provider (MAP), although we are already seeing some trends (i.e. reports of failed migrations that come our way) that identifies those who are trailing on the adoption front.