Summary of the Switching £ Credits Offered by UK Broadband ISPs

Most internet providers typically try to entice new customers via a mix of direct discounts (e.g. cheaper monthly rental), gifts (e.g. free TV, shopping vouchers) or the inclusive addition of attractive value-added extras. But people often overlook that some ISPs also offer another type of switching incentive, a contract buyout, which is often not well promoted but can be significant.

At present most of the market’s largest broadband and phone providers (i.e. those that lock you into a long minimum contract term), as well as many smaller players, will typically levy some form of Early Termination Charge (ETC) against customers that choose to exit their contract early. Often this reflects a portion of your normal monthly fees and will vary depending upon how many months your current term has left to run.

Some ISPs that want to entice you away from your existing provider will often try to tackle this obstacle by offering bill credits as an incentive to those who have incurred ETCs by switching before the end of their contract (aka – Switching Credit, Welcome Credit or Contract Buyout). Such rewards do have their limits (i.e. it’s usually only enough to cover a few months’ worth of ETCs), but they’re still significant enough to warrant consideration.

The tricky part is that a lot of providers don’t promote these credits as directly or openly as their other discounts (you may have to go actively hunting to find them and call up the ISP directly). Not to mention that you also have to be able to put together the evidence to prove you’ve suffered a financial detriment from ETCs (e.g. final bill from your old provider). But if you’re willing to do that, then this really can help to open up more flexibility in your ability to switch.

However, in order to make such a judgement you first need to know what kind of switching incentives are being offered by the different providers and networks, which is where our new summary may come in handy. ISPreview asked a cross-section of providers, including all of the biggest ISPs and some smaller players, whether they offered any special incentives to help consumers cover the ETCs they might incur by switching while still under contract.

Examples ETC Switching Incentives by UK ISP (Feb 2025 Data)

➤ EE

“We’ve made your switch to EE as easy as possible. If you have fees for leaving your old provider we’ll credit you back up to £300 to help with the cost” (here).

➤ BT

BT doesn’t appear to offer a switching credit online, but their “flagship consumer brand” EE above does. However, we’ve been informed by the provider that BT will also honour the same credit, but only if customers either visit them in-store or calls to speak to one of their guides.

➤ Plusnet

This provider does not offer switching credit.

➤ Sky Broadband

Sky offers a credit of up to £100 when switching to Sky TV or broadband, or up to £200 when switching to both (here).

➤ TalkTalk

Given the provider’s debt problems, it’s probably no wonder that they don’t currently offer a switching / welcome credit to cover ETCs.

➤ Virgin Media

Virgin often runs various discounts and gift bundles, but they don’t currently offer a switching / welcome credit to cover ETCs.

➤ Vodafone

“We’ll cover your early termination charges from your previous broadband provider of an equivalent amount, up to a maximum of £100” (here) – only on a 24-month term.

➤ Zen Internet

Zen does not appear to offer switching credit.

➤ Hyperoptic

“Our Switch Now offer gives you up to 9 months’ free Hyperoptic service while your current contract ends” (here) – only on a 24-month term.

➤ KCOM

“Get up to £200 in welcome credit when switching to us” (here) – varies between packages.

➤ YouFibre

“We will ‘buy-out’ the remainder of your contract with your existing residential broadband provider up to the value of £300 if you sign up to an 18-month contract with us” (here)

➤ Brsk

“Brsk will apply a credit on activation of your account of up to £150 to cover cancellation or early termination fees” (here) – only on an 18-month term.

➤ CommunityFibre

This provider does not appear to offer switching credit.

➤ CityFibre

Despite its position as a wholesale provider (not a retail ISP), CityFibre has often offered credits/rewards worth c.£50 to £200 to those who decide to switch to a provider on their network. You’re most likely to see one of these if you’ve signed up for updates via their availability checker. But at the time of writing (Feb 2025) their last “Switch and Connect £150” promotion ended in December 2024, and they weren’t offering a new one.

➤ Airband

“If you have up to 6 months left on your contract with another broadband provider, we will pay your early termination charges” (here).

➤ LightSpeed Broadband

“We’ll pay up to £250 towards buying you out of your existing contract” (here).

➤ GoFibre

“We’ll cover your broadband exit fees up to £200” (here).

➤ BeFibre

Offers up to £200 via a “Contract Buyout” (here).

➤ G.Network

“We can buy out your current contract up to £150” (here) – only on a 24-month term.

➤ Fibrus

Seems to offer an “Existing Contract Buyout” and the related page states that the “maximum payable is £400 including VAT” (here), but the maximum figure does vary.

➤ Connect Fibre

“With contract buyouts from Connect Fibre, you don’t have to wait around. Switch to us straight away and we’ll give you up to 3 months free to get you connected earlier” (here).

➤ Quickline

“With Quickline, we’ll help you make the switch by covering your early termination fees – up to £300 on a prepaid Mastercard” (front page of their website).

Take note that switching credits, much like other promotions, can change like the wind, and so what you see above may not stay that way for long. In addition, just because a provider doesn’t publicly show that they’ll give you such a credit, doesn’t always mean to say they won’t (e.g. BT), provided you ask them about it directly (it never hurts to ask, although bigger ISPs may be more amenable to this).

However, credits like this tend to scale depending upon your choice of package, and location (i.e. you’ll get less credit on cheaper plans). For example, KCOM’s offer of a “Welcome Credit” is only available to those covered by their recent network expansions (outside Hull) and scales by package, thus those taking out a 100Mbps plan will only get £50 and those opting for 900Mbps will get the full £200. The headline claims don’t always reflect what you’ll get.

Suffice to say it’s easy to overlook promotions like this, particularly since you often have to apply for them manually, but for some people they could be a dealbreaker (assuming you’re aware they exist). So always check and consider such offers when contemplating a switch, as you might not have to stay stuck in an existing contract for as long as you think.