What Is One Touch Switch?

Understand Ofcom’s One Touch Switch broadband rules, who contacts your old provider, what switching information you receive and what to check before confirming.

Broadband switching guide

Switch broadband by dealing with the new provider first

One Touch Switch is designed to remove the awkward part of changing broadband: coordinating your old and new provider yourself.

In most residential switches, your new provider starts and manages the switch once you give them the details they need.

One Touch Switch concept illustration showing a home router, transfer hub, connected new provider and disconnected old provider

Quick answer

What is One Touch Switch?

One Touch Switch is Ofcom’s UK broadband and landline switching process for most residential customers. Instead of cancelling with the old provider first, you contact the provider you want to move to and the new provider can arrange the broadband switch after matching your existing service.

Reference: Ofcom guidance on switching broadband provider.

Plain English: choose the new provider, read the switching information from your current provider, then confirm only when the charges, affected services and switch date look right.

Switch process

How One Touch Switch works

The aim is to make switching quicker, easier and less likely to create a service gap. You normally contact the new provider, not the old provider, to start the broadband switch.

1

Choose a new provider

Check address availability, total monthly price, contract length, upload speed, installation needs and router quality.

2

Give your details

The new provider asks for your address, current provider and account details so the existing service can be identified through the switching system.

Technical tip: use the same surname, service address and account reference shown on your current bill. A mismatch can stop the automated match and the new provider may need corrected details before the switch can continue.
3

Read switching information

Your current provider should send charges, service impacts and other information to review before you confirm.

Billing rule: under One Touch Switch, your old provider must not charge a notice period that runs beyond the completed switch date. Charges already owed, equipment fees and valid early termination charges can still appear on the final bill.
4

Confirm the switch

If the information looks right, confirm with the new provider and agree a switch date where possible.

5

New service goes live

The new provider manages activation and tells the old provider when the new service is working.

6

Check final billing

After the switch, check the final bill, equipment return instructions and any services that remain active.

Critical checkpoints before confirming your switch

Before authorising the new provider to complete the migration, check these four items:

Switching information received

Confirm that the current provider has sent the switching summary. Check email, SMS, your online account and junk folder. If nothing arrives, ask the new provider whether the service match completed successfully.

Minimum-term and exit-fee check

Compare the planned switch date with the contract end date. Moving before the minimum term ends can trigger a valid Early Termination Charge.

Phone-number port confirmed

Make sure the new order explicitly shows the number you want to keep. If the old service ends unexpectedly, contact the new provider immediately about the post-termination number-porting window.

Hardware return evidence saved

Photograph serial numbers, keep the return instructions and retain parcel tracking until the old provider confirms the equipment has been received.

When One Touch Switch may not be enough on its own

One Touch Switch covers most residential broadband and landline switches, but extra checks are still sensible if you have TV, mobile, provider email, business broadband, a home move, special equipment or deliberately want old and new services to overlap.

Practical rule: if the service is not just broadband or landline, read the switching information slowly and contact the provider about anything bundled before confirming.

If the switch goes wrong

If your switch is delayed, fails, leaves you without service, or old-provider billing continues, keep order references and messages from both providers before cancelling payments. Start with the One Touch Switch problems guide. If the old broadband service has not stopped correctly, check who cancels old broadband before cancelling payments or placing a second order.

One Touch Switch FAQs

What is One Touch Switch?

One Touch Switch is the regulated UK broadband and landline switching framework that lets most residential customers move provider by contacting the new company.

Do I need to contact my old provider to switch broadband?

Usually no for the broadband or landline being switched. Separate TV, mobile, email, equipment-return or other independently billed services may still need direct action.

What happens if my broadband switch is delayed or goes wrong?

Providers must compensate customers when a switch goes wrong, including where the completed switch is delayed or you are left without service for more than one working day. Keep the agreed switch date, outage records, provider messages and bills.

Can my old provider charge notice after the switch date?

Under One Touch Switch, the old provider must not charge a notice period that runs beyond the completed switch date. Valid early termination charges, equipment fees and charges already owed can still apply.

Why can a One Touch Switch match fail?

A match can fail when the surname, service address, current provider or account details supplied to the new provider do not align with the existing provider record. Ask the new provider which detail needs correcting.

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