October 3, 2016

Ofcom says that UK businesses will receive “more accurate and reliable information on broadband speeds” before they sign up to a contract, under its new Voluntary Code of Practice: Business Broadband Speeds 2016, which came into force on 30 September 2016.

As part of the new Code, providers also commit to resolve any problems that businesses have with broadband speeds effectively and allow customers to exit their contract at any point if speeds fall below a minimum guaranteed level.

The new Code applies to all businesses, regardless of size, and to all standard business broadband services across all technologies (including Fibre to the Cabinet and Fibre to the Premises services).

The ISPs that have signed up to the Code promise to:

• provide businesses with an accurate estimate of their expected speeds before signing up. This covers both download and upload speeds;
• manage their business customers’ speed-related problems effectively;
• offer them the right to exit their contract without penalty if speeds fall below the minimum guaranteed level;
• give additional relevant speeds information at the point of sale (for example, how the provider manages internet traffic on its network, and how this might affect a customer’s speed); and
• provide further detailed speeds information in writing to the customer after the sale.

For further information and to access the Code, click here.