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The commitment seemed like a good idea — until a better deal came along, and now if you want to escape your vows it’ll cost you a crippling divorce. No, we’re not talking about Ashley Cole; we’re talking about unlucky Britons stuck with a lengthy broadband or landline contract that no longer measures up. The good news is Ofcom has pressured the big three service providers into drastically slashing their early termination fees.
BT, TalkTalk and Virgin are to cut the cost of ejecting from broadband and landline packages by up to 85 per cent. Ofcom has suggested that legal action could be brought against smaller ISPs that fail to follow the big three’s example.
TalkTalk has been the first to give fees the chop. Since 1 June, termination charges have dropped from between £33.48 and £14.44 for every month left to run on the contract to between £8 and £3 for each month left.
In October, BT will cut its termination charges from between £8 and £7.50 for each month left to between £5 and £2, while Virgin goes from between £30 and £12 to between £8.35 and £4.
Ofcom’s
report means that bailing out of your phone or Web contract shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg. Run for the hills!
