Broadband problems? Under new Ofcom proposals, you will no longer have to “fight tooth and nail” for the “fair compensation” you are owed. If approved, Internet Service Providers will automatically have to pay customers for bad broadband, delayed repairs and missed engineer appointments.

As part of a bigger crackdown on British broadband providers, the regulator hopes to benefit up to 2.6 million customers with this plan for companies to pay out whenever services go wrong and aren’t fixed fast enough.

Ofcom claims that up to £185 million could be paid out as a result of this plan, which is subject to consultation at the moment.

So what’s the breakdown?

·      £10 for every day a customer’s internet service is not repaired

·      £30 for every time an engineer doesn’t show up for a scheduled appointment or is cancelled with less than 24 hours notice

·      £6 for every day a new service is not started, including the confirmed start date

This will, understandably, terrify the nation’s telecommunications companies. But it is needed to keep them accountable for the 5.7 million cases of customers losing their landline or broadband service every year.  

And chances are you all have a nightmare story of experiencing problems without any sufficient customer service or delayed repairs… This will stop that, or get you free cash if it doesn’t.

Things could be very different when this comes into effect…