Skip to main content
Find a broadband deal
Test my broadband
Fix my broadband

ISP Listing Policy

Introduction

Our aim is to provide one of the most comprehensive broadband package listings for discrening consumers looking for broadband services. Our listing policy is designed to be inclusive both in terms of business size and technology. Listed providers must keep us updated on details of their packages on a regular basis, and providers failing to do this may be de-listed without warning. We also ask for more technical details (such as the underlying wholesale providers of your products) as some of our users use this information for planning resilience of their services.

We do not act as a free marketing tool for broadband resellers who put their name on someone else’s product and add little or no value to the broadband service. Our policy on listing ‘resellers’ is therefore quite strict and focussed on ensuring consumer expectations.

Listing Criteria

In order to be listed as a retail broadband provider on our site, you MUST meet the following criteria:

  • You must be a UK-registered company (England & Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland); this includes Limited companies and CICs; AND
  • You must EITHER
     (1) operate a network of substance*; OR
     (2) be a major reseller (a nationally recognised brand) providing widescale broadband coverage**; AND
  • IF you operate an affiliate programme, you must permit us to join on terms not less favourable than other websites; AND
  • You must provide us with your coverage information (in a formal acceptable to us); AND
  • You must keep us regularly updated on changes to your services (although we may also update listings from your website).

* Network of substance – We will regard a network as tending to meet this criteria if it operates significant routing infrastructure (which would typically mean it has its own public Autonomous System controlling its own routing policy with multiple upstream providers/routes) and/or operates its own significant last-mile infrastructure (e.g. provides wireless/FTTH broadband services to a substantial area); we will take a flexible approach on listing micro-providers which offer unique services (e.g. pure fibre services in local areas). 

** Major resellers – We will exceptionally list major resellers of services available on a widescale basis; we expect these to form a minority of listings. Although historically our policy has been not to list resellers at all, we have found that consumers buying from major household names may be confused by such providers not being listed. We may use any reasonable criteria to judge this, including number of users in audited accounts or our own data such as the number of speed tests we see from users.

We do list providers who may not have requested a listing where we believe this is in the public interest.

We do add network operators who have dedicated IP blocks to our speed test detection system even if they do not meet listing criteria.

Note: Our Broadband Availability API service (and our linked Broadband Maps) tracks wholesale operators (who may also be retail providers) who run their own networks (often fibre). A retail service on our website is not required to be included in this. The API is primarily used by price comparison websites who use our database for availability tracking.

We reserve the right to suspend or withdraw any listing for any reason we see fit, to prioritise listings based on our judgment of the most suitable package for users at the time (e.g. we may give preference to a full-fibre service or a local broadband provider over national providers) or to promote special offers from some providers.

Please note that we do not remove negative reviews, comments or posts made on our site unless these breach our rules. 

Further Details

Advertising

We will list packages that meet our listing specifications in terms of information provided or as publicly available on your website. We reserve the right to price packages based on the comparative specifications we use (or decide not to the list them) to ensure a fair comparison.

Discretion & Limitations

We reserve the right to limit how many packages and/or options we list. For example, a broadband package may include an option with a static IP address at an extra cost; we will usually not list these as two separate packages, but may include details of the static IP address costs in the description. This would however mean filtering packages by ‘static IP’ would not show up. We will usually list packages with contracts or rolling monthly (1 month) and 12, 18 and 24-month contracts. We will not generally list variations of hardware you may provide in all cases. It shall be thinkbroadband’s discretion to decide what packages we list for each provider. We may list more packages for some providers, depending on the co-operation of the provider, the resources needed to update listings, and expected user interest in packages.

IP Address Assignments

We need to know the IP address ranges you assign to customers of your broadband service. This is so we can enhance features of our site and automatically detect your customers and show information that may be relevant to them. We also use this information to allow your customers to rate your services and record speedtests. This information should be sent in classless (CIDR) notation, one per line, in the body of the e-mail and should only include the ranges you use for your broadband service. Please check with your network team if you do not know this information.

Package format

We generally find the easiest way to list packages is for you to provide the list of packages along with URLs to a website containing the information. We will ask any follow-up questions. You must check the listings are accurate at the point they are added, and at regular intervals thereafter; we will not automatically update listings unless we become aware they require changes.

Listing Queries

All queries about ISP listings by broadband providers, including updates, should be sent to [email protected]. This address is not for consumer enquiries or suggestions about missing providers.  For ISP additions/updates, please include the ISP name in the subject of the e-mail. We use a ticketing system, so please ensure any responses to any queries are sent by replying to the original e-mails from us, retaining the existing subject line.