ISPs warned about not using One Touch Switching

Ofcom warned ISPs about using alternative methods for switching broadband customers after it investigated the performance of the One Touch Switching system. According to ISP Review, no major problems were found with the biggest ISPs, but some smaller providers were using other methods of switching, and should cease to do so.

“In January, we issued a formal information request to each of BT, Sky, Vodafone, TalkTalk, VMO2 and Vodafone following potential issues affecting matching rates between certain providers. It is crucial that customers do not experience obstructions when attempting to switch away from their current provider. A key purpose of our information request was to analyse whether providers’ One Touch Switch (OTS) systems and processes are functioning correctly on both a Gaining and Losing Provider basis.

Based on the evidence we have collected we have found that, across industry as a whole, the majority of customers are successfully switching providers using OTS. There are some variable matching success rates between providers, however we do not feel that these variations represent concerns that would require further action at this time. We will nevertheless continue to monitor this.

Our analysis also found that some Gaining Providers on the Openreach network are switching customers using an alternative switching method other than OTS when repeated match attempts via OTS have failed.

Under General Conditions C7.18 – C7.27, providers must maintain a single switching process – One Touch Switch – for relevant switching customers. OTS is the only switching process for residential customers switching fixed services which is compliant with the General Conditions; it provides easy, quick, reliable switching which protect consumers and supports competition across all networks. Any providers using alternative switching processes must therefore take immediate steps to stop their use of these.

We are aware that there are some scenarios where an attempted customer switch may result in a match failure, and that one customer may experience multiple match failures, through no fault of the Gaining Provider.

In this scenario, it is our expectation that a provider should use all reasonable endeavours to carry out a switch using OTS. For example, if an online order fails to acquire a successful match, then it is our expectation that customers should be directed to alternative channels (e.g. phone support) to assist with the match. Should these still not result in a successful match, then it will not be possible to switch the customer. The only course of action – if the customer wishes to proceed – is for the customer to cease the service with their existing provider and for the new provider to provide a new service. This is commonly referred to as “cease and re-provide”.

We expect providers in this scenario to clearly explain to the prospective customer that they must contact their existing provider directly to cancel their current contract.”

Ofcom Statement

Of note in the above, the bolding ours, Ofcom states that should the OTS system not function to provide a switch, then the gaining provider is not able to use another switching method but instead use a cease and re-provide to move the customer to a new service. ISP Review states that Ofcom would consider enforcement action, where providers continue to use a non-OTS switching method.

There are a couple of quirks with One Touch Switching that have shown up a few times, and we believe they may not be a fault of the OTS process but how the implementation is handled on the broadband provider side:

• There have been several people complaining that a switch away from Virgin Media O2 cable broadband has been completed in the sense that their new service is up and running, but VMO2 is claiming they have not seen a switch complete message. The issue is that billing for the old VMO2 service will continue. This might be that the gaining provider is not sending the ‘switch complete’ message, but the common theme to date has been VMO2.
• Another is complaints from BT customers that they are not being sent the ‘implications of leaving’ e-mail, which should be sent once a switch has been initiated by the gaining provider. Clearly, BT must be sending these out, as for a large ISP, we’d expect there to be much more noise if no notifications were going out at all. One possibility is that emails are being missed e.g. going to a spam folder or a dead email address that the customer no longer actively checks.

Update 20/06/2025: We have also been contacted by Aquiss to say they have many examples from EE where they are processing a successful match and then using the old NoT transfer process rather than the new OTS one.