What is broadband drip pricing?
Broadband drip pricing is when a provider shows you one price to get you interested, then adds mandatory extras once you’re already at the checkout. A setup charge here. A delivery fee there. Suddenly the £24.99 a month you clicked on costs more than you thought, and you’ve already typed in your address.
It’s been a quiet annoyance for years. What’s changed in 2026 is that broadband drip pricing is no longer just bad manners. Under UK consumer law, hiding a mandatory charge until the final step of a purchase is against the rules, and the regulator that polices it has just shown it’s willing to use its new powers.
How does the new price law protect you?
It works by forcing the total price into the open from the very first advert or listing you see. Since 6 April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act has treated broadband drip pricing, and drip pricing in any other sector, as an automatically unfair practice under the Competition and Markets Authority’s rules.
The rule itself is fairly simple to state. Any fee you can’t avoid, meaning you have to pay it to actually get the broadband you’re buying, has to be folded into the headline price you’re shown, not revealed three screens later at checkout. Optional extras, like paying more for next day installation, are a different matter and can still be added on afterwards.
Government research behind the rules found that dripped, unavoidable fees cost UK consumers roughly £2.2 billion a year between them, and named the communications sector, broadband and mobile included, alongside transport as one of the worst offenders for the practice. That’s the backdrop broadband drip pricing rules were built to fix.
Is a broadband setup fee against the rules?
It depends entirely on whether you saw it coming. Several providers have brought back setup and router charges over the past year, and there’s nothing unlawful about charging one, provided it’s shown clearly in the price you’re quoted from the start rather than sprung on you like a surprise guest at checkout.
Our earlier look at broadband setup fees making a comeback found charges reported in the region of £20 to £30 at some providers. The fee itself isn’t automatically a broadband drip pricing problem. It only becomes one if it’s held back until you’re committed and can’t easily walk away.
The same logic applies to delivery charges for your router, activation fees, and anything else you can’t get out of paying to actually use the service. If it’s mandatory, it belongs in the number you compare between deals, not tucked away for later.
Broadband drip pricing rules at a glance
| What the rule covers | What it means for you |
| Mandatory fees (setup, delivery, activation) | Must be included in the advertised headline price |
| Optional extras (faster installation, upgrades) | Can still be offered and priced separately |
| Who enforces it | The Competition and Markets Authority, under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act |
| When it started | 6 April 2025, checked August 2026 |
| Maximum penalty | Up to 10% of a company’s annual worldwide turnover |
How is the CMA enforcing broadband drip pricing rules?
Cautiously at first, then with a real fine. The CMA spent the back end of 2025 reviewing pricing at more than 400 businesses across several sectors and sending warning letters to around 100 of them, checked August 2026, giving companies a chance to fix their checkouts before anyone got punished.
That grace period ended in April 2026. The CMA’s first drip pricing enforcement case saw the AA and BSM driving schools ordered to pay a £4.2 million penalty and refund over 80,000 learners around £9 each on average, after a mandatory £3 booking fee was added late in the checkout rather than shown upfront.
Neither company is a broadband provider, but the case matters here for one simple reason. It’s the first time the CMA has actually fined someone under these powers, and it proves broadband drip pricing enforcement isn’t theoretical. A regulator that’s used the stick once tends to reach for it again.
Key takeaways
- Mandatory broadband fees must appear in the advertised price, not just at checkout.
- The rule has applied since 6 April 2025 under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act.
- The CMA can fine a company up to 10% of its global turnover for breaking it.
- Its first fine, against the AA and BSM driving schools, landed in April 2026.
- Optional add-ons, unlike mandatory fees, can still be priced separately.
What can you do if you spot a hidden broadband fee?
Start by checking the full checkout total before you confirm anything, not just the monthly figure on the landing page. Add up the first year’s cost, including any setup or delivery charge, and compare that total against other deals rather than the headline number alone.
If a mandatory charge only appears after you’ve entered your details, that’s worth challenging. You’re also covered by a standard 14 day cooling off period on most online and phone sign ups, so if a fee catches you out, you can usually cancel without being left out of pocket while you query it.
You can report a supplier to the CMA directly, or via Citizens Advice, if you think broadband drip pricing rules have been broken. For issues specific to how your telecoms contract itself was sold, our guide to broadband contract change rights covers the separate Ofcom rules that sit alongside this one.
None of this means every deal is hiding something. Most aren’t. It just means the total price, not the headline one, is what actually decides whether an offer is good. Our guide on broadband exit fees is worth a read too, so you know the full cost picture at both ends of a contract.
Frequently asked questions about broadband drip pricing
- Is broadband drip pricing actually illegal?
- Yes. Since 6 April 2025, hiding a mandatory fee until checkout has been treated as an unfair commercial practice under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, enforced by the CMA.
- Does this apply to my existing broadband contract?
- It applies to how a deal is advertised and sold to you, so it matters most when you’re signing up or renewing. It doesn’t retroactively change a contract you agreed before the rule started.
- What counts as a mandatory fee versus an optional one?
- A mandatory fee is one you have to pay to get the broadband you’re buying, like a compulsory setup charge. An optional extra, such as paying more for a faster installation slot, can still be priced separately.
- Has a broadband provider been fined for drip pricing yet?
- Not as of August 2026. The CMA’s first fine under these powers went to the AA and BSM driving schools, but the regulator has named communications as one of the sectors it’s watching closely.
- Who do I complain to if I think I’ve been caught out?
- You can raise it with your provider first, then report it to the CMA or via Citizens Advice if the mandatory fee genuinely wasn’t shown in the price you were quoted.
