The UK broadband provider which charges £360 to walk away mid-contract
Key Points
- Virgin Media customers face a median £360 fee to leave mid-contract, the highest of eight UK providers
- TalkTalk is cheapest to leave at £146 thanks to a flat per-month charge
- TV bundles add £135 to the typical exit fee, rising to £450 at Virgin Media
- 43.7% of households face £300 or more, the ceiling of current switching credits
- Figures come from 2,472 households using Switchity's calculator between May and August 2026
Virgin Media customers face a median £360 fee to leave their contract early, the highest of any major UK provider, according to new figures from comparison site Switchity.
The site analysed 2,472 UK households that used its early termination fee calculator between 16 May and 31 August 2026. Across all eight providers it tracks, the typical household faced a £279 exit fee with 12 months still to run on its contract.
NOW Broadband came second at £324 and Vodafone third at £317, followed by Sky at £286 and EE at £270. BT customers faced £208, Plusnet customers £198, and TalkTalk customers the lowest fee at £146.
Switchity said the order came down to how each provider calculates its charge. Virgin Media and NOW Broadband bill close to the full remaining contract value, while TalkTalk charges a flat fee for every month left, which the site modelled at £11.25 a month.
BT, EE and Plusnet came out lower than their monthly bills would suggest because they deduct the costs they no longer incur once a customer leaves, the site added.
| Provider | Households | Median monthly bill | Median exit fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virgin Media | 1,001 | £38 | £360 | Most-checked provider in the sample |
| NOW Broadband | 94 | £30 | £324 | Smallest sample, so treat with caution |
| Vodafone | 554 | £31 | £317 | Retains a high share of remaining payments |
| Sky | 813 | £39 | £286 | Offers switching credits up to £300 |
| EE | 670 | £40 | £270 | Deducts costs it no longer incurs |
| BT | 623 | £40 | £208 | Deducts costs it no longer incurs |
| Plusnet | 267 | £30 | £198 | Deducts costs it no longer incurs |
| TalkTalk | 369 | £30 | £146 | Flat per-month fee, modelled at £11.25 |
Virgin Media also drew the most interest, with more than 1,000 households checking the cost of leaving it in three and a half months. Provider counts add up to more than 2,472 because some households checked more than one provider.
Households with a TV bundle faced a median £396 exit fee against £261 for broadband only, a gap of £135. Virgin Media TV customers faced the steepest charge at £450, ahead of EE at £396, Sky at £378 and BT at £327.
EE had the largest TV premium of the four at £149 per household. Ofcom’s complaints data for the first quarter of 2026 found EE and Virgin Media were the most complained-about pay-TV providers, with Virgin Media’s TV complaints mainly about billing, pricing and charges.
Stripping TV out of the figures left Virgin Media at £340, Vodafone at £314 and NOW Broadband at £304, with TalkTalk again cheapest at £135.
Switchity said 43.7% of households faced a fee of £300 or more, which matches the largest switching credit any major provider currently pays towards a new customer’s exit fee. Sky, EE and Virgin Media all advertised credits up to £300 when the site checked its deal panel on 11 September.
A further 13.2% of households, or 327 in total, faced a fee of £500 or more. Only 10.8% of households faced a fee under £100.
The combined estimated exit fees across all 2,472 households came to £783,498 before any switching credit.
Demand held steady across the summer, with 848 households checking the cost of leaving in June, 841 in July and 730 in August.
“What struck us most is that the typical household checks the cost of leaving with a whole year still to serve,” said Claudia Constantin, co-founder and managing editor at Switchity. “Knowing your exit fee early gives you options: haggle with your provider, time your exit, or find a deal that helps cover the cost.”
The figures are estimates built from each provider’s published early termination method rather than billed amounts. Switchity counted each household once and took the median of its calculations, excluded implausible entries and traffic from corporate networks, and only covered the eight providers whose published methods its calculator models.
