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These Terms and Conditions ("Terms and Conditions") set out the agreement between you ("You", "Your") and OB Telecom Ltd (Company Number 13507341) whose registered address is Soapworks, Ordsall Lane, Salford, United Kingdom, M5 3TT ("We", "Our").

All Our customers who use services We provide are subject to these Standard Terms. Depending on which services We provide to You, additional service terms may apply ("Service Terms"). It is important that You read these terms in full. Any reference in these Terms and Conditions to the “Standard Terms” shall be considered to include these Terms and Conditions and the relevant additional Service Terms.

Other terms that form part of Your agreement with us:

  1. Your Order Confirmation
  2. Origin Broadband Acceptable Usage Policy
  3. Origin Broadband Vulnerability Policy
  4. Our Privacy Policy
  5. Our Pricing Guide
  6. Our Broadband Terms

Key Terms

YOUR RIGHT TO CANCEL

Should You change your mind about taking a service from Us, you have 14 days from the day after we accept your order, or the day after we have delivered your TV set-top box. To cancel your services with us, you will need to call 0345 071 9886.

MY AGREEMENT DURATION

Your agreement will last for a Minimum Period which will be laid out in your Order Confirmation. Your Minimum Period is typically between 12 and 24 months however other durations are available during promotional periods.

PAYING FOR MY SERVICE

You must pay your bill on time by Direct Debit. If you are unable to do so, for whatever reason, please contact us to discuss an alternative agreement.

PRICING AND PRICE CHANGES

You can view all our charge at originbroadband.com/pricing

A price increase will be applied annually in April to all Your charges unless We have agreed otherwise with You. We will notify You in advance of any price increase. The price increase will be equal to a percentage of:

  1. an amount equal to the Consumer Price Index rate published by the Office of National Statistics in January of that year (excluding negative rates); and
  2. an additional 3.9%

At the end of Your Minimum Period, Your prices will automatically switch to Our monthly rolling tariff unless otherwise agreed with us.

ENDING MY AGREEMENT

You can cancel Your agreement with us any time by:

  1. Providing 14 days’ notice if You are switching any of Your services to another provider through the approved migration process (Your new supplier will be able to advise You of this); or
  2. Providing 30 days’ notice if You are cancelling for any other reason unless You are cancelling during the Cooling Off Period.

If You are still within Your Minimum Period, charges may apply for cancelling your contract early. To see how these are calculated, please see our pricing guide.

Moving Home

If You are moving home and wish to continue using Our services, You must tell us at least 14 days in advance so We can cancel Your old service. You will be required to sign up to a new Minimum Period contract and there may be an additional administration charge.

OUR STANDARD TERMS

  1. The Basics
    1. We’ve aimed to make these Standard Terms easy to understand, however We understand that sometimes You may not be able to find the answers to Your questions. If You need any additional support finding Your answer, please see Our Help and Support page.
    2. By joining us as a customer, You agree to these Standard Terms during the whole time that You have a service with us. Certain provisions may also apply after Your service has ended and where that is the case this is stated expressly in these Terms and Conditions.
    3. Key definitions can be found in the “Our Glossary” section of these Terms and Conditions.
  2. Term
    1. Your agreement:
      1. starts from the moment We accept Your first order with Us, and the date will be provided in Your Order Confirmation; and
      2. will last for a Minimum Period agreed as part of Your purchased package or item. We will confirm this Minimum Period with You when We accept Your order, and this period will be included in Your Order Confirmation. If You terminate Your services before the end of this Minimum Period, You may be charged an Early Termination Fee.
  3. ORDERING FROM US
    1. The services We provide to You shall be the services as set out in Your Order Confirmation.
    2. To order services from us:
      1. You must be a minimum of 18 years old;
      2. You must be the owner of the premises or have the permission of the owner of the premises where Our services are to be provided;
      3. You must pass a Credit and Identity Check; and
      4. You may be required to pay an upfront fee.
    3. We will inform You prior to You ordering services from Us is We are not able to supply You with some services in cases of the following:
      1. You are not connected to Our network;
      2. the available service at Your location does not meet Our minimum performance standards (5mbps Download and 1mbps Upload); or
      3. it is too difficult to provide You with the services.
    4. It may be necessary, subject to the outcome of the Credit and Identity Check, to offer our Services to You at a tailored price which is some circumstances may require an increased upfront payment, which we will explain to you. In this case, any pricing you have seen before is not valid.
    5. During a move from one provider to another, there may be a period of temporary loss as Your services establish with us.
    6. Once Your order has been placed, We will set out certain details about Your service in Your Order Confirmation. This communication will include important information such as:
      1. Your chosen services and how much these will cost You per month;
      2. the Minimum Period for which We will supply the services to You; and
      3. Any upfront charges You have paid.
  4. USING OUR SERVICES
    1. You are responsible for the way that Your services and Equipment are used. You must at all times abide by the Origin Broadband Acceptable Use Policy.
    2. To provide, operate, and maintain Your services, You agree that We or Our partners (such as Openreach and CityFibre) may access Your property to install and maintain the necessary equipment for the services throughout Your property. You may be asked to sign a specific document to enable us to access the property called a wayleave agreement.
    3. If You are not the property’s freeholder (for example if You rent the property), You will need to gain written consent from the relevant people (such as Your landlord) before any installation.
    4. During any work it will be necessary for You or a person, aged 18 or over, given permission by You, to be at the property for any engineer visit.
    5. Cabling may be ran over or under Your premises. This is decided upon a site survey and not an optional choice. This will not be removed upon terminating Your service. Where the grounds are shared, You will need to gain the consent of Your neighbours in order to proceed.
    6. All Equipment provided by us or one of Our partners, remains their or Our property unless agreed otherwise. This includes all cabling, Network Terminating Equipment, and hubs. It must not be tampered with or removed, and You are responsible for looking after any Equipment We provide. You are responsible for the maintenance of all equipment within the boundaries of Your premises. Any damage, beyond reasonable Wear and tear, may be billed to You. This includes overhead or underground cabling.
    7. If You do not provide or cannot procure the access or consent necessary for us to supply the services, We may be unable to provide You with Our services and additional charges may apply for the engineer visit.
    8. Our services are provided to You on the basis that they are for personal use only in the UK but occasional use for business purposes is permitted provided it is in accordance with Our Origin Broadband Acceptable Use Policy.
    9. We will provide You advanced notice and agree the date of any engineer visits required to either install Your service or resolve a fault.
      1. You must let us into Your home if necessary.
      2. You can change or cancel this appointment up to two working days beforehand.
      3. The engineer will not be responsible for connecting any equipment within the premises.
      4. If the engineer is unable to conduct their work or they find an issue relating to Your equipment, We may:
        1. Pass on a reasonable charge for the engineer’s appointment and equipment used as detailed in Our Pricing Guide; and/or
        2. Remove Your right to access service compensation.
      Examples of situations where this paragraph 4.9 (d) may apply include (this is not an exhaustive list and is provided for illustration only): an adult over the age of 18 was not present at the premise at the scheduled time; or the engineer was refused access to the premise; or the equipment fault was caused by internal wiring at the premise.
  5. Our Charges
    1. Information on all charges for Our services can be found in Our Pricing Guide at https://originbroadband.com/pricing and any charge or payment referred to in these Standard Terms shall be available here.
  6. Billing and Payments
    1. You are responsible for paying all charges that You, or any person using Your services incur.
    2. All charges issued include VAT, unless notified in writing.
    3. Once connected, You will receive a monthly bill consisting of subscription charges (for example for Our broadband and TV products) for Your next month’s services and where applicable to Your services usage charges (for example for any out of package calls) billed in arrears.
    4. Bills will be issued in electronic form. It is Your responsibility to ensure that the email address held on Your account is correct and actively monitored.
    5. A price increase will be applied annually in April to all Your charges unless We have agreed otherwise with You. We will notify You in advance of any price increase. The price increase will be equal to a percentage of:
      1. an amount equal to the Consumer Price Index rate published by the Office of National Statistics in January of that year (excluding negative rates); and
      2. an additional 3.9%
        As an example:

        The price of Your services is £10 per month and the Consumer Price Index rate is 1% for that year. The price increase for Your services will be 4.9% (1% + 3.9%) and the price for Your services will rise to £10.49 per month.

    6. The price increase as detailed in clause 6.5 shall be rounded to the nearest whole pence and in the event that the Consumer Price Index rate is zero or negative (less than zero), the price rise shall only be 3.9%.
    7. You must hold and pay through an active Direct Debit unless We have agreed an alternative payment method in writing with You. Where an alternative payment method is agreed, We may charge You a reasonable fee to cover Our costs as further detailed in Our Pricing Guide.
    8. Payments will be collected on the due date shown on Your billing notification. If You fail to pay Your bill by the due date, We may:
      1. Charge a reasonable administration fee or interest as stated in Our Pricing Guide;
      2. Notify credit reference agencies of Your non-payment.
    9. You must as soon as possible dispute any charges that You believe are incorrect. During Our investigations, You must continue to pay all undisputed charges. We will not suspend or end a service due to any disputed charge. Any failure to promptly dispute any charges under this clause will not impact Your statutory rights in respect of the same.
    10. At the end of Your services, all outstanding sums, any Early Termination Fees, and any cancellation charges will become immediately due and payable. Where You have pre-paid for services not used, prior to any refund We will first deduct any outstanding sums owed to us. Details of Our Early Termination Fees can be found in the Pricing Guide.
    11. If We remain unable to collect Your outstanding bills after 30 days from the due date of your oldest bill, We may at Our discretion:
      1. terminate Your services as described in 7.1(c);
      2. add reasonable costs incurred to collect the outstanding sum. This includes any third-party debt collection costs;
      3. pass or sell any debt to a third-party collection agency;
      4. inform credit reference agencies; and/or
      5. take the relevant legal action to ensure recovery. At
      6. At the end of Your Minimum Period, Your prices will automatically switch to Our monthly rolling tariff unless otherwise agreed with us. We will always provide advanced notice of any changes to Your tariff, including where You are to be automatically switched to Our monthly rolling tariff at the end of Your Minimum Period.
      7. If you are experiencing financial difficulties or are unable to pay your bill for any reason, please contact us so we can agree a remedy.
  7. RESTRICTING, TEMPORARILY DISCONNECTING OR TERMINATING SERVICES
    1. We may restrict, temporarily disconnect, or terminate any of Our services if:
      1. We need to conduct local or national network maintenance;
      2. You break or are suspected of breaking any term of these Service Terms or a related agreement;
      3. You fail to pay Your bill or any invoiced charges within 7 days of a reminder;
      4. We believe Your services or any of the methods You have used to pay us have been used fraudulently;
      5. We’re required to for legal or regulatory reasons;
      6. We are unable to continue to provide You with a service; or
      7. We need to protect Our network and other users of Our services.
    2. During any service restriction or suspension, You must continue to fulfil Your obligations under these Service Terms. This includes but is not limited to continuing to pay for Your services.
    3. Where We restrict, suspend, or terminate Our services under clause 7.1 We shall look to provide as much notice as possible and work to resolve issues with You. However, in some circumstances we may not be able to do this such as where We have suspicions of fraud.
  8. MOVING OR CANCELLING YOUR SERVICES
    1. Should You change Your mind about a service, You can cancel this agreement for a period of 14 days from the day after:
      1. we accepted Your order; or
      2. If You have ordered a set-top box, the day after We delivered the equipment; whichever is latest. This is known as Your Cooling Off Period.
    2. Unless Your Service Terms state otherwise, You can cancel Your agreement with us any time by:
      1. Providing 14 days’ notice if You are switching any of Your services to another provider through the approved migration process (Your new supplier will be able to advise You of this); or
      2. Providing 30 days’ notice if You are cancelling for any other reason unless You are cancelling during the Cooling Off Period.
    3. When cancelling Your agreement, if You are within Your Minimum Period (excluding the Cooling Off Period), You may have to pay an Early Termination Charge unless it is due to clause 11.1.
    4. If You cancel Your services during the Cooling Off Period, excluding the circumstances outlined in 8.5 , We will refund to You all payments received from You, including any delivery or upfront payments subject to all Equipment being returned.
    5. If Your service was installed and Your request to cancel is within Your Cooling Off Period, You will be required to pay any installation, connection or activation fees and pay for any service that You have received. Further details can be found in Our Pricing Guide.
    6. If You are moving home and wish to continue using Our services, You must tell us at least 14 days in advance so We can cancel Your old service. You will be required to sign up to a new Minimum Period contract and there may be an additional charge which can be found in Our Pricing Guide.
    7. If We are unable to transfer Your services for any of the reasons set out in 3.3, or if You do not want to take any of Your services with You, and Your services are within their Minimum Period, You may have to pay an early termination fee. We can check if Your new home can receive services from us, to do this check please call us on 0345 071 9886.
    8. These rights are in addition to any statutory rights You may have.
  9. EQUIPMENT AND RETURNS
    1. All Equipment unless stated otherwise, is loaned to You from us for the provision of the services stated within Your Order Confirmation.
    2. We will deliver any Equipment to You prior to any installation dates through a trusted third-party. If We or You end this agreement for any reason, unless We have informed You otherwise, You must return all Equipment to us in a reasonable condition, allowing for fair Wear and tear. If You fail to return the Equipment for any reason, We are entitled to charge You for the replacement cost or reasonable recovery costs of the Equipment.
    3. Within the Equipment provided, You will have received software and other programs used for the delivery of Your service.
      1. You agree that You will not tamper, remove, or otherwise override the software and programs.
      2. Origin may, to ensure the security and performance of its equipment, perform remote upgrades. Any upgrades provided shall be of the same quality and description.
      3. We and Our suppliers retain ownership and all intellectual property rights of the software for the equipment We provide.
  10. RESOLVING YOUR COMPLAINTS
    1. If You are experiencing an issue with Your service, You can review Our online help and support section for a wide selection of quick fixes and tips. If this does not resolve Your issue, please contact us as soon as possible. You must give us the opportunity to resolve Your problems and continue to pay Your bills whilst We investigate.
    2. For more information on complaints, please see Our complaints code of practice which will explain in more detail how You can complain to us, what You need to do to claim compensation, and if You are still unhappy, how You can settle Your dispute by contacting an independent dispute resolution service. Our dispute resolution service is the Ombudsman Services ADR Scheme (visit them here) and you can contact them for free on 0330 440 1614 or by email enquiry@ombudsman-services.org
  11. CHANGES TO THESE STANDARD TERMS
    1. From time to time We may change vary Our Terms and Conditions for the following reasons:
      1. to maintain Our legal or regulatory obligations; or
      2. where pertinent to Our business operations.
    2. Prior to making any change We will usually provide You with notice (by email or letter). Our website will also provide information on any changes We have made.
    3. Where We propose to make contractual modifications that are a material detriment to You, We will:
      1. provide You with at least 30 days' notice of such change (by email or letter); and
      2. offer You the opportunity to terminate Your contract without penalty where the change is not acceptable to You.
      Upon receiving notice from us of a change that is a material detriment to You as a customer under this agreement You may terminate Your agreement with us within 30 days of receiving Our notice. Any changes proposed by us will not be applicable during this period.
    4. Please note that the following will not be considered as changes that are a material detriment to You:
      1. a change as a result of Our annual price increase in clause 6.5; or
      2. a change that is an increase in Your prices that are equal to any increase in the rate of Value Added Tax or any other directly and specifically applicable taxation charge or regulatory levy imposed by mandatory provisions laid down by Government or regulatory authorities or any other change imposed by the Government or regulatory authorities.
  12. OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS
    1. This contract is between You and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of its terms. This agreement, Your account or any of Your rights and responsibilities under this agreement may not be transferred without Our written agreement. We may not agree to such a transfer if the person taking on the obligations of this agreement does not meet the criteria set out in 3.2.
    2. We may transfer Our rights and obligations under these Standard Terms to another organisation. We will always tell You in writing if this happens and We will ensure that the transfer will not affect Your rights under Your agreement with us.
    3. If a court finds any part of these Standard Terms illegal, the rest will continue in force. Each of the clauses and paragraphs of these terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.
    4. Even if We delay in enforcing this agreement, We can still enforce it later. If We do not insist immediately that You do anything You are required to do under these terms, or if We delay in taking steps against You in respect of Your breaking this agreement, that will not mean that You do not have to do those things and it will not prevent us taking steps against You at a later date. For example, if You miss a payment and We do not chase You, but We continue to provide the services, We can still require You to make the payment at a later date.
    5. This and any other agreement between You and us will be governed by the Law of England and Wales. Any dispute that cannot be resolved short of legal action will be referred to the County Court nearest to the location the service in dispute is being provided.
  13. MATTERS BEYOND OUR CONTROL
    1. We will not be liable for failing to achieve what is outlined under this agreement if this is affected by matters beyond Our reasonable control. Examples of things outside of Our reasonable control are lightning, flood, severe weather, fire, or anything done by a government or other public authority. We will take reasonable steps to prevent or minimise the impact of such matters. If there is a substantial interruption of the services for an extended period of time You may contact us to end Your services and receive a refund for any amount of time where You have not received the affected services You have paid for.
  14. OUR LIABILITIES
    1. We are responsible to You for foreseeable loss and damage caused by us. If We fail to comply with these Standard Terms, We are responsible for loss or damage You suffer that is a foreseeable result of such breach of these Standard Terms or Our failing to use reasonable care and skill. Loss or damage is foreseeable if either it is obvious that it will happen or if, at the time the contract was made, both We and You knew it might happen. We are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable.
    2. We do not exclude or limit in any way Our liability to You where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by Our negligence or the negligence of Our employees, agents, or subcontractors; for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; for breach of Your legal rights in relation to the services including where equipment or digital content (provide by us) is not of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, has been described wrongly or installed incorrectly.
    3. We are not liable for business losses. We only supply the services for residential use. If You use the services for any commercial or business purpose We will have no liability to You for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.
    4. We are not liable for:
      1. losses caused by a third-party service or goods or viruses that You access through Our services;
      2. any loss of information or data (unless this is due to digital content We provide);
      3. problems or issues caused by other telecommunications providers; and
      4. losses caused by Your breach of this agreement.

OUR GLOSSARY: KEY WORDS AND PHRASES

  1. Cooling Off Period is your statutory right to change your mind at the beginning of your contract as further described at clause 8.1.
  2. Early Termination Charge is as set out in the Pricing Guide.
  3. Equipment means any and all equipment provided to you for the provision of the services.
  4. Minimum Period is the length of your agreement. This is normally agreed at point of sale or when you recontract, onto a new term or a new product.
  5. Network Terminating Equipment (NTE) sounds complex, but it is simply the white Openreach master socket (for Superfast) or the white Openreach device attached to your wall (for Ultrafast).
  6. Order Confirmation is the document We will provide to you containing some of the key information regarding your services with us.
  7. Pricing Guide is Our guide to all charges and prices for Our services
  8. Service Terms are additional terms and conditions that may be applicable to you depending on which services you have purchased from us.
  9. Standard Terms are these general terms that apply to all Our services.