What’s the point of a broadband contract if the price can still go up?
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Millions of broadband customers face another April bill increase despite being tied into lengthy contracts, raising fresh questions over what consumers are actually signing up to.
Signing a broadband contract sounds straightforward enough. You agree to pay a price, the company agrees to provide the service, and everyone knows where they stand for the next 18 or 24 months.
Except millions of customers could see their bills go up again next April while they are still firmly locked into that deal.
Depending on the provider, annual mid-contract broadband increases can add around £4 a month to a standard bill. That is another £48 a year for exactly the same connection, router and contract customers already had.
Broadband Genie calculates that an increase of that size can amount to a price rise of around 16%, far ahead of recent inflation.
And that raises an obvious question: what exactly is the point of signing a contract if the price you pay can still rise before it ends?
The answer lies in the small but important distinction between a fixed contract term and a fixed price.
Broadband providers are still allowed to include increases during the minimum contract period, provided those rises are properly set out when customers sign up. So the nasty surprise in April may actually have been sitting in the deal from day one.
Anyone taking out or renewing broadband should therefore check exactly what will happen to their monthly bill during the minimum contract period, rather than concentrating solely on the price advertised on day one.
Ofcom tightened the rules in January 2025, banning inflation-linked or percentage-based increases in new contracts. Providers that plan to raise the price must instead spell out the increase clearly in pounds and pence before a customer signs.
That has made the system easier to understand. It has not stopped the annual increase itself.
The result can feel decidedly one-sided. Customers may be committed to their broadband provider for 18 or 24 months, while the amount leaving their bank account is scheduled to climb along the way.
For households already questioning what they pay for internet access, it makes the headline monthly price only part of the story. Checking broadband costs and the increases built into a deal could reveal a very different price over the full length of a contract.
Broadband Genie says last year's broadband increases collectively cost customers £186 million, and argues the burden could become even greater in 2027.
The comparison site wants mid-contract price rises banned altogether rather than simply made clearer.
Alex Tofts, strategist at Broadband Genie, said: “Bill payers have suffered from these unfair price hikes for long enough. Mid-contract price rises cause nothing but confusion, stress, and extra financial pressure during a cost of living crisis.
“If Ofcom wants to bring true transparency to telecom billing, the solution is obvious. Ban these absurd mid-contract price rises for good.”
There is at least one important protection for consumers. Where a provider increases the price beyond what was agreed when the contract was taken out, customers generally have the right to leave without an early-exit penalty.
But where April's rise was clearly written into the deal from the beginning, customers can find themselves facing the frustrating reality of modern broadband contracts.
It also gives customers approaching the end of a deal another reason to look carefully at what their broadband will really cost before signing up for another long minimum term.
Because however clearly the increase is disclosed, the basic contradiction remains difficult to ignore: you are locked in, and the price rise is too.