Mid Contract Price Rises

As the days lighten and the daffodils bloom, there’s a less welcome sign of spring: mid-contract price rises. Most broadband providers in the UK increase their prices around the time of the new financial year, which means in March or April customers see a rise in monthly payments.

What can I do when my broadband price increases?

If the mid-contract price hike has come as an unwelcome surprise, your first question might be if you can cancel your broadband and look for a cheaper deal elsewhere. It depends on the provider and whether you’re still in contract.

If the minimum term of your contract is up, you’re free to shop around for a new deal. But if you’re still within that fixed period, you probably can’t switch to a different provider without paying a penalty.

When you’re comparing broadband deals, you should see how much it will increase in the spring. This information will be in the terms and conditions of the contract too. Since you agreed to this when you signed up, your provider won’t accept this as a reason to exit your contract early without paying a fee.

Some providers do not flag their price rises in advance, so they have to give you the option of leaving when things change. At the time of writing, the only two big UK providers to do this are Sky and NOW Broadband (owned by Sky).

BT broadband price increase

BT’s price increase for broadband as of 31 March 2025 is £3 per month.^[1]

If you’ve been with BT Broadband for a while, then your price increase might be explained in a more complicated way. It’s based on their older pricing model where they increased payments based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the previous year, plus another 3.9%. In the 12 months to December 2024, the CPI went up 2.5%. ^[2] So prices for BT customers on the old system went up 6.4% (that’s 2.5% + 3.9%) in 2025.

How the increase is calculated will be stated in your contract. So you can’t end your contract early without paying a penalty.

Plusnet price increase

Plusnet’s price increase for broadband as of 31 March 2025 is £3 per month. This applies if you took out a new contract after 11 July 2024.

If you signed up to your contract before 11 July 2024, then you’ll be on their older pricing system. The increase in your payments for 2025 is the CPI plus 3.9%. That’s a total increase of 6.4%.^[3]

Your increase will be in your contract with Plusnet, so you can’t leave before the end of your minimum term without paying an exit fee.

Virgin Media price increase

If you signed up to your Virgin Media broadband contract on or after 9 January 2025, your price increase from April 2025 is £3.50.

If you signed up to your contract before 9 January 2025, you’ll be on the older and more complicated pricing system. The increase is the Retail Price Index (RPI) figure announced in February of the same year, plus 3.9%. The RPI rate announced in February 2025 was 3.6%, so the price rise as of April 2025 is 7.5% (that’s 3.6% plus 3.9%).^[4]

Because Virgin’s price rises are in the terms and conditions of customer contracts, you can’t cancel without paying a fee unless the minimum term of your contract is up.

NOW Broadband price increase

NOW Broadband last put up their broadband prices by £3 in July 2024. As of March 2025, we don’t know what the price rise for 2025 will be.^[5]

Because NOW Broadband doesn't put future price changes in your contract, you’re free to leave if you’re not happy with the increase. You can cancel your contract penalty-free within 31 days of receiving the message about the price increase.

If you want to cancel, you don’t have to contact NOW Broadband directly thanks to Ofcom’s One Touch Switch policy. You just have to take out a contract with a new provider and they’ll sort out everything with NOW Broadband so you don’t end up with a gap in your service.

If you do ring the NOW Broadband cancellation number (0330 041 2498), they will probably try to persuade you not to switch. This is a golden opportunity to haggle over your broadband deal and maybe get something better. Don’t forget to compare broadband deals first so you know what’s out there.

Talk Talk price increase

If you took out your broadband contract with TalkTalk after 12 August 2024, your monthly payments will increase by £3 every April from 2025.^[6]

If your contract was signed before then, you’ll be on the older system where prices go up by the CPI plus 3.7%. They use the CPI rate announced in January every year. This was 3% in January 2025, so the price increase as of April 2025 is 6.7% (that’s 3% plus 3.7%).

The increase is made clear in your contract, so you can’t use it as a reason to leave TalkTalk without paying a fee.

Sky broadband increase

The April 2025 rise across Sky’s TV and broadband packages is an average of 6.2%, but the exact increase you see depends on what package you have.^[7] Because Sky doesn’t inform customers of future price rises, you have the right to leave your contract when they’re announced without paying any exit fees. You get 30 days from them telling you about the price changes to cancel without a penalty.^[8]

Community Fibre price increase

Community Fibre customers who’ve signed up or moved to a new contract since 5 November 2024 are on the new, simpler system of calculating price changes. They get a price increase of £2 a month from 1 April 2025.

Customers who signed up or renewed before 5 August 2024 are on the older system with a price increase of 2.9% over CPI, unless notified otherwise.^[9]

If you took out your Community Fibre contract between 5 August and 4 November 2024, you won’t have any mid-contract price increases at all from April 2025.^[10]

Should I get fixed price broadband?

There’s a difference between a fixed-term broadband contract and a fixed-price contract. When you sign a fixed-term deal, the provider is agreeing to supply you with broadband for the term of the contract and you’re agreeing to keep paying them for that period. This doesn’t mean they have to keep prices the same for the duration of the contract. It does mean they have to be transparent about:

• What monthly payments will be from the start of the contract
• When they’re going up
• How much they’ll go up by (in pounds and pence)

It’s unusual for a provider to offer more than a year’s worth of broadband supply without increasing the price at all. Deals with no mid-contract price changes are more likely to be 12-month deals.

What’s the average cost of broadband in the UK?

The average starting cost of a broadband package bought through Go.Compare is £25.70 per month. Unsurprisingly, customers in the fastest speed category (450Mbps and over) pay the most for their broadband. The minority who still don’t have access to superfast broadband, with speeds of under 30Mbps, pay the least.^[11]

Can I switch broadband mid contract?

Most broadband providers charge a fee if you want to leave before the fixed term of your contract is up. You have the right to leave your broadband contract, but they have the right to levy that penalty.

Switching might be costly, but it’s now a simple process thanks to the One Touch Switch system. You don’t have to contact your existing provider to cancel. They’ll find out from your new provider and then charge you whatever exit fees are due.

If your provider is one that doesn’t give you information in advance about mid-contract price hikes, you can switch broadband without paying a fee as long as you do it within 30 days after the announcement.

How to get cheaper broadband?

If you’re out of contract, your provider will have probably moved you to a more expensive rolling deal with just one month’s notice. This is your cue to look for savings. Put your postcode into our address checker to see what deals are available for your home. Then you can sort the results by price.

How to avoid broadband price increases

f you’re out of contract, now is the time to bag yourself a new deal. Don’t be put off by fears of messing up your broadband connection. Those days are gone, thanks to One Touch Switch.

If you’re still within the fixed term of your deal and the price increases were clearly communicated in your contract, you can’t switch without paying a penalty fee. This is usually more than you’d save by switching to a cheaper deal, but you can still check by comparing offers.

Our guide to avoiding broadband price increases has more information.

FAQs

When do broadband prices usually increase?

Broadband price increases usually happen around the start of the new financial year on 6 April. So March and April are the most common months for providers to hike their prices. The exception is NOW Broadband, which has chosen July for its price rises in recent years.

Has Ofcom banned mid contract price rises?

No. Ofcom has not banned mid-contract price rises but it has introduced new rules on how providers decide on and communicate the changes.

Many providers used to plan their price increases based on a measure of inflation, usually the CPI or RPI. They would take the figure from a specific date (often the January before the spring price rises) and add a margin.

The old formula removed uncertainty for providers around inflation, because prices would automatically rise in line with it. But Ofcom felt it was unfair customers had to deal with that uncertainty instead. So, in 2024, it banned this way of calculating mid-contract price increases. Providers now have to tell you about price changes in pounds and pence, not using percentages and not using any unknown metrics like inflation.

The rules apply to contracts from 17 January 2025. Most providers are still using the old method for contracts that started before that.

Can I negotiate prices with my broadband provider?

If you’re out of contract or coming to the end of your contract, it’s a great time to haggle with your broadband provider and see if you can get a better deal.

If you’re still within contract you have much less leverage. Check when your contract ends and start shopping around about a month beforehand.

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[1] BT About annual price changes

[2] Office for National Statistics Inflation and price indices

[3] Plusnet About annual price changes

[4] Virgin Annual price change

[5] NOW Broadband Changes to your NOW Broadband membership

[6] TalkTalk TalkTalk Annual Price Update and CPI

[7] Sky An update on our TV and broadband prices

[8] Information directly from Sky in response to a Go.Compare query

[9] Community Fibre In contract price increase FAQs

[10] Source: direct confirmation from Community Fibre press office

[11] Average headline cost of broadband-only packages sold through Go.Compare between 1 September 2024 and 28 February 2025.