UPDATE TalkTalk Adopt All-in-One Price for UK Broadband and Line Rental

Internet provider TalkTalk has today adopted the Advertising Standards Authority‘s new all-inclusive pricing policy (details), which requires the cost of line rental and broadband to be offered as a single price. The move also reflects a few other changes and enhancements.

In fairness most of the market’s major broadband ISPs tend to announce a round of price hikes during the autumn (everybody follows behind BT’s move) and in that sense TalkTalk is not doing anything that it hasn’t done at around the same time every year.

However this year there’s a crucial difference because of their move to adopt the ASA’s new single monthly price requirement, which demands that broadband ISPs make the following adjustments (note: the rules aren’t officially due to be enforced until 31st October 2016). Other ISPs are expected to follow suit over the next few weeks and some already have (e.g. Vodafone).

ASA Recommendations

* Adverts must show all-inclusive up-front and monthly costs; no more separating out line rental.

* Adverts must give greater prominence for the contract length and any post-discount pricing.

* Adverts must give greater prominence for up-front costs.

As a result of this TalkTalk has today stopped breaking its broadband, line rental and other monthly costs down into separate charges on their website (note: customer bills will continue to be itemised for full clarity) and their refreshed packages will be available to both new customers, as well as existing users who re-contract.

Tristia Harrison, TalkTalk’s Consumer Managing Director, said:

“TalkTalk is changing. Nothing matters more to us than our customers and doing right by them is the right thing for our business. We’ve listened hard to what they’ve told us and we’re acting on it. People are fed up of confusing packages and loud advertising, they’re frustrated with deals which shoot up mid contract, and they hate seeing the best deals saved for new customers.

TalkTalk entered the market as a challenger, and we’ve always saved customers money. But today’s changes are about more than that. We know this is an essential service that really matters to people, so it needs to be simple, affordable, reliable and fair. We’re proud to be the first to make the big changes customers expect and deserve of their telecoms provider today.

Silly gimmicks and shouty ads (with catches hidden in small print) don’t do justice to how much this stuff matters to customers. Especially now, with the country in such an uncertain place, people deserve security, peace of mind, to be talked to honestly. We’re determined to be the provider that makes things simple, tells the truth and most of all rewards loyalty.”

On top of that TalkTalk has also made a change to the “free” Mobile SIM that they bundle with various packages. Previously the Value SIM-only plan only included 100 mins, 250 texts and 100MB of data to use every month, but this has now been increased to 200 mins, unlimited texts and 500MB of data.

In that sense any subtle price increases (in many ways it’s more of a price reduction) aren’t nearly so bad and TalkTalk has also added a special offer to make the change easier to adopt.

The New Broadband Packages (Basic Summary)

Fast Broadband (formerly SimplyBroadband)
* Download speeds of up to 17Mbps
* Included Essential SIM (200 mins, unlimited texts and 500MB data)
* Included SuperRouter
* Free Setup (normally £25)
* Included SuperSafe Internet Security
* Included Line Rental
* 18 Month contract

PRICE: £22.95 a month for 18 months (£25.50 thereafter)

Fast Fibre Broadband (formerly Superfast Fibre)
* Download speeds of up to 38Mbps
* Included Essential SIM (200 mins, unlimited texts and 500MB data)
* Included SuperRouter
* £25 Setup (normally £50)
* Included SuperSafe Internet Security
* Included Line Rental
* 18 Month contract

NEW PRICE: £27 a month for 18 months (£32 thereafter)

NOTE: The ‘up to’ 76Mbps “Fast Fibre” package is priced at £32 a month instead of £27 for the 38Mbps option.

As usual we need to do a little comparison. The old price for SimplyBroadband before today was £17.70 Line Rental + £7.50 Broadband = £25.20 Per Month (or the equivalent of £23.43 with Line Rental Saver), which compares with the new post-contract price of £25.50. Not bad considering the SIM change.

Elsewhere the standard price of Superfast Fibre (38Mbps FTTC) before today was £17.70 Line Rental + £17.50 Broadband = £35.20 Per Month (or the equivalent of £33.43 with Line Rental Saver), which compares with the new post-contract price of just £32.

We should say that it’s also possible to add TalkTalk’s basic TV service (including their set-top-box) for basically the cost of a £25 one-off setup fee (£50 with fibre), although it does cost a bit more if you want their premium Plus TV option with 30 extra Entertainment channels.

The catch in all this is that existing subscribers who refuse or simply ignore / overlook TalkTalk’s new packages could still face a noticeable price hike in the near future (ISPs often raise the price of legacy packages in order to nudge an upgrade). On top of that TalkTalk’s newly revamped website makes no mention of the post-contract prices on the package itself, preferring instead to clearly display only the introductory price and this does not appear to be in keeping with what the ASA expects.

Take note that our UK ISP Listings and Comparison database has been including the cost of line rental and broadband together since earlier this year, so in that sense the new changes aren’t very dramatic. Also TalkTalk’s York focused FTTP trial remains priced at just £21.70 per month for a 940Mbps capable connection.

UPDATE 12th October 2016

When we first ran this story the new pricing for existing customers, specifically those who choose not to adopt the new tariffs above, was not entirely clear. However TalkTalk has since clarified that if you choose to remain on the existing tariff then the following price hikes will impact from 4th November 2016, followed by further changes to call charges on 1st December.

Hard luck if you’re a SimplyBroadband subscriber then, TalkTalk are about to hit you with a massive hike from the standard rate of £7.50 per month to £9! Now that’s an incentive to “upgrade“.

Broadband and Line rental changes – from November 2016

Call rate changes – From December  2016

Early Termination Charges – From Nov 2016