Study Claims Broadband is the One UK Bill That Hasn’t Gone up in a Decade

A new study from Broadband Genie has compared the cumulative prices of common household expenses, including utilities, council tax, groceries, transport, and entertainment. The result identifies that the average cost of a “new” broadband subscription is 10% cheaper than it was in 2016.

According to the results, a decade ago a new broadband deal had an effective monthly cost of £25.19, yet today it claims that bill payers can sign up to a new deal for only £22.63 – often with much faster speeds (i.e. better value). This is said to be based on recording the effective monthly price of the “top 10 deals” from 2016 to 2026 and comparing the cumulative change to a virtual basket of goods and services from the same period.

By comparison, gas and electricity are 82% more expensive than they were ten years ago, while average water bills have increased by 69%. Even everyday luxuries and essentials have surged. A pint of lager is 38% pricier than it was a decade ago, while the price of a single stamp has skyrocketed by 181%.

The news is likely to frustrate those who have recently been stung by various inflation busting mid-contract price hikes, but then the catch in this study is that we’re only talking about new subscribers and thus the big first term discounts they often deploy. Equally, the study has not considered network availability, which could be an issue because many cheap and fast altnets lack strong national coverage.

Cumulative percentage price change 2016 – 2026

Naturally the situation is likely to be quite different for existing customers, particularly since many broadband consumers still don’t switch ISP and instead remain loyal (in many cases this group will face much higher prices). According to Ofcom, only 1.62 million consumers switched landline (phone) or broadband provider using the primary One Touch Switch (OTS) process in the year to September 2025 (here).

The new study goes on to claim that an estimated 8.8 million broadband customers are currently out of contract and thus paying an average of £183.60 more per year than necessary. The obvious indication is that consumers should switch to save money, although if you’re happy with your ISP or prioritise quality over price then haggling for a lower price with your existing ISP may be a better option (Retentions – Tips for Cutting Your Broadband Bill). However, your mileage from haggling will vary, as not all providers do it (big providers are usually more receptive).

In fairness the new study and its core point is valid. We can recall paying £40+ per month for a 0.5Mbps ADSL broadband connection may moons ago, and today you can often get gigabit speeds or better for such a price. Part of this is because modern networks are cheaper and more efficient to run, while core or backhaul capacity links are forever getting faster and often cheaper in the process. The highly competitive market also helps.

The fact that this has all happened against a background underpinned by years of increases in the general cost of living (inflation etc.) only serves to make all of this that much more positively impactful.