UK ISP TalkTalk Tweak Broadband Prices and Adopt 24 Month Contracts
TalkTalk has today decided to complement their 18 month contract terms by adding a lengthy 24 month option (i.e. 12 and 18 month terms are also available) and they’ve tweaked some of their broadband bundle discounts to match, although the new offers won’t last forever.
Most consumer orientated broadband ISPs prefer to shy away from ultra-long contract terms and instead opt for either a 12 or 18 month term (sometimes shorter), but TalkTalk has also added an optional 24 month term and tweaked some of their discounts to match.
In order to understand what this means, it’s best to look at their BEFORE and AFTER offer pricing.
TalkTalk Broadband Prices (inc. Line Rental)
Fast Broadband (up to 17Mbps)
OLD Price: £22.95 per month for 18 months (£25.50 thereafter)NEW Price: As above, but the discount lasts for 24 months.
Faster Fibre (up to 38Mbps)
OLD Price: £27.00 per month for 18 months (£32 thereafter) + £25 One-off SetupNEW Price: £28.50 per month for 24 months (£32 thereafter) + £50 One-off Setup
As usual all of TalkTalk’s broadband bundles include unlimited usage, line rental, a free Mobile SIM (500MB data, 200 mins, unlimited texts) and various other features (e.g. Parental Controls). The changes represent a useful way of locking in a discount and that’s how the ISP is promoting it, although many consumers often shun 24 month terms as this comes at a greater risk.
However the ISP’s website does confuse matters slightly for their Fast Broadband package by first saying at the top of the product page that their service “will not change price for your 24 month contract, guaranteed” and then below that stating that the price is only “locked for … 18 months“.
The same change is being applied to their TV bundles.
TV Plus with Fast Broadband:
£30.95 per month for 24 Months + £50 TV box costTV Plus with Faster Fibre:
£36.50 per month for 24 Months + £50 TV box cost + £50 set up fee for FibreTV with Fast Broadband:
£22.95 per month for 24 Months + £25 TV light boxTV with Faster Fibre:
£28.50 per month for 24 Months + £25 TV Light box
Keith is a computer engineer and website developer from Dorset (England) who also assists, on a part-time basis, in the general upkeep of ISPreview.co.uk's systems and services. He also writes the occasional editorial and special offer article. Find me on Contacts.
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The prices aren’t particularly interesting for the extra 6 month commitment – since TalkTalk have a price fix for the contract duration it probably means no chance of leaving without early termination fees.
At least with a 12 or 18 month contract with other big names you can be fairly confident of a mid(?)-contract price hike and a chance to leave penalty free – perhaps the only way for an unhappy customer to escape.
Looking at TalkTalk’s site, you now have a choice of 3 contract terms 12, 18 and 24 months which defaults to 24 months. You can change this though so it isn’t a switch to only 24 month contracts which is what I took from your article.
Hope this is something TalkTalk keep up.
The notice we were sent last week made no mention of the optional terms, but looking at their website today you are correct and I’ve updated Keith’s piece accordingly.
On the fibre package it’s £4 cheaper overall to stick with the 18 month package and go 6 months st £32 then it is to go 24 months at £28.50, mainly due to the extra £25 installation charge as mentioned in the blurb above.
This is what passes for innovation in UK broadband from nearly all retailers. The other main form of progression being press releases and campaigns to try and force others to invest in infrastructure they can ride on cheaply and regulators to drop the price of the existing infrastructure they ride on.
I wish Ofcom going to BANNED all isp’s on a long term contract 24 months has gone too far!