Budget UK ISP TalkTalk Hikes Out of Contract Broadband Prices

Out-of-contract customers with budget ISP TalkTalk, specifically those who take either their “Fast Broadband” (ADSL) or “Faster Fibre” (FTTC / VDSL2) and phone line packages, have been told by the provider that their post contract prices will be hiked by up to £3 extra per month.

At present existing customers on their Fast Broadband plan will pay £27 per month if they fall out-of-contract, while Faster Fibre subscribers will pay £33.50. Unfortunately these prices will be hiked from 1st June 2019 by +£3 (£30 per month) and +£2.50 (£36 per month) respectively (or £41 if you take the 80Mbps FTTC ‘Faster Fibre Large’ tier).

In fairness TalkTalk does still pledge to “guarantee no mid-contract price rises on all our broadband packages” and hopefully their promise to also offer those looking to re-contract at the end of their term the “same great deals as new customers” still stands too (we couldn’t see this on their product pages but we think they still do it), although those who don’t do this may become subject to the aforementioned increase.

The announcement is unlikely to help TalkTalk’s current complaint levels, particularly as it follows only a few months after their controversial +£4 per month Pay TV price increase that was oddly opt-out for some subscribers (here).

TalkTalk Statement

You assured me there would be no price increase throughout my plan

“We guarantee your broadband price plan will stay the same throughout the duration of your contract. However when your contract has ended or other services such as our legacy packages, calling rates and boosts are subject to change. We will, however, notify you of any changes by contacting you directly.”

Prices tend to rise because operators are frequently adding all sorts of new services, developing new systems and consumers are also gobbling significantly more data every year. Suffice to say that service improvements and rising demand cost money, which means that ultimately customers will always end up paying more.

Providers are also under pressure to adopt all sorts of new rules, such as having to cater for the hugely expensive new system of automatic compensation (here) and Ofcom’s revised speed code of practice (here). One upside above is that those who are out-of-contract can easily switch ISP without penalty.