Home
 » ISP News » 
Sponsored Links

Cost of Household UK Broadband and Mobile May Rise by Over a Third

Wednesday, Jul 27th, 2022 (1:41 pm) - Score 4,416
Money Pounds Savings for UK Homes

Technical UK consultancy firm FarrPoint has estimated that the cost of household connectivity services (e.g. fixed broadband, phone and mobile) could rise by more than a third over the next 5 years. As usual, the proposed solution is to try shopping around for a better deal.

Many of our readers will have already been hit by price rises on their communication services of up to around 10% this year. The new findings, which used current inflation estimates to track the average increase in household spending on fixed line broadband and mobile contracts over the next 5 years, suggest that digital connectivity costs could rise by over 11% this year, and by nearly 8% in 2023.

NOTE: The UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) – the rate at which prices are rising (inflation) – recently soared to 9.4%.

Put another way, connectivity costs (including mobile and fixed line contracts) will have increased by over a third to £1,508 per annum by 2027 (up from £1,123 this year). The catch is that last year’s forecasts for long-term inflation were initially far too conservative and, thanks in part to the war in Ukraine, we can’t be certain precisely how things will pan out over the next few years or how the industry might respond.

FarrPoint-Connectivity-Cost-Forecast-to-2027

Dr Muir of FarrPoint said:

“We would urge households who may be contemplating ditching their mobile phone or broadband to make savings to their household spending, to seriously think again. These are now vital domestic services and cancelling them to save money in the short-term could prove hugely counterproductive and costly further down the line, especially for price-savvy consumers who can still genuinely find the best deals and prices from shopping around online.

With more everyday services migrating online during the pandemic and the push to remote working, there is a real risk that without internet access, households would be getting rid of arguably their number-one method of cutting various costs simply to save on current everyday spending. It’s just too valuable in the wider context.

While the government’s cost-of-living package was a good first step, we’d like to see more being done by the market to protect customers and add increased flexibility to their monthly bills, which can be a real barrier for many households.

This could mean bringing down the price and increasing availability of pay-as-you-go type tariffs across fixed as well as mobile services, which would mean those on low household incomes don’t have to commit to long-term contracts which can put people off given the current uncertainty across the economy right now.”

In reality, very few people would completely cancel all of their communication services, since the vast majority do recognise how important they are. But we can see some people, such as those in dire need of support, opting to scrap their fixed lines in favour of a single mobile plan with unlimited data.

Meanwhile, others will already be shopping around for a better deal, and then there’s the option of trying to renegotiate with your current ISP (Retention Tips). Failing that, a growing number of broadband ISPs (e.g. BT, Virgin Media, Sky Broadband, NOW TV (Now Broadband), CommunityFibre, Hyperoptic and others) have also introduced cheaper Social Tariffs for those on certain state benefits.

Lest we forget that broadband and mobile are also extremely important services that can help you to save money and solve other problems (shopping, insurance, finding jobs etc.), thus it could easily be argued that such services more than pay for themselves in respect to the value they return. According to analysis by the Internet Association (IA), using the internet – such as for online shopping, working from home, banking and so forth – actually delivers an overall economic benefit of £780 a year to the average UK household.

Share with Twitter
Share with Linkedin
Share with Facebook
Share with Reddit
Share with Pinterest
Tags:
Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and .
Search ISP News
Search ISP Listings
Search ISP Reviews
Comments
8 Responses
  1. Avatar photo Mike says:

    Not just the Ukraine war but also money printed during the plandemic.

    1. Avatar photo Ixel says:

      Unfortunately true.

  2. Avatar photo Jonx says:

    they made tons of money from pandemic dude. More than they have brains. It was all about the money all the pandemic

  3. Avatar photo Jazzy says:

    I am with Sky Fibre but now I have a fibre installation in the house, if they put it up, I will just go elsewhere in a flash, it’s as easy as porting your phone. Mine is 18 months set at £32 and I have 15 months to go

    I recently ported my husband from SMARTY to Sky Mobile because they offered us 5 months free if I took out a 12 month rolling SIM – no brainer but if that jumps above £6 I will port him back

    I am with Giffgaff and they’ve committed to not raising domestic prices in 2022

    1. Avatar photo Mike says:

      There are some affiliate links to get SMARTY for £5 iirc.

    2. Avatar photo Jazzy says:

      Thanks Mike, I may come back to you on that one

      I will see how Sky goes at £6 as he already had 7.92GB in his roll over which is good as he’s only on the 2GB service but doesn’t get out much

      5 months free was not to be sniffed at as it worked out at £3.50/month over 12 months

  4. Avatar photo Nick Roberts says:

    At this rate it will be cheaper to buy an amateur short-wave set and annual RSGB membership and TxRx texts using a Windows morse transcriber. . . Would could be more pleasant than a return to massive whip aerials on cars

  5. Avatar photo Alan says:

    With inevitable price hikes, a couple of months ago I cancelled my PlusNet Broadband Fibre and now use a 30 day 100Gb Data Sim in a Huawei Mobile router
    Speeds are much higher and I have the choice to shop around for Sims.

Comments are closed

Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £24.00
132Mbps
Gift: None
Shell Energy UK ISP Logo
Shell Energy £26.99
109Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £27.99
145Mbps
Gift: None
Zen Internet UK ISP Logo
Zen Internet £28.00 - 35.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £15.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
YouFibre UK ISP Logo
YouFibre £19.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
BeFibre UK ISP Logo
BeFibre £21.00
150Mbps
Gift: £25 Love2Shop Card
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (5473)
  2. BT (3505)
  3. Politics (2525)
  4. Openreach (2291)
  5. Business (2251)
  6. Building Digital UK (2234)
  7. FTTC (2041)
  8. Mobile Broadband (1961)
  9. Statistics (1780)
  10. 4G (1654)
  11. Virgin Media (1608)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1451)
  13. Fibre Optic (1392)
  14. Wireless Internet (1386)
  15. FTTH (1381)

Helpful ISP Guides and Tips

Promotion
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms , Privacy and Cookie Policy , Links , Website Rules , Contact
Mastodon