ISP WightFibre to Hit Isle of Wight Customers with Price Hikes

Broadband ISP WightFibre, which operates a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based network across the Isle of Wight – just off the South Coast of Hampshire in England, looks set to hike the cost of their internet packages by 12.5% come 1st April 2023.

Sadly, trying to figure out the provider’s policy on price increases from their website isn’t easy, since the only thing they say at the bottom of their product pages is that: “Annual price increases in April each year apply“. The statement isn’t directly linked, so we get no detail, while neither their General Terms, nor Terms & Conditions, pages seem to provide much illumination.

In the past, WightFibre tended to match their price increases to the annual increase in the rate of inflation (Consumer Price Index), as set in January each year – in 2023 this was 10.5%. But when On The Wight queried what the provider’s current policy was, the ISP said: “We added only two per cent on top” (i.e. 12.5%).

On the one hand, this is a smaller increase than nearly all of the other major broadband players have announced (they’re almost all in the 14-15% range) and that’s good. But on the other hand, WightFibre should really be making this much clearer on their product pages for new customers. Ofcom are already looking at issues like this (here), seemingly with a view to taking action, so they might want to consider that.