ISPs BT, EE, Plusnet and Vodafone Tweak UK Broadband Pricing Policies
Several broadband and mobile operators, including Vodafone, BT, EE, and Plusnet, have this week notified of a small but useful tweak to their mid-contract price hikes policy, which means that new customers who sign-up will not be hit by the price increase that was previously due to start around the end of March 2025.
In the past there have often been complaints from customers who signed up just before the introduction of an annual price hike, since it meant the monthly price they paid increased only a short period after joining the service for the first time. Many consumers rightly view this as being both confusing and unfair.
As everybody should know by now, Ofcom recently required telecoms providers to adopt a new approach to mid-contract hikes, which did away with the old percentage and inflation-based model – replacing it with one expressed in pounds and pence (here). The change meant that, until this week, the aforementioned broadband providers were all due to increase their monthly rentals by £3 extra every March or April.
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For example, BT’s 900Mbps package, which currently costs £40.99 per month, was expressed as increasing in price to £43.99 “From 31 March 2025” and then £46.99 from “From 31 March 2026“. Similarly, Vodafone’s packages did the same, albeit with the change being effective from 1st April 2025 and 1st April 2026.
The tweak this week sees Vodafone notifying that their 1st April 2025 price increases will no longer apply to those taking out a new contract/package. Instead, if you’re taking out one of their packages today, for example, then your next mid-contract price increase will hit on 1st April 2026, rather than 1st April 2025. As we say, it’s a small change, albeit one that may carry a benefit for their newest customers.
ISPreview understands that BT, EE and Plusnet are all due to adopt the same change tomorrow (1st March 2025), although the impact of this may vary depending upon how they set their usual discount pricing for each package’s contract term. We believe mobile plans may also see a similar change.
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, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Or alternatively add £1.50 to the initial price of the contract and charge that for the entire duration of the contract…………. or would that just to simple?
That’s exactly what should happen. No mid contract price increases, and an initial price that provides certainty to both the operator and consumer. I raised this with Ofcom and their CEO told me mid contract rises are needed for innovation! My response is they’ve shot themselves and the consumers in the foot. The industry is getting away with murder and Ofcom are even less effective than the predecessor Oftel. I think it’s time to remove their quango status and bring them back to a direct departmental control.
My EE mobile sim has now gone up 15%, well done OFCOM!
So you’ve only just recently signed up then?
time to look elsewhere then
Maybe they’ve realised. No one would want to take out a new contract in the first 3 months of the year, knowing they were going to be stung. Best wait until April and find out the latest offers.
If it’s no longer based on inflation rate publication, why not just add whatever increase on the anniversary of your account renewal (if as @Big Dave says they are unable/unwilling to work out a price over 24 months)
It’s always been the case that if you signed up with EE in March, your first increase would be the following year. I’ve found that March is the best time to sign a new contract so you only get hit by 1 increase not 2.
I called EE yesterday and they confirmed that if I order after 1st March then I would be except from the 2025 price rise.
I’m currently with Talktalk Business and was going to switch to IdNet (whose price is fixed for the duration of the contract) however Plusnet is £13.01 a month cheaper (assuming the deal is the same tomorrow).
Is IdNet worth the extra money compared to Plusnet and if so why?
IDNet is absolutely worth it. They have 1st line support that isn’t just script jockeys. Would never go near a BT subsidiary retail ISP again, they’ve mucked things up for me or customers far too often, and then been an absolute nightmare to get it resolved (which is where it really counts)
Plusnets fine despite the above comment, and if the price difference is so big (duration of the contract total) then win win.. whoever you pay your money to then ultimately most use openreach or another infrastructure operator so you’re likely to be better off on one of those using openreach.
Why is it only the major network providers are hikeing up prices but not companies that piggyback off of a major network?
That’s because the “piggyback” networks don’t have retail stores, or someone you can talk face to face to.
It’s either a phone call or we chat service you’d be using to communicate
The wholesale prices do indeed go up too for all those major providers too ..as do staff salaries and overheads sadly
I just signed up for EE today and my contract said I would have to pay the April price rise in 2025. I guess I’m cancelling and reordering then.
You should. The website has just been updated to indicate no March 2025 price increase. The starting contract price hasn’t changed.
With IDNet and Zen reducing their 900Mbps offer by £5 to £50 per month, other ISPs are starting to look expensive. Good CS is what we all want but I am asking myself whether paying £15 a month more (compared to EE) is worth the delta? (I am ignoring AAISP in this comment as they have always sat as an outlier).
I renewed my EE mobile contract today. The offer was very clear that the next price rise was “From 31 March 2026” but in several places the text referred to 2025, so I think they haven’t updated everything on the website yet. I have copies of it all and we’ll see what happens.