Does a contract mean nothing these days - broadband

[CoolHands]

I’m with Now broadband, 12 month contract since Jan. just had an email to say they're whacking it up by 3 quid a month from July. WTF. How about, you know sticking to the agreed monthly price for the 12 month contract.

I know I’ve had one like this in the past too I think with post office broadband but I ignored it and paid up cos, life

Grasping motherfkers

[Smurfsarepeopletoo]

its normally in the contract that there will be an annual price rise.

[davek_964]

We're moving to Toob. No in contact price rises (and cheaper in the first place anyway)

[oldagepensioner]

CoolHands said:

I m with Now broadband, 12 month contract since Jan. just had an email to say they're whacking it up by 3 quid a month from July. WTF. How about, you know sticking to the agreed monthly price for the 12 month contract.

I know I ve had one like this in the past too I think with post office broadband but I ignored it and paid up cos, life

Grasping motherfkers

I am with talk talk since last November but they did at least warn me that the price would go up by 3 quid a year and its only 6 quid.The main reason i will probably change is because i don't really like the router.

[CoolHands]

Yeah I know it will be some small print somewhere but come on! Get customers signing up then dropping a price rise on the, is wrong and not something that has typically been done for most services in this country. Now though anything goes.

Yes I can leave as they give that option in the message but the point is it’s fking out of order. Broadband costs in this country are one big rip off (like everything else), but I won’t go there!

[sicarumba]

Smurfsarepeopletoo said:

its normally in the contract that there will be an annual price rise.

This is the problem - it's become normal. I'm sure it didn't used to be, you signed a contract and it stayed the same for the duration of the contract. Once your contract duration came to an end the price might rise, but you then negotiated a new contract or shopped around. Now it's just accepted that everything goes up every year, contract or not.

[Alex Z]

CoolHands said:

Yeah I know it will be some small print somewhere but come on! Get customers signing up then dropping a price rise on the, is wrong and not something that has typically been done for most services in this country. Now though anything goes.

Yes I can leave as they give that option in the message but the point is it s fking out of order. Broadband costs in this country are one big rip off (like everything else), but I won t go there!

For the last 5-10 years it was common to have RPI + 3.9% increase specified in the contract which caused some huge jumps in costs. Now they have to specify a fixed £ value if they want to do it.

[CoolHands]

I don t recognise what you re saying because we never had mid-term price rises (of rpi + whatever) in things like 12 month broadband / phone line contracts in the past, until maybe the last few recent years. Why have a 12 month contract if this is your game?

How can you agree a 12 month set price contract then a few months in a random price rise is added? It s not a food harvest where the weather has affected the crop, it s a straightforward technology service. It s wrong. Consumers being fleeced once again.

[Tony1963]

Calm down lol. Do you shake your fist at passing clouds?
You appear to be getting angry at how naive you are.

[bitchstewie]

This is pretty common isn't it especially with the more mainstream "big" names.

I'm on a automatic top-up SIM card because any sort of contract seems to have an annual price increase baked in whilst they all seem to offer a ten quid SIM with no commitment and sensible data.

For broadband I made a conscious choice to pay a few quid more and use a provider who so far hasn't done that.

They've increased the phone line charge as (for now) the broadband is over copper and OpenReach jacked up prices but they were very transparent about it rather than "RPI mate".

Best suggestion I can give is respectfully read the small print and don't sign up or pay a few quid more but possibly stand a better chance of avoiding those antics.

[Simon_GH]

Sadly the contract is an obligation to pay rather than a.fixed price. Mine is the same. You have to work out the average cost per month and see whether it works for you, I’ve heard on the grapevine that the regulator may bring this practice to an end so that the monthly price of the contract is consistent across the entire duration.

[Sheepshanks]

CoolHands said:

Yeah I know it will be some small print somewhere but come on! Get customers signing up then dropping a price rise on the, is wrong and not something that has typically been done for most services in this country. Now though anything goes.

Yes I can leave as they give that option in the message but the point is it s fking out of order. Broadband costs in this country are one big rip off (like everything else), but I won t go there!

They do this because the Regulator allows them to, so they pretty well all do it because companies first duty is to maximise their profits for their shareholders. In 2023 the increases were mid-teens per cent as the rises were based on high point for inflation.

I did read that the process was being looked at, but don’t know if that’s got anywhere.

[Colonel Cupcake]

Tony1963 said:

Calm down lol. Do you shake your fist at passing clouds?
You appear to be getting angry at how naive you are.

I'd say its people like you that have caused this issue, just meekly accepting stuff like mid-contract price rises.

I can't think of any other contract that does that.

[Beetnik]

From the landing page of Now broadband:

"£24 a month. Price may change during 24 month contract"..."View further terms and conditions here" (linky)

Life's tough isn't it?

I'm with Zen - great service and no in term contract price increases.

[mmm-five]

Been like this for at least 10 years with Virgin, Sky, EE, etc.

But the recent change is that you have to be informed of the amount of the increase when you take out the contract...and it's normally quite clear on the sign up or renewal page.

But some people just don't read anything, because they want to rant about everything.

[croyde]

I use a 4g router with a Smarty unlimited data sim.

It's was £16 a month 7 years ago and it still is £16.

Puzzles me if they can do, why can't everyone else.

Pure utter greed is the answer.

[bitchstewie]

Greed and respectfully a lot of people clearly shop on price and don't read the small print i.e. that headline grabbing price looks good until you realise you're locked into a 2 year contract that will increase each year.

I'd sooner pay a bit more for a shorter contract or the freedom to walk away but I appreciate that not everyone has that freedom.

[megaphone]

Gutless OFCOM are to blame, they have allowed providers to put these terms in their contracts. Mid contract price rises should not be allowed.

[AlexC1981]

This is a Plusnet deal that's available now on Moneysupermarket. It's annoyingly complicated. Thankfully the comparison websites make it fairly easy now by working out the average cost for you.

£25.99 per month. 24 month contract.
Increasing to:
£28.99 on 31 March 2026
£31.99 on 31 March 2027
£75 reward card if you claim within two months of receiving the claim email. Card must be activated within 3 months.
£25.12 Avg. monthly cost

I bet loads of people forget about the reward/gift card. You can't claim it until after the cooling off period and you have to claim it through the website, so very easy to forget. I actually forgot mine until this post reminded me!

[davek_964]

The reason we were so keen to move away from Virgin wasn't the in contract rises - annoying though they are. It's the entire business practice of : Oh, it's renewal time - so your new contract will now be 5 times what you were paying. Oh - you're leaving us? We'll put it back to what it was then / increase the speed for 50p more than you were paying etc etc etc.

It's entirely unethical - it's why I left them when I lived on my own (and told them as much) - and it's why we are leaving them now.