NOW Broadband confirms few price rises

NOW has written to customers to let them know the cost of calls made with their home phone will be going up from 1st May 2023.

However, they also confirmed the price of their NOW broadband, call plan and line rental won't be increasing, despite parent company Sky announcing average price rises of 8.1% for their customers.

Despite only call costs going up, NOW have also said customers are free to leave their contract early by giving 30 days' notice if they're not happy with the changes.

Now Broadband

NOW price rises

While the price of NOW broadband won't be increasing in 2023, call charges will be going up from 1st May 2023 from 22p per minute to 25p per minute.

Here are the exact details of the price rises:

NOW also offer inclusive call plans including an Evening & weekend plan for £4 per month, and an Anytime calls plan for £8 per month, with both plans covering UK landline and UK mobile calls.

NOW have assured existing customers the price of any call plans, as well as their broadband and line rental subscription won't be increasing. That's despite some providers, including BT, EE and Plusnet, announcing price rises of 14.4% in 2023.

And while these call charge increases are in line with changes being made by parent company Sky, Sky customers will also see increases to inclusive call plans, as well as broadband and TV subscriptions by an average of 8.1%.

Right to cancel

NOW doesn't include specific price rises in their contracts, although they do say prices may go up during a minimum term.

Because of this they've also informed existing customers of their right to cancel their contract early if they're not happy with the changes.

NOW broadband customers can exit their contracts penalty free as long as they give the provider notice within 30 days of receiving the price rise communication.

Again, this is unlike most other providers which lock customers into mid-contract price rises by contractually stating prices will go up by Consumer Price Index (CPI) + X%.

It seems unlikely then that many NOW broadband customers will exercise their right to cancel with the provider implementing one of the fairest approaches to price rises in 2023 so far.

Unfair terms

NOW Broadband are the only provider so far in 2023 to confirm they won't be increasing the price of broadband and line rental subscriptions.

While Hyperoptic, YouFibre and Zen Internet promise no mid-contract price rises, NOW say prices might increase, but they've chosen not to.

And aside from Sky, all other providers have gone ahead with above inflation price rises, despite warnings from consumer groups and the Government not to do so due to the cost of living crisis.

In fact, price rises have been so high this year Ofcom has finally been prompted to begin an investigation into whether inflation-linked price rises are fair at all.

It's an argument I made over a year ago, that aside from using overly technical jargon, consumers can't be expected to accurately predict, and therefore reasonably agree to, future-based figures like inflation.

People who took out a broadband or mobile contract in Spring 2021, when inflation was less than 2%, could now be facing price rises as high as 17.3%. This is simply unrealistic to assume they signed that contract on an "informed basis", and in line with Ofcom's guidance on mid-contract price rises.