Updated annual price rises make it a good time to switch broadband

New customers signing up to one of the major broadband providers without fixed prices won't be hit with an increase in 2025 as providers update their policies.

BT, EE, Plusnet, Vodafone, TalkTalk and Virgin Media have all updated their first annual price rise to 2026 for new customers signing up from now.

This makes it a really good time to sign up for broadband as 24-month plans taken out now will only see one price rise over the length of the contract.

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Annual price rises for new customers

With this year's annual price rises on broadband and mobile bills coming within the next month, most major providers have now updated their pricing policies for new customers.

People signing up for a broadband deal with BT, EE, Plusnet, Vodafone, TalkTalk or Virgin Media from now, won't see an annual price rise on their bill this year as it's now been pushed back until 2026 for new customers.

For example, Vodafone Full Fibre 150, now states that the monthly price of £27 will rise to £30 in April 2026, whereas previously it was rising to £30 in April 2025, and then £33 in April 2026.

This actually makes this month a really good time to sign up for, or switch, broadband, as 24-month plans will only see one price rise throughout the length of the contract - in April 2026.

Switching this month will also reduce the total amount paid over the length of the contract.

Looking at Vodafone's Full Fibre 150 plan again, a customer who signed up last month with an annual price rise due in April 2025, would pay £750 over their 24-month term. This breaks down as one month at £27, rising to £30 from April 2025 for 12 months, then rising to £33 from April 2026 for 11 months.

In comparison, someone taking the plan out today would pay just £681 over 24-months, saving themselves £69, because that would break down as 13 months at £27, then rising to £30 from April 2026 for 11 months.

This does however highlight the disparity caused by current annual price rises for customers depending on when in the year they take their contract out.

While we've used Vodafone as an example here, the same logic and calculations apply to any other broadband provider with a mid-contract annual price rise policy, including the already mentioned BT, EE, Plusnet, TalkTalk and Virgin Media.

Annual price rises for existing customers

BT, EE and Plusnet prices for existing customers are due to increase on 31st March 2025, when prices will go up by £3 per month on broadband for the first time since Ofcom banned inflation-linked price rises.

Vodafone and TalkTalk broadband will also be increasing by £3 per month in April 2025, while Virgin Media broadband and TV contracts will be increasing by £3.50 from their April 2025 bill.

While the changes Ofcom has made have helped to make annual price rises more transparent, customers are still having to pay them, and terms and conditions still allow providers to hike prices without also allowing customers the right to exit.

This is the case for most providers apart from Sky, who use slightly different terms that require them to give customers 30 days' notice and the right to exit their contract penalty free.

It's important to remember that the new pounds and pence based annual price rise policy only applies to new contracts taken out since around the middle of 2024 when providers starting adopting the new method.

So, many existing customers will still be on contracts with 'Consumer Price Index' based increases, where prices typically go up by CPI + 3.9%. For BT, EE, Plusnet, TalkTalk and Vodafone customers, whose provider uses the December rate of CPI, published in January, for their price rises, they can expect to see an increase of 6.4% (or 6.2% for TalkTalk).

An average broadband bill of £35 will see increases of £2.24, or looking at our example of Vodafone Full Fibre 150 again, which currently costs £27, this would rise by £1.73 a month.

Meanwhile, existing Virgin Media customers who signed up between April 2023 and January 2025 will be subject to price rises based on the Retail Price Index, which for January was 3.6%, meaning customers will see rises of 7.5% on their monthly bills.

Virgin Media M125 Fibre Broadband, which currently costs £25.99 will see rises of £1.95 under the previous RPI model, while a plan like the Bigger Bundle, which costs £34.99, will rise by £2.62.

Something to note then, customers on older, now banned, price rise polices, are likely to see lesser price rises than those on Ofcom's new transparent pounds and pence-based rises.