Mid-contract broadband price hikes — not on our watch!

In April, millions of broadband (and wider telecoms) customers in the UK will be hit with broadband price hikes of up to 17.3% — as bills rise mid-contract in line with the rate of inflation. We know, we’re in shock too. That’s why there’s none of that on our watch.

According to MoneySavingsExpert, providers are blaming the increases on their ‘underlying and operating costs going up substantially as a result of regulatory requirements, higher energy prices and increased network costs.’

These spikes are so great, that industry regulator Ofcom is investigating the practice of mid-contract price hikes, amid concerns that telecom providers aren’t being clear enough about what customers can expect to pay over the course of their contract.

As you can probably tell, we think it’s bonkers that loyalty to a broadband provider can sometimes lead to nothing more than eye-watering increases to bills. That’s why we’ve pledged not to include sneaky annual price rises during your contract period. What you sign up for is what you’ll get – no fibs, no broken promises.

When you sign up to BeFibre, the contract works both ways. Both parties commit to the same level of service, with the same package, for the 24 months your contract lasts. Soon, vendors will need to clearly state within their marketing materials that prices could increase mid-contract. Talk about awkward!

That’s before we even begin to address  the fact that so many consumers think they have full fibre, but they actually don’t. There might be full fibre connectivity to the cabinet just down the road, but if the cables taking the broadband from there to your house are still made of copper, your connection is not truly fibre.

Because our connectivity is full fibre down to the ‘last mile’ – right up to your door – customers enjoy the connectivity they pay for, not merely a proportion of it! You wouldn’t ever accept paying for a full sandwich but only getting to eat half! So why is the internet any different?

MoneySavingsExpert also added that, for the millions of customers who are out of contract and have simply been rolled on to often pricier tariffs without signing up for them, ‘you can leave at any point penalty-free – and given the best broadband and mobile deals tend to be for newbies, there’s a good chance you’re overpaying anyway.’

Put simply, we do what we say we’re going to. We’ll never knowingly make a promise we can’t keep. We’re a real business, with ethics, and we want to leave a positive legacy in society. So, if you’d like to enjoy full fibre — without the fibs — use our postcode checker to see if BeFibre is available in your area.