April's broadband price rises are now behind us, which means most customers are entering an 11-month window before the next round. That's worth knowing because for anyone considering switching or recontracting, the timing actually matters.
What went up and by how much?
Most major providers increased bills in April 2026, with rises typically in the £3–£4/month range for broadband. The exact amount depended on when you signed. Providers moved to fixed pounds-and-pence increases at different points, with BT transitioning in April 2024 and Virgin Media not until January 2025, with others in between. Several providers also increased those fixed amounts during 2025, meaning customers who recontracted later in the year are now on higher annual rise rates than those who signed earlier. The practical upshot is that anyone recontracting today will be signing up to the current fixed-rise structure from the start of their new deal.
Not every provider raises prices in April
April is the standard window for most major providers, but it isn't universal. NOW Broadband, for example, typically raises prices in July. It's worth checking your provider's specific schedule rather than assuming you have until next spring.
Why the rises look different depending on when you signed
In January 2025, Ofcom banned inflation-linked mid-contract price rises for all new broadband contracts. Previously, providers used formulas such as CPI plus a fixed percentage, often CPI + 3.9%, meaning customers could not know the exact increase when they signed up. Under the new rules, any annual price increase must be stated as a fixed amount in pounds and pence and clearly displayed before you sign. Here's how mid-contract price rises work.
This improves transparency, but it doesn't remove annual rises. Instead, most providers now build a fixed increase of around £3–£4 per month into new contracts, regardless of what inflation subsequently does.
The headline price paradox
One thing worth understanding is that headline broadband prices have generally fallen as competition has intensified, particularly from full fibre providers. As a result, a customer recontracting today might secure a lower starting price than they would have paid two years ago, while also signing up to a guaranteed £4/month rise in twelve months' time. Whether you're better or worse off overall depends on the numbers behind the specific deal.
Fixed-price contracts do still exist, though options are limited. GiffGaff Broadband is one of the few mainstream providers currently offering them, though its network is limited to areas covered by Virgin Media's FTTP infrastructure rather than the full UK footprint. Some smaller local alt-nets also offer fixed pricing, though availability varies significantly by location.
Where are prices heading?
Annual price rises are now a structural feature of how most providers manage costs, and with the market having largely moved to fixed rather than inflation-linked increases, the amounts are now predictable even if they're not avoidable.
Headline broadband prices are historically low right now, driven by intense competition as full fibre providers fight for customers in newly built network areas. That level of competition may not last forever — as full fibre rollout matures and customer acquisition becomes less of a land-grab, the pressure to lead on headline pricing is likely to ease. In the meantime, fixed annual rises are helping providers offset those ultra-low introductory prices, allowing them to compete aggressively at the point of sale while still increasing revenue over the life of the contract.
As pricing stabilises over the coming years, fixed-price contracts could return as a genuine differentiator — but for now, the majority of the market is settled on the annual increase model, and that's unlikely to change in the short term.
What to do if you're out of contract or approaching your renewal
If your contract ended recently or is ending soon, it's worth acting before the next round of rises rather than letting it drift. Counterintuitively, just after a price rise is often the best time to recontract because you get the longest possible run at the headline price before the next increase hits.
If you're mid-contract, the next rise is at least eleven months away for most providers, which gives you time to plan rather than react. Use that window to check when your contract actually ends and whether early exit fees would apply if you wanted to leave sooner. It's also worth knowing that some providers offer to cover early exit fees when you switch to them, which can make moving to a full fibre provider sooner more viable than it might first appear.
When comparing deals, look at the total cost over the contract term, including any stated annual increase, rather than focusing solely on the advertised monthly price. The cheapest headline deal isn't always the cheapest deal overall once those rises are taken into account.