Broadband price increase no competition

HAL4525

Hey all, not sure if I've posted this in the correct section but I am looking for advice.

I originally started paying for broadband for £15pm (Sept 2023). Thought this was a fantastic deal. They then increased the price to £20pm (April 2024). Fair enough, prices go up for most things in April, although 33% increase seems steep. This is now rising again to £25 (Sept 2024).

I understand companies can choose their own prices but a 66% increase within a year seems high! 

The main issue I have with all of this is - according to MSE - this is the ONLY broadband provider to my area! There is absolutely no competition, is there anything I can do?

400ixl

Who is this broadband provider? Only a few areas like Hull where there are monopoly providers, are you in one of those areas.

Are you not served by Openreach and the ISP's that supply across it.

As for price, if you are not on a social tariff then £15 in 2023 would be exceptionally low. Typically £25-30 is the going rate for FTTC broadband services.

HAL4525

400ixl said:

Who is this broadband provider? Only a few areas like Hull where there are monopoly providers, are you in one of those areas.

Are you not served by Openreach and the ISP's that supply across it.

As for price, if you are not on a social tariff then £15 in 2023 would be exceptionally low. Typically £25-30 is the going rate for FTTC broadband services.

The provider is 4th Utility. It is a newly built apartment building, not sure if that has anything to do with it. Checking with the postcode it is the only provider that comes up, I tried on the Openreach website, it says "not yet available"

Is it strange to already have fibre set up but unable to switch to another fibre provider? 

Yes £15 was a fantastic price (this wasn't a "deal", just the price). I understand £25 is a normal price range, my worry is a £5 increase every 5-6 months without the ability to change the provider

Alderbank

@HAL4525's issue sounds like the issue in this thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6434638/monopoly-on-broadband-providers-in-new-build-estates/p1

where the poster complains that the builder of his new house Persimmon has a deal with FibreNest to provide broadband as a monopoly supplier. That produced quite a bit of technical comment and apparently this is the norm with thousands of new properties.

That post is on a different part of the site, Broadband & Internet Access   https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/broadband-internet-access

Aylesbury_Duck

Have you considered a dongle or hotspot, instead?  If you genuinely can't access any other home broadband supplier, it would be the only other route.

400ixl

Ah, ok so its a new build with an altnet supplier. Unfortunately it seems that some builders are striking deals with sole suppliers.

Not sure there is much you can do if no other supplier is willing to do a connection.

Looks like they give a £10 discount for the first 12 or 24 months depending on the contract, so looks like they have removed that discount. What was the minimum contract term you had, was it 12 months and are you now on a rolling monthly contract?

400ixl

Pricing is at https://the4thutility.co.uk/pricing

So assume you are on the 50Mbps service and they have removed the £10 discount.

HAL4525

@Alderbank thanks for this

@Aylesbury_Duck I will look into this thank you

@400ixl it was 1 month contract to begin with as I didn't know how long I would be in the property, there were also no price differences between the 1 month and 12 month contract. There was no £10 discount, the price went up periodically by £5 each time. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

4G Hub is another option but EE starts at £35

https://ee.co.uk/broadband/pay-monthly-mobile-broadband-gallery/smart-4g-hub-details

or £22 (6 months half price) with 3:

https://3g.co.uk/home-broadband/three/4g-hub

ThumbRemote

If you're stuck in that situation, perhaps you could pay a neighbour to share their wifi - halving each of your bills.