Broadband Price Increases

Neil_Jones

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81872265#Comment_81872265

Yes but I wasn't referring to Sky or most of the budget end of the market for that matter.

Sky may not do automatic rises but they do do rises. The point was that there are providers who say they will charge you £33 a month (or whatever) for 24 months and then will charge you £33 a month for 24 months.

matelodave

Its another case of "be careful what you ask for".

So often having a whinge about something that you feel is unfair, like compelling specific increases like this or zero standing charges on energy tariffs (often championed by our mate Martin) end up having unintended or unforeseen consequences which come back and bite in the future.

daveyjp

From my experience true competition in broadband provision does lead to far keener pricing and offers. I have Openreach, Cityfibre and Virgin available- dozens of providers.

I can currently get the following deal - 900 meg, £25 a month fixed for 18 months, no mid price increase, 2 year offers are also available with no increase.

Kim_13

I don't think Martin Lewis can be blamed for the greed of the providers and the ineffectiveness of the regulator. Pounds and pence remains the best method for those on fixed incomes, in that they know exactly how much it will cost and can account for that when they negotiate a price with a provider. When the increase was inflation linked it was unknown and being told in February that it would cost £X didn't mean that you could magic up the money for April (especially if inflation then went beyond what would reasonably have been expected when taking out the contract.)

Martin has said that it should be the lower of the specified pounds and pence rise or inflation, but the regulator failed to listen and sided with the providers, who have more power than consumers.

Maybe he was naive, in that a reasonable way for pounds and pence to be implemented would be an increase of x pence in the pound of the contract price - sometimes they would lose vs an inflation based hike and sometimes they would win, so it should balance out over time - or a tiered approach. Not this £2.50 per month for mobile regardless of original price and £3.50 for broadband etc. Providers took the mick when mid contract hikes were allowed - the addition to inflation, which baked in further increases - so expecting them to be any different when the system changed gave them too much credit.

That they can change the annual increase with 30 days notice (as seen with Virgin O2 who have gone from £1.80 to £2.50 for SIMO and £3.50 to £4 for broadband I believe) makes a mockery of a fixed increase system. It means that it is effectively only the customer that has to commit for the time period, which is entirely of the provider's choosing when it comes to broadband (you are more likely to find a provider offering different term lengths or a rolling one month contract for mobile, as they know they have to compete with PAYG bundles.) The customer couldn't say I have had a reduction in my income, therefore I am giving you 30 days notice that I will be paying £X for my services take it or leave it.

Hopefully it is now only a matter of time until a balanced system is found that is fair to customers and providers.