Does BT assume you'll stay loyal regardless?

GrubbyGirl_2

My BT broadband contract is expiring on 31st October and they have already started pestering me with numerous phone calls and emails trying to get me to recontract with them. I am currently paying £40.99 for 500mb. I clicked on the link provided and they only offered me one deal which was 900mb for the same price £40.99. I don't need higher speed, there is only me in the house and I only use it mainly for TV.

I decided to have a quick look at U-Switch and a new BT customer can have 500mb at £27.99. Armed with that info I contacted BT. They said they couldn't offer me that but if I went with EE they could offer me 500mb at £38.99 a massive £2 a month less. By the way new customer at EE is £24.99 a month. I simply declined and said I'd be looking to move when my contract ended.

I have been very happy with my BT broadband so ideally would like to stay, but as I get closer to the end of my contract am I likely to get a better deal? Do they ever match new customer prices or even come close to it?

Failing that the best alternative offer is actually Vodaphone at 910mb or 500mb at £25 and a slightly less annual rise. I'm reluctant on principle to move to their sister company EE. Any other provider recommendations?

Woodstok2000

We've just renewed woth youfibre. 1800mbps for £28 per month. Very happy with their service, and our renewal offer was better than I could get on their website as a new customer....its a 24 month contract with no price change guaranteed.

zagfles

Do you really need 500Mb if it's only you in the house, that sort of speed is only really needed if there are several people streaming 4K video or gaming etc. We've been happy with 35Mb for a long time and it's fine for streaming TV with no buffering, and now have 150 only because it was cheaper! There are loads of deals for that sort of speed at a bit over £20 a month, see

Compare Broadband Deals September 2026 | Cheap Broadband Finder

ETA: see this uswitch article, you only need a few Mbs for standard streaming and even 4K streaming only needs 25Mbs. There's no way someone on their own needs anywhere near 500Mbs except for very specialised needs.

What broadband speed do I need for streaming? - Uswitch

iniltous

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6681631/does-bt-assume-youll-stay-loyal-regardless

Although you are clearly near the end of the minimum term , it’s still the best part of 2 months away , in my case (also with BT ) the ‘offers’ to renew got better the closer to expiration of the minimum term I got , and eventually the offer was pretty much the same as a new customer , so you may find the offers now are not worth bothering with , and as switching can be arranged with very short notice , you probably can leave it at least 6 weeks before you start looking seriously, I don’t know why brands like BT do this , but you always have the ultimate sanction to leave if the best deal they offer isn’t competitive, but the best deal offered by BT won’t be for a few weeks .

dnpark38

Most deals are for 24 months and an increase is given that will apply April 27 and 28, I always add these on and then compare.

saajan_12

Ultimately they think / know most people will just stay, hence not offerign you much of a deal a this stage. As it gets closer to the end date OR if you actually go ahead and cancel you may get better offers via retentions. No certainty and I haven't experienced it with BT but have done with a few others.

If you're happy with staying with BT then why is EE being interlinked a problem? Just pick the best deal and go with it, if BT call you back via retentions then weigh that up at the time.

zagfles

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82121773#Comment_82121773

The MSE comparison page (link above) does all that for you and accounts for any incentives as well, you can click on the ? for details. The current PlusNet offer looks the best and is £20.95/month accounting for price increases and incentives. It's for 145Mbs but no normal usage needs more than that.

Sky looks cheaper at first glance but they say prices are "variable" ie might increase during the term without specifying how much so it could be more expensive.

vacheron

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82121589#Comment_82121589

Ditto. We have up to 3 people streaming (or simultaneously gaming), 2 remotely accessed media servers and I work from home with Teams / large file transfers, and get more than enough speed from my 200mbps from Virgin for £22 per month.

My contract has actually varied between 50mbps to 1,200mbps over the last 5 years, and apart from me doing specific speed tests, nobody else in the house even noticed! 🙂

dnpark38

"Sky looks cheaper at first glance but they say prices are "variable" ie might increase during the term without specifying how much so it could be more expensive."

Yes but if they do they give 30 days to give notice of leaving with out penalties. Last April they told me of £3 increase, I objected so they reduced my March payment by £3 so in effect I stayed the same.

dnpark38

@zagfles

£30.99/mth on 31 Mar 2028 with plusnet thats the price I would use to compare.

onomatopoeia99

Curious what people do with all that throughput. I'm still on FTTC at 80Mbps and the only time I ever find that limiting is downloading a new game that's hundreds of gigabytes so I had to wait a couple of hours, which has happened once (BG3). It's more than adequate to run a remote desktop that I can access from worldwide over my home VPN.

Only me, it's not like there are six infants all streaming individual episodes of Peppa Pig in 4k at the same time on their new ipads though!