Broadband and Mobile bills to increase in April 2023 (Full information in thread)

Posted 13th Jan 2023
Update 1
Virgin Media have announced their increases for the April period, on Broadband, Tv, and phone, The changes “on average” are set to increase by 13.8% on either 1st April or 1st May 2023 (price changes will vary according to your package)

Vulnerable customers will not see their prices change in 2023, including those on their ‘Essential Broadband‘ social tariff(s) and ‘Talk Protected‘ landline customers
Not my favourite newspaper but here is the link, full list of expected charge increases

Also https://www.hotukdeals.com/visit/comment/49348296/17355106
How much will YOUR broadband go up in price? Online calculator reveals how inflation-busting 14.4% hike will affect monthly bills for customers with Sky, BT, EE and other suppliers from April. (edited)
Community Updates
Helpful567's avatar
Helpful567
Which mobile providers are planning mid-contract increases for their customers?

  • BT Mobile - CPI + 3.9 percent
  • EE - CPI + 3.9 percent
  • giffgaff - No increase planned
  • iD Mobile - RPI rate. This is only for customers on 24-month handset plans. The increase will be in line with the RPI rate from February 2023
  • Lebara - No increase planned
  • O2 - RPI + 3.9 percent. The increase affects just the airtime element of contracts. Customers who signed up before March 25, 2021 will get an increase only in line with RPI
  • SMARTY - No increase planned
  • Sky Mobile - No set price rise but "we may change the price of your Sky Mobile services". This includes during the minimum term but a person may be entitled to end their contract without paying early termination charges.
  • Talkmobile - CPI + 3.9 percent
  • Tesco Mobile - No
  • Three - CPI + 3.9 percent for new and upgrading customers. This applies to those who took out a contract from November 1, 2022. The increase will be applied to customers' April 2023 bill. 4.5 percent fixed increase for existing customers.
  • Virgin Mobile - RPI + 3.9 percent. This only applies to the airtime portion of the mobile contract for most customers
  • Vodafone - CPI + 3.9 percent
  • VOXI - No increase planned.


Note that some are using CPI and some are using RPI

  • RPI includes mortgage interest payments: this means it is “heavily influenced” by house prices and interest rates
  • CPI measures take no account of housing costs: but factors in all the other goods and services

In September 20222 RPI was higher than CPI: RPI – 14% CPI – 10.7%
MrSwitch's avatar
MrSwitch
Some More confirmed providers who will be increasing their prices come April, including broadband providers

UPDATE*
Virgin Media have announced their increases for the April period, on Broadband, Tv, and phone, The changes “on average” are set to increase by 13.8% on either 1st April or 1st May 2023 (price changes will vary according to your package)

Vulnerable customers will not see their prices change in 2023, including those on their ‘Essential Broadband‘ social tariff(s) and ‘Talk Protected‘ landline customers



Most of the major UK broadband ISPs can now confirm how much their annual price hikes will be after the Office of national statistics (ONS) published their latest UK inflation figures, which saw the Consumer Price Index (CPI) hit 10.5% (up from 5.4% in Jan 2022) and the Retail Price Index (RPI) reach 13.4% (up from 7.5%).

In case anybody has forgotten. Most of the biggest broadband, phone and mobile providers tend to base their annual price rises off inflation figures – CPI or RPI – as “published” in January each year (this is actually the rate for December), which is then introduced to consumer bills between March and April of that same year. The exceptions being, at least for now, Sky Broadband and Virgin Media, which adopt a different approach.

For example, BT, EE, PLUSNET and VODAFONE all adopt a policy that says their average prices will rise by the level of CPI inflation, as published in January, plus an additional 3.9% (plus 3.7% on TALKTALK and “up to” 3% on SHELL ENERGY). But a few others, such as O" and VIRGIN MOBILE, adopt the steeper RPI rate, as published in February, plus the usual 3.9% (i.e. we’ll have to wait until next month to know the figure for them).


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Some Direct links for categories

Pay Monthly
Mobile contracts
Broadband services

What Is the Consumer Price Index (CPI)?
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food, and medical care. It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them. Changes in the CPI are used to assess price changes associated with the cost of living

The CPI is one of the most frequently used statistics for identifying periods of inflation or deflation. It may be compared with the producer price index(PPI), which instead of considering prices paid by consumers looks at what businesses pay for inputs.
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  1. mykaloen's avatar
    mykaloen
    [deleted]
    david_robinson94's avatar
    david_robinson94
    Not if the increase is stated within the contract, it's now extremely rare for it not to be in the small print.
  2. Thetrout's avatar
    Thetrout
    Do your homework, check every possible thing. I was stuck in an area where BT will never update their gear, and Virgin dug up the roads to fit cable purely to provide it to a couple of local schools. I was doomed to around 60mbs by my landline. 3 However recently fitted a 5g mast, now I pay £12 a month for an unlimited data sim, £169 for a 5g Router from Amazon and get speeds of around 800mbs. I don't need or want a landline. (edited)
    JS1122's avatar
    JS1122
    Which router did you buy?
  3. Alan__Smith's avatar
    Alan__Smith
    Good find Innocent. Interesting read.
    innocent's avatar
    innocent Author
    Thank you. Yes, it is interesting read and I thought I'd share it with everyone
  4. TroubledBadger's avatar
    TroubledBadger
    That 1p Lebera SIM only was probably the best decision I made last year. Even more so now that they are not charging more this year.

    Vodaphone previously bled me dry with random charges, high increases and constantly got cold calls to buy more tat off them. Loathsome company.
    Graham_Ohara's avatar
    Graham_Ohara
    O2s the same
  5. jakbli's avatar
    jakbli
    Reported as clickbait
  6. randomnut's avatar
    randomnut
    When increases are of this magnitude it should be legal to leave your contract penalty free so you can obtain the new customer price elsewhere which will be cheaper. Insane price increases.
    Rambosven's avatar
    Rambosven
    Prior to this I thought I read somewhere that if prices went over a certain percentage you could cancel. Say 7% but maybe that wasn't inflation prices. However I truly believe if your provider puts the price up during your contract you should be able to leave as you signed a contract and prices should be fixed like a mortgage. No increase though and you want to leave then paying a fee is fair enough.
  7. Helpful567's avatar
    Helpful567
    CPI seems to be less than RPI

    Check what your provider is using

    also, is this the whole bill or is it just airtime

    • EE - CPI + 3.9 percent
    • giffgaff - No increase planned
    • iD Mobile - RPI rate. This is only for customers on 24-month handset plans. The increase will be in line with the RPI rate from February 2023
    • Lebara - No increase planned
    • O2 - RPI + 3.9 percent. The increase affects just the airtime element of contracts. Customers who signed up before March 25, 2021 will get an increase only in line with RPI
    nabeel6235's avatar
    nabeel6235
    Depends how each network works... With O2 (by extension, VM too, I guess?) and Vodafone being FCA regulated, they can't add the increase on to handsets, so it will be *airtime only*. However, with others (like Three and EE, for example) it would apply to the entire contract, which, if you take into account that CPI/RPI + 3.9% is touching ~15%, is gonna be A LOT 😳

    Another factor to consider is whether the contract was taken through a network directly or via a 3rd part like Uswitch, for example. What I mentioned above is only when taken directly with networks. If you took a contract out via a 3rd party then it is highly likely that regardless of the network you're with, there will almost definitely be an increase on the entire contract price.
  8. Sparco100's avatar
    Sparco100
    Sky just sent me a letter saying mine is going up £1 a month on my sim only mobile plan
    Neverwoncomps's avatar
    Neverwoncomps
    Same here, luckily enough contract is at a end so i am in the process of moving to Lebara got 5gb for £4.95 via Uswitch
  9. Smoochie1's avatar
    Smoochie1
    Sorry if this is a stupid question, im with vodafone for bb and on a 24 month contract so I'm wondering as halfway through my contract can i use this price increase to switch for free to a potentially cheaper provider does anyone know please?
    s3mon78's avatar
    s3mon78
    You could call Vodafone and ask for an upgrade ( change your plan ) once this happens you will no longer be tied to the old contract and will be able to cancel . It worked for me
  10. bigmike20vt's avatar
    bigmike20vt
    Hi
    I am with O2 , signed up middle of December for the 3 months Disney. I think it's a 12 month contract. someone was telling me I can renew my contract with O2 every 3 months to keep the new customer Disney as well as keep the best possible price.....
    this seems highly unlikely to me but you guys seem clued in. is this possible?
    thanks.
    AndrewRoss's avatar
    AndrewRoss
    As long as it’s just a sim only contract you’re wanting to renew you can renew it every 30 days. I renew it every time I see a better deal and sometimes just to refresh Disney+ (I’ve had it for free for about 2 years now) I’m currently on 90gb for £8 with all the bonuses from different contracts and volt. (30gb of it expires in June/July though).

    Sorry forgot to mention how - all you do is go for a deal through uswitch etc get to the o2 website, add the deal to your basket and then when you progress to the login page it says do you want to upgrade an existing number, you obviously say yes and then continue filling out the steps. You don’t need to request a new sim and the process should be sorted within a day (volt benefits take about a week to be re-enabled). (edited)
  11. davybram's avatar
    davybram
    Just be carefully with the price rise, I'm with BT and my monthly cost has gone up from £10 to £14 Why:

    BT put the 14% on the package not any discounts. So if my package (not actual figures just an example) is £40 per month with a £5 discount the 14% applies to the £40.

    I pay the line rental saver up front and despite paying in Jan 23 they have upped this by 14% as well. I did phone them and got nowhere but they owe me over £300 in compo from botched install so it softens the blow.

    Remember each no show appointment is about £26 and each day your install is delayed after your given date is about £5.
  12. zade.sabbagh's avatar
    zade.sabbagh
    it's stunning how everything can increase freely but salaries have to be begged for.
  13. david_robinson94's avatar
    david_robinson94
    Really this practice should be illegal. These companies should have to price in inflation + any other costs they might incur and have their contract price remain the same for the period.
    arkrank's avatar
    arkrank
    Yeah, it's a con. I think 3 and Tesco fixed the price in the past but probably seen how easy it was to jack the price without much hassle from the people. They will sure know where inflation and costs are going for the contract duration.
  14. Ragedragon84's avatar
    Ragedragon84
    Imagine if our salaries went up by CPI + 3.9%. Imagine if Netflix, or Amazon Prime raised their prices like this on a yearly basis. The whole thing is a sham, a ruse to price gouge and nothing more. (edited)
    7HOT's avatar
    7HOT
    100% an excuse to gouge those in a contract.
    Their deals for new customers aren't increasing every year so why should they have the right to rip off existing customers. (edited)
  15. arkrank's avatar
    arkrank
    These are not contracts. And that is a huge increase. They look like variable agreements in their favour that allows them to jack it up for any excuse. The contract price should be fixed at the start. They cannot say they have no idea of the business environment and their costs for the contract duration. They do know. (edited)
  16. leeroy_tmofo's avatar
    leeroy_tmofo
    Good they can't be bothered to pay nurses properly but it's dead easy for huge corporations to put their bills up 17%+.

    What a state this country is in.
    joyf4536's avatar
    joyf4536
    Yes if only they could increase the national Insurance 17%
  17. rob15's avatar
    rob15
    This is part of the big money grab, which is why I now support anyone that strikes for a decent pay rise. Where also is the monopolies commission? All going up around the same time and by about the same amount.
  18. Professor_Chaos's avatar
    Professor_Chaos
    in two years EE will be increasing my contract from £23 to £29 a month. Luckily the contract is up end of this month, so I'm moving to Lebara and will be done with these so called increases and also save a fortune
    Zsigma's avatar
    Zsigma
    Same, mine is up today, straight to Lebara.
  19. Holte_ender's avatar
    Holte_ender
    I would like to know if anyone working for these companies enjoys a pay rise in line with these increases? Is it a greedy money grab or do the employess benfit from it?
  20. Robildn's avatar
    Robildn
    Its just corporate greed. The oil/gas companies made killing with the increased prices, they paid their shareholders loads, but their actual costs remained the same. Heard on radio other day that now they are saying they will be looking at staff cuts because they can't afford the windfall taxes!! how crazy is that (edited)
  21. DisagreeableRunt's avatar
    DisagreeableRunt
    Left Vodafone at the start of the month, having been a contract customer with them for 12 years straight, despite being tempted by great deals on Pixel 7/Pro. When they asked why I was leaving, multiple times, I just responded "CPI + 3.9%" . No hard sell as soon as I said that, clearly know there's no arguing.

    These rises could very well have a £30pm contract pushing £40pm from April 2024. Obscene and mugging contract customers off.

    When I saw an increase of close to 10% last year, my son's Voxi (which is Vodafone) got its data doubled for the same £10pm. Its now offering even more data (30GB) for that price. Evidence they don't need to implement such disgusting increases, unless loyal contract customers are the ones subsidising it.

    Ofcom needs to cap the percentage they can increase it by. Yet another Ofcom decision to 'protect consumers' (edited)
  22. randomusername7605281935's avatar
    randomusername7605281935
    This sucks because it just contributes to more big CPI increases going forward like a big endless loop. There's no reason for a service like internet and mobile to have big increases in line with inflation, their costs aren't going up that much but they're increasing prices by that much which means the broadband/phone part of CPI this time next year will be the same amount again. Endless loop. They don't even increase their staff salaries by the amount they increase our bills by so how can they act like they need to increase our bills by that much?!

    Same happened last year. We could seee from these companies income statement that their costs went down between 2021 and 2022 but of course they still increasing prices by a lot as if they have to. Like BTs cost went down by half a billion or something last year but they still lumped us with an 9% increase because thats what RPI+3% was. Watch in April when they all have their statements out we're gonna see their costs haven't gone up anywhere close to 14% so the 14% increases in bills is just extra profit for them, not just something to cover their increased costs.

    It's all just massive companies adding billions to their incomes each year since covid all at the same time because they know we have to pay it in most cases. Even if some of us do switch they still get a lot more money than before so what do they care.
  23. FrampyStinkwonkel's avatar
    FrampyStinkwonkel
    OK, so things usually increase by the RPI but it Always urks me that these companies add an extra % just because (edited)
    SiFiUK's avatar
    SiFiUK
    That's because the xPI figures are not a true measure of real inflation any more (edited)
  24. razam's avatar
    razam
    Any news about virgin media/virgin broadband or community fibre?
    Thanks
  25. UltimatePhoenix's avatar
    UltimatePhoenix
    They must think they aren't rich enough
    spyro's avatar
    spyro
    CEO bonus all to themselves
  26. SparklingFruits's avatar
    SparklingFruits
    Are employees getting a pay increase then?
    CiupaSs's avatar
    CiupaSs
    ofc not
  27. Conkers816's avatar
    Conkers816
    Surprised to read that Virgin Media apparently have no increases planned.
    thegame999's avatar
    thegame999
    Shhhhhh.......don't remind them
  28. Pe_te's avatar
    Pe_te
    Nightmare trying to find a decent renewal right now. Almost went for Vodafone at £22/month with a decent cashback offer, before realising that will be hiked up by 15% in 3 months time, and then locked in for 24 months, so another hike in 2024 and no way out.

    I settled on NOW Broadband in the end, similar cashback, £21/month, but no price increase and only locked in for 12 months.
  29. mark9915's avatar
    mark9915
    C/RPI+% is a complete rip-off and simply adds to inflation in itself.  There’s nothing to say any of the companies will have increased costs on an annual basis but don’t expect the regulator to do anything about it!
  30. yorkie12's avatar
    yorkie12
    Been getting RPI increases in April on phone contracts for years but now they are getting greedy add even more. Think my new broadband contract says RPI plus up to 3%. Was really miffed one year when I'd only taken out phone contract in February and it went up in April.
    Tarney's avatar
    Tarney
    The exact same happened to me with ID last year. My contract ends at the end of this year and I'm going with someone who doesn't raise prices mid-contract next time.
  31. philjstephenson's avatar
    philjstephenson
    And here we are in Hull with 500MBPS fibre to the door for £38.49 a month for 18 months, and for the second time in 2 years we get an email saying no price increases at all this year, cost of living, CV etc etc
    I use to bleat about them, now im a total KC lovva!!
    rkl's avatar
    rkl
    In "theory", BeFibre offered me 500 Mbits/sec FTTP up and down, first 3 months free, 2 year contract with no price increases for £25 a month. I signed up for it in August 2022, was initially told I'd get it in Nov 2022, they broke their "fibre without the fibs" catchphrase and now say it will be Feb 2023!

    My old Vodafone contract ended this month and I moved to Now Broadband, who are cheaper and do 1-year contracts - didn't trust BeFibre to actually install FTTP next month (no-one's dug up my road yet). If BeFibre did turn up, I'll then pray for a Now price increase within 3 months of BeFibre starting, so I can get out of that contract early with no penalty...
  32. wpj's avatar
    wpj
    I will do the usual and switch the Plusnet contract to a new cheaper one. Done it every time.
    Anthonyuk's avatar
    Anthonyuk
    Do you mean also with Plusnet or switch to another provider?
  33. CDP's avatar
    CDP
    As far as possible, I'd like to avoid companies that do shady raising of contracted prices when I look to transfer to a new broadband deal, but it's getting hard. I'm with Now Broadband at the minute, as they didn't do the snide increases, but no idea how bad a deal i'd have to choose from this time to make a stand and avoid these companies.
  34. bussty3's avatar
    bussty3
    Remember taking out a £32, 24 month contract and 15 months in paying nearly £37 a month. Never again.
  35. Alex_Smith01's avatar
    Alex_Smith01
    Loving tesco mobiles "no"
  36. Michael_Azf's avatar
    Michael_Azf
    If there was only some way to combat this "give me money for nothing increase".

    "We’ll automatically credit your bill for fixed phone line and broadband issues, no matter if you’re a new or existing customer. Here’s how much we’ll credit you for the following service issues:


    • £8.40 per day for a total loss of service after 2 full working days from registering the loss of service to us"

    A problem In the network (aka that week or 2 away from your home whilst you're not using it), is a network problem, not your problem - if its not in service, that's a they problem, not a you problem.
  37. joyf4536's avatar
    joyf4536
    In France Orange are putting their Internet prices up 7% (first increase in many years) but the French Inflation rate is MUCH less than in the UK.
  38. ALBO4EVER's avatar
    ALBO4EVER
    All i can say is that we should demand excellent signal everywhere we go. No signal = free cancellation.
  39. rachel.long's avatar
    rachel.long
    Pay as you go forever contracts are a mugs game atleast with payandgo I get no price increase no cpi and roaming included with my smarty plan....
  40. mb1's avatar
    mb1
    I can highly recommend giganet.uk/ who don't raise mid-contract and don't charge exit fees either. Had them a while now and they have been amazing in every respect.

    I think they also use or are a reseller for Zen? That's what my IP addresses lead me to believe anyway. (edited)
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