The thought of haggling can make a lot of British people feel uncomfortable. But even if you’re the kind of person who would never dream of haggling in a shop or market, you really should haggle on broadband.
Our research has found that broadband is the service people in the UK are most likely to haggle over. 59% of us have contacted our broadband provider to get a better price[1].
So what’s the best way to go about it? Check out our ten tips on using haggling to cut your broadband bills.
The perfect time to start haggling with your broadband provider is about 30 days before the end of your contract. Why? If you try to switch mid-contract, broadband providers can clobber you with hefty exit fees. But once the minimum term is up, you’re free to move. Your provider will be hoping that you’re too lazy or busy to bother. They can then quietly shift you to a rolling contract, which will probably be pricier.
If you contact your provider a month before the end of your contract to ask what they have to offer, they’ll realise they have to actually work to keep you as a customer because you’re already shopping around. So set yourself an alert to get in touch when that date rolls round.
If you’re already out of contract or on a no-contract deal, there’s no reason to wait. The best time to haggle is right now!
You’ll be in a stronger haggling position if you know what other options you have. It’s very easy to compare broadband deals online and see what’s available to you. If it’s been a while since you last switched, it’s likely you can get faster broadband speeds without paying much more.
A tip: when you’re doing your online research, use pen and paper to note down the two or three best broadband deals you find. It’s easier to haggle when you have the information right in front of you.
If you’re claiming certain benefits, you might be eligible for a social broadband tariff, also known as basic broadband. Find out what you’re likely to qualify for before you speak to your current provider.
Once you’ve got an idea of the deal you want, it’s time to get in touch.
We think the best way is always to pick up the phone. After all, these companies are in the business of communication. But don’t launch into your haggling speech with the first person you speak to.
The trick is to ask for ‘disconnections’ or ‘retentions’ or press the ‘thinking of leaving us’ button. All these options usually get you through to the ‘power people’ – the team with the authority to agree the biggest discounts to keep you as a customer.
If you go in being friendly and polite, you have a better chance of getting what you want.
If you’ve been a happy customer up to now, say so. If you want to stay with them and they want to keep you as a customer, then the price negotiation is really about working together towards a shared goal. Thinking of it in those terms might help if you normally feel awkward about haggling.
Being pleasant doesn’t mean you have to be relentlessly positive. Pointing out flaws is a time-honoured haggling tactic. So if you’ve had problems in the past with slow speeds or poor service, don’t be afraid to mention it. But the person you’re talking to will probably be able to access your customer service records, so the critical approach will be less effective if you’ve never actually complained to them directly.
If your TV contract is up for renewal as well, this could help with your broadband bargaining. Will your provider offer you a discount on the broadband if you switch to them for your TV watching? Many providers offer a bundled TV and broadband deal that’s cheaper than paying separately even before you start haggling.
If your broadband provider can’t reduce the price as much as you’d like, they might offer a free gift like a shopping voucher as an extra incentive. If the deals you’re comparing are pretty similar price-wise, little extras like this can help you pick one provider over the others. But don’t let a “free” gift distract you into paying over the odds for your broadband contract.
If your provider offers you a brilliant deal and you want to accept, it’s worth noting down the key points and repeating them back on the phone. This reduces the risk of misunderstandings - and because calls are recorded, it helps to provide a record of exactly what’s been agreed.
Your supplier should send through written confirmation as well. Chase it up if it doesn’t come through promptly and take the time to read it through as soon as you can.
The salesperson might offer you a great-sounding deal on the condition that you accept on the spot. Adding time pressure is another classic haggling tactic, but you don’t have to fall into their trap. If you feel rushed, push back and say you need time to think.
If the FOMO (fear of missing out) takes over and you end up signing up to a deal that wasn’t the best one for you, you don’t have to stick with it. You have the legal right to cancel the contract within 14 days [2].
If you haggle after a contract ends, or shortly before it ends, the new contract might start within this 14-day cooling-off period. You’ll have to pay for the service you’ve already received, but it doesn’t affect your right to cancel.
If you’ve used our tips to secure yourself a great monthly price for your broadband, good work. But that price probably won’t stay the same for the whole contract. Broadband providers have the legal right to increase your monthly payment as long as this is clear from the start.
As of January 2025, the regulator Ofcom requires providers to tell you what the price rise will be when you sign up. If they don’t, you have the right to leave the contract without any exit penalties when the price goes up.[3] This gives you leverage to haggle on the new price. Try the “thinking of leaving” tactic we mentioned earlier and see if they will match a competitor’s new customer price in order to keep you. (If not, it’s time to actually find a better deal.)
If you’re claiming certain benefits, you could be eligible for a social broadband tariff. These are significantly cheaper than regular tariffs. Ofgem says current prices are from £10 to £23[3]. Many providers offer some form of social or basic tariff, but the terms vary. Check out our guide to social tariffs to find out what’s currently on offer and who qualifies.
Another possible way to save money overall is by getting a deal that bundles broadband with something else. Broadband and TV bundles are a common combination, or you may get a deal that combines broadband, telly and a mobile phone contract.
Go.Compare is here to help you compare broadband tariffs to get the best deal for you!
When the fixed minimum term of your broadband contract ends, you are considered “out of contract”. [4] Your broadband provider is obliged by law to do several things [5]:
They are not obliged to actually move you to a good deal. What they usually do is shift you to a more expensive rolling contract. If you do nothing, you’ll stay on it and keep paying over the odds. Ofcom says that on average, out-of-contract customers pay £5.10 a month more than they need to[7]. When your provider tells you that the contract is nearly over, treat that as a reminder to start comparing new broadband deals and prepare to switch if you need to.
As we’ve explained above, broadband providers don’t have to keep their monthly charges the same for the duration of your contract. They are allowed to raise prices partway through, as long as they make this clear from the start.
Your new contract should say when your monthly payments are going up and by how much. This is highly likely to be an annual thing, in late March or early April to be roughly in line with the new financial year. The date your contract starts won’t affect the date of the first price rise, because providers raise prices for every customer at once. So if you’re signing up in January or February, it’s even more important to check the contract for information about the coming price changes.
You might be wondering if you're eligible for free broadband…
If you’re on Jobseeker’s Allowance and find that access to broadband is hurting your ability to apply for jobs, ask the Jobcentre about the Flexible Support Fund. If the DWP judge you to be in sufficient need, they can give you a voucher for six months’ free broadband with TalkTalk [8]. There’s no obligation to sign up with TalkTalk when the six months ends.
Places like libraries and coffee shops often have free wifi, but be wary of using public connections to do things like online banking. They’re not necessarily secure.
Yes, there’s nothing legally to stop broadband companies from saving their best deals for new customers. There have been calls for regulator Ofcom to change the rules to prevent this - similar to what has already happened in the world of insurance[9]. But for now, the “loyalty penalty” is still very much a feature of the broadband market. So you won’t get the best deal by simply staying with your existing provider. When you haggle, you need to show that you’re prepared to walk away.
The best time to renew broadband is around 30 days before your current contract ends. This is the time to:
You can’t actually start a new contract until the fixed minimum term of your existing contract is up. Your current provider should let you know this date is coming up between 40 and 10 days beforehand. There’s no rule about how they do this, but if they fail to do it at all, you can complain to Ofcom.
Your haggling success isn’t really about which provider you’re talking to. It depends on a number of factors:
How competitive your default renewal deal was in the first place. How does it compare to the kind of prices you’ve found on comparison sites? If you can save a lot by switching, your provider is likely to bring their offer down more to keep you.
Whether you’ve done your homework. Can you give the person you’re haggling with some examples of better deals you’ve found elsewhere?
Your payment history. If you’ve missed payments with your existing provider, this could limit the options they want to offer you and make your haggling less successful.
How easy the provider is to contact. You can’t haggle without speaking to a human, and some broadband providers make that very difficult. Googling “[provider name] cancellation line” might give you the phone number you need to get started. But if it’s almost impossible to get through, it’s probably time to give up on haggling and just focus on finding a better deal elsewhere. You don’t need to contact your existing broadband provider when switching to a new one.
Luck and charm. Haggling isn’t an exact science. If you catch the salesperson on a day when they have a quota to meet, or if you’re a naturally persuasive person yourself, you may have an even better result from your haggling.
[1] Go.Compare press release, 38% of Brits are haggling on their bills, new research suggests, 3 April 2024
[2] Legislation.gov.uk, Part 3: Right to Cancel of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, correct as of 2 December 2024
[3] Ofcom, Social tariffs: Cheaper broadband and phone packages, 6 March 2024. Last updated 7 November 2024
[4] Tech Radar, How do I know if my broadband contract has ended? 6 January 2024
[5] Ofcom, Telecoms price rises - what are your rights? Last updated 19 July 2024
[6] Ofcom, Companies must tell customers about their best deals, 14 February 2020. Last updated 16 March 2023
[7] Ofcom, Telecoms customers saving millions as Ofcom rules bed in, 30 November 2021. Last updated 16 March 2023
[8] TalkTalk, Affordability, checked 5 December 2024
[9] Financial Conduct Authority, FCA confirms measures to protect customers from the loyalty penalty in home and motor insurance markets, published and last updated 28 May 2021