TalkTalk to hike bills for millions of broadband customers by £48 a year

MILLIONS of TalkTalk broadband customers are to see bills go up by £48 a year from April.

New and re-contracting broadband customers will be subject to a £4 price rise to their monthly bill midway through their contract, the telecoms giant confirmed.

TalkTalk broadband customers who joined or re-contracted on or after November 16 will be hit with the £4 monthly fee increase next April.

Meanwhile, those who joined or re-contracted between August 12 2024 and November 16 2025 will see their prices go up by £3 per month.

Sebastien Lahtinen, broadband expert and director at Thinkbroadband, said: “Price increases are never welcome news for consumers and TalkTalk is following others in the industry in raising its annual increase from £3 to £4/month, although it is worth noting that at present it is promoting packages at a lower cost than before so these increases are not as significant as it may seem.

“Since the move from inflation-linked price increases to ‘pounds and pence’ we have seen the lower-end packages have much higher increases in percentage terms, leaving consumers worse off than before the rules were changed.

“It’s true you now know how much your cost will go up by each April, even though as a result it will go up by more than when it was inflation-linked.

“As always, consumers who shop around when their contract ends will get the best deals.”

Unlike other mid-contract rises, TalkTalk’s change will not affect existing contracts.

A TalkTalk spokesperson said: “We’re changing our price rise terms for new and re-contracting customers only, to help us carry on investing in our services.

“Customers who are currently in-contract won’t see any difference, and as ever we’re always here to help with any questions or concerns.”

The move comes as other providers, such as Virgin Media, BT and EE have previously announced similar bill hikes.

Virgin Media’s new and re-contracting broadband customers will also be subject to a £4 price rise to their monthly bill midway through their contract.

This is up from the previous £3.50 mid-contract price hike.

New BT and EE customers who sign up to a broadband package will also see a £4 price rise per month, up from the previous £3 mid-contract price increase.

Plusnet also hiked its mid-contract price rise to £4 from August 5.

And mobile plans are also subject to mid-contract price rises for BT, EE and Plusnet customers.

Anyone on Sim only and Flex Pay plans will see their contracts go up by £2.50 in April, while bundled handset and airtime plan customers will face a £4 bill hike.

The changes come after telecoms firms were ordered by Ofcom to display mid-contract price increases in the form of pounds and pence from January 17.

Prices are usually hiked in April in line with either the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or Retail Price Index (RPI) measures of inflation plus up to 3.9%.

Under the new rules, customers must be shown by their broadband or mobile provider exactly how much their bill is going up by in April.

This is so customers know exactly how much their contract will go up by before taking it out, rather than it being linked to future inflation, which can go up or down.

How to avoid it

Shopping around for a better deal can often be the best way to cut down on mobile and broadband costs.

Switching to a new service isn’t necessarily needed, if you’d rather stay with your own provider.

Haggling for a new offer is the best starting point for cutting down your broadband bills.

The first thing to do is to find out what the cheapest deal on the market is, which you can use as a bargaining tool to get a better offer.

Don’t just accept a price rise if you’re out of contract.

Visit comparison sites like Uswitch.com or Moneysavingexpert.com to do this, and find the best deals on the market.

You can then use this knowledge to negotiate a better deal with your current provider.

But if you can’t get a better deal this way, you could consider switching to a cheaper provider when your contract expires.