Broadband users overpaying by ‘up to £27 a month’, claims research
Compare Fibre has found that millions of households are overpaying for broadband paying as much as £44.99/month for equivalent services on offer at £17.99/month – costing them £648 over a 24-month deal.
There are huge variances in speeds too. Virgin offers superfast 350Mbps broadband for £39.99, the same price as Sky charge for a 60Mbps broadband service.
With broadband speeds increasing and average costs falling to an average of £37.25 at the end of 2020, comparing broadband packages is increasingly important. Data released by Compare Fibre reveals that households across the UK could be making costly mistakes by continuing to buy from the market leaders including BT, Virgin and Sky.
While households in Birmingham can access Hyperoptic broadband at 30Mbps for £17.99/month, Spectrum Internet offers a 36Mbps product to the same homes for £44.99/month on a 24-month contract. Spectrum Internet customers would be paying 2.5 times the cost of an equivalent Hyperoptic service, which works out at nearly £650 over the 24 month contract period.
It’s a similar situation in Liverpool where 36Mbps Origin broadband is available at £20.99/month. EE customers are paying £36.00/month for the same service delivered over the Openreach network. That’s a whopping 171% more expensive.
In areas where alternative networks such as Zzoomm, Jurassic fibre, and Truespeed build fibre optic networks, there are considerable disparities in broadband speed received at equivalent price points, claims Compare Fibre.
Take Slough, for example. Toob offers 900Mbps for £25.00/month. The best deal on the BT website is 36Mbps for £26.99/month. Toob customers would get a remarkable 864Mbps of extra speed for £1.99 less per month.
Says Nathan Hill-Haimes, Co-Founder at Compare Fibre:
“People are invariably unaware of the provider choices available to their household, and think it takes ages to research the myriad of options, which isn’t true. Going through the broadband options on a comparison website only takes a few seconds, but it’s not a job that should be done too hastily. To get the best cover at the best price, you have to choose the site you use to compare carefully. Some comparison sites don’t show all of the deals, only the options the comparison site receives a commission for.”
“It’s worth trying a few comparison sites and making sure that you get a whole of market comparison. If cost is your primary driver for your purchasing decision, there are some considerable savings to be made. If you need higher speeds, you should compare the well-known names with the new alternative or challenger networks. You could get five, ten or even twenty times the speed you currently get.”
“Regardless of your location households should avoid letting their broadband contract run out of contract because firms tend to reserve their best prices for new customers. Shopping around at renewal is the easiest and most effective way of reducing your broadband charges, with significant savings as well as speed increases available.”
Here are the best and the worst deals on offer by broadband provider in February 2021, according to Compare Fibre.
BEST VALUE
Community Fibre – 1000Mbps – £37.50/month
Hyperoptic – 1000Mbps – £40.00/month
Toob – 900Mbps – £25.00/month
Vodafone Gigafast – 900Mbps – £48.00/month
Zzoomm – 2000Mbps – £99/month
WORST VALUE
Spectrum Internet – 36Mbps – £44.99/month
EE – 36Mbps – £36.00/month
Plusnet – 36Mbps – £31.99/month
Vodafone – 35Mbps – £31.00/month
iTalk – 35Mbps – £30.49/month
For more information see www.comparefibre.co.uk
