The best 12-month broadband deals in 2024, based on our annual customer survey and in-depth reviews
Don’t want a two-year contract? We’ve rounded up the best 12-month broadband deals, using the results of our reviews and customer survey
It’s easy to see why the popularity of 12-month broadband deals is rising. Rather than tying you down for two years, they give you the flexibility to shop around and dodge price rises. They’re no longer pricier than longer contracts either, with many internet service providers offering attention-grabbing plans.
To help you find the 12-month broadband deal that meets your requirements, we’ve collected the best tariffs below, complete with pros, cons and links to our in-depth reviews. All of the reviews are based on the results of our latest Expert Reviews Best Broadband Awards survey, which saw over 6,000 customers provide feedback to us on their experiences with 11 internet service providers (ISPs).
It isn’t an exhaustive list, but rather the offers that we’re happy to recommend after comparing them against a list of criteria and weighing them up against the competition. At the bottom of the page, you’ll also find our buying guide, which covers the main questions you need to bear in mind.
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The best 12-month broadband deals to sign up for in 2024
1. Hyperoptic: The best 12-month broadband deal for speed
Price: £40/mth | View deal at Hyperoptic
Pros
In our most recent Hyperoptic broadband review, we gave the ISP four stars out of five and an Expert Reviews Recommended award for its compelling mix of blistering speed and excellent customer service. It may not be one of the big names, but it punches well above its weight when it comes to value.
If you’re one of the lucky few, you can take advantage of Hyperoptic’s terrific 12-month offers: here, we’ve highlighted the all-singing, all-dancing Hyperfast plan, which nabs you a stunning average download and upload speed of 900Mbits/sec for £40/mth on a one-year contract, with £19 to pay upfront.
Cons
The main issue with Hyperoptic is coverage: at the moment, it only reaches 1.4 million homes in the UK, meaning many areas of the country aren’t covered at all.
Read our full Hyperoptic review
How do we find the best 12-month broadband deals?
We don’t just copy across all of the 12-month broadband deals from the ISPs, but instead expend a lot of effort selecting the best offers for you, no matter what your needs or budget. Here are our three most important criteria, or the three “Ps”.
- Provider. We consult our full broadband reviews and the results of our Best Broadband Awards, where we survey thousands of customers around the country, to make sure you won’t be getting a poor service.
- Price. The cost of living crisis means these are difficult financial times and we will always include at least one budget-friendly option.
- Pitfalls. If a deal comes with a mid-contract price increase – as, unfortunately, is common now – we’ll always mention it and the same goes for upfront costs.
For more information on how we track down 12-month broadband deals, visit our dedicated page.
How to pick the best 12-month broadband deal for you
Finding the best 12-month broadband deal can be tricky in a market where lots of potentially confusing terms and numbers get thrown around. To help cut through the noise, we’ve rounded up the most important considerations below.
Can you get full fibre?
In recent years, brand-new networks have been popping up across the UK to offer full-fibre connections – instead of the far-slower copper cables. This competition has also driven down broadband prices, which is great news for consumers.
If you live in an urban area, you’ll likely have access to a full-fibre connection, but that doesn’t mean you should write one off if you live in the countryside. To see what you can get, select one of the deals above and use the ISP’s tool to see what’s available at your home address.
What’s the best speed for you?
There’s a massive range of different plans to pick from and you don’t want to end up paying for speeds you don’t need. As a handy rule of thumb, we’d say that a download speed of around 100Mbits/sec should be enough for the majority of households, which you can step up to 300Mbits/sec or even 500Mbits/sec if there are lots of devices under one roof or you regularly do intensive tasks such as downloading game updates.
Gigabit speeds (1,000Mbits/sec) should only appeal to a minority of power-user homes and, at the other end of the scale, a download speed of 36Mbits/sec should only really be for those who browse the web or do an occasional spot of streaming from a couple of devices. If you work from home and have regular video meetings, it won’t be enough.
Will the price rise during your contract?
Unfortunately, the answer to this is increasingly likely to be “yes”. Many of the major ISPs have decided to hike up their prices every March or April by the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation plus an additional 3.9%. We’ll always flag when this is the case on our lists of deals, however, and there are some exceptions to the rule such as Hyperoptic above.
How much will you have to pay upfront?
The days of having to pay extravagant setup fees are past and it’s unlikely that you’ll have to pay more than a £30 one-off fee. Many of the ISPs like to waive the payment entirely as an extra incentive for signing up.
There are a couple of exceptions, though. One-month rolling broadband plans, which are still rare, tend to come with far larger upfront costs, as do broadband and TV deals. We’ll always mention if a 12-month offer comes with an upfront cost.