Why Ofcom’s ban on mid-contract price rises ISN’T as good news as you might think
We explain why Ofcom's ban on mid-contract price rises won't actually stop prices from going up and offer some alternatives
With household budgets already squeezed, it was disappointing – although not surprising – that many internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile networks decided to introduce mid-contract price hikes earlier this year.
The companies, which usually blamed “rising costs” for the increases, wrapped the hikes in a confusing blanket of jargon that made it difficult for consumers to work out how much more they’d be paying every year. Take this example from Virgin Media: “[The] monthly price shown will increase each April from April 2025 by the Retail Price Index rate of inflation announced in February each year plus 3.9%.” Clear as mud.
But no longer: Ofcom, the industry regulator, has now stepped in to help.
However, far from banning the practice of hiking prices outright, the body has only stipulated that companies need to be more transparent and outline the increases “in pounds and pence”, rather than tie them to inflation, from January 2025. That means that rather than the word salad above, you’ll now see warnings such as “monthly plan price increases £3 on 31 March each year” (Plusnet has already changed the wording).
To put it bluntly, that’s pretty weak. For all the talk of a “ban”, it’s nothing of the sort – rather than just a rewording that takes away references to inflation – and customers will still be hit by swingeing boosts to their monthly broadband bills.
But all is not lost. As you’ll see from the two sections below, there are ways of avoiding the price rises altogether without compromising on quality.
How to beat the broadband price rises
Not every ISP has decided to introduce mid-contract price increases and that includes our favourite provider overall, Zen Internet. Its customer service scores in the annual Expert Reviews Best Broadband Awards survey put it way ahead of the competition, leading to a full five stars out of five in our in-depth Zen Internet review.
Over 80% of Zen Internet customers are satisfied with the company’s customer service, while the industry average is just over half. And it’s not only customer service in which Zen excels: reliability is another strong suit, with a gargantuan 88% of its customers praising its reliability, and Zen Internet claimed a Highly Commended award for the speed of its connections too.
How to beat the mobile network price rises
Meanwhile, the best way to beat any future increases to your mobile contract is to go for a rolling, 30-day SIM plan that you can cancel at any time. Not only are there plenty of good deals to be found in this area, but you’ll also have the ability to take advantage of them at short notice.
We have a couple of recommendations here: Voxi and Smarty, our favourite and second favourite mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs, which means they piggyback on one of the larger networks).
Voxi, which runs on Vodafone’s network, picked up the main prize in the latest, customer-voted Expert Reviews Mobile Network Awards, as well as a maximum five stars out of five and an Expert Reviews Best Buy award in the full review by Stuart Andrews. We’re big fans of its big data deals, generous freebies (such as, for example, unlimited use of social media apps), reliability and commitment-free plans. The latter means you won’t be tied into a long contract and can jump ship whenever you like.
Meanwhile, Smarty is a perennial favourite here at Expert Reviews. The MVNO, which operates on Three’s network, received four stars out of five and an Expert Reviews Recommended award in our latest review, while it finished second in our Mobile Network Awards survey.
Why? We’ve lauded Smarty’s great-value plans, all of which can be cancelled whenever you like, for a few years now – as well as its class-leading 5G performance, free roaming in the EU up to a fair use limit of 12GB (something Voxi can’t match) and good customer service.
