Out of contract broadband prices · Verified 22 August 2026
What you pay when your broadband contract ends
Quick summary
When a UK broadband contract ends, your provider moves you onto its standard out-of-contract price. The gap can be large. Virgin Media publishes both figures itself: Gig1 costs £29.99 a month in contract and £86.00 a month afterwards, a difference of £672.12 a year for exactly the same service. You are free to leave at any time once your minimum term is over, and you will usually pay no exit fee for doing so.
- Biggest published gap we found
- £672.12a year, Virgin Media Gig1
- Cheapest gigabit alternative
- £19.00a month, toob Home 900
- Notice your provider must give
- 10 to 40days before the term ends
Check if you are out of contract Free, private, under a minute
The shape of the problem
Nothing changes on month 25 except the price
Virgin Media states both numbers in the same sentence of its own terms, for every broadband-only package. This is the gap between them, drawn month by month. Same cable, same router, same 1,136 Mbps throughout.
What is an out-of-contract broadband price?
An out-of-contract price is the standard monthly rate your provider charges once your minimum term has finished. The discount you signed up for was attached to that term. When the term ends, the discount ends with it.
You are not trapped at that point. Quite the opposite: once you are out of contract you can leave whenever you like, normally without an exit fee. The catch is that doing nothing is the one option that costs the most, and it is also the easiest option to fall into. Ofcom puts the scale of it at 28% of UK broadband customers (Ofcom, 2026), which is somewhere close to one household in four.
Your provider has to warn you
Ofcom requires providers to send an end-of-contract notification by text, email or letter between 10 and 40 days before your contract comes to an end, and if you are already out of contract they must remind you once a year and tell you about their best deals (Ofcom, 2022).
The rules on price rises have tightened
Ofcom announced in July 2024 that from 17 January 2025 providers are prohibited from writing inflation-linked or percentage-based price rises into any new contract, and any increase must instead be stated in pounds and pence before you sign (Ofcom, 2024). Ofcom's research found the old approach left people guessing: 55% of broadband customers did not know what the various inflation measures meant, and only 16% both knew a rise was coming and could identify it as inflation-linked with a percentage on top (Ofcom, 2024).
The one sentence worth remembering. The end-of-contract increase is not a price rise in the ordinary sense. It is the removal of a discount that only ever applied to your minimum term.
Virgin Media out-of-contract prices
Virgin Media publishes the in-contract price and the standard price together, package by package. The table below is taken directly from that page, so both columns come from the same source on the same date. No estimates are involved.
| Package | Average speed | In contract | After it ends | Extra per year | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gig1 | 1,136 Mbps | £29.99 | £86.00 | £672.12 | 187% |
| M500 | 516 Mbps | £27.99 | £80.00 | £624.12 | 186% |
| M350 | 362 Mbps | £28.99 | £74.00 | £540.12 | 155% |
| M250 | 264 Mbps | £25.99 | £68.00 | £504.12 | 162% |
| Gig2 | 2,000 Mbps | £49.99 | £92.00 | £504.12 | 84% |
| M125 | 132 Mbps | £23.99 | £62.00 | £456.12 | 158% |
All figures from Virgin Media (2026). Prices include VAT. Virgin Media broadband-only packages carry no line rental charge. Annual difference is the monthly gap multiplied by 12. Virgin Media also applies a £4.00 monthly increase each April during the contract, so the in-contract figure is a starting price rather than a term average.
Worth knowing. Comparison prices are often lower than a provider's own advertised rate. On 19 August 2026 our verified deals table listed Gig1 at £23.99 and M125 at £18.99 (BroadbandSwitch.uk, 2026). Where that is available at your address the starting price is lower, and because the out-of-contract price is unchanged, the eventual gap is wider still.
Plusnet: the longer you stay, the more you pay
Plusnet's price guide shows something you rarely see written down. Its standard price depends on when you last signed a contract, and the guide lists each group separately. Customers who have never re-contracted sit on older, higher prices for the identical product.
| Package | Signed up from 5 Aug 2025 |
Signed up before 11 Jul 2024 |
Extra per year for staying put |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Fibre 900 | £51.99 | £77.50 | £306.12 |
| Full Fibre 500 | £44.99 | £66.24 | £255.00 |
| Full Fibre 300 | £39.99 | £56.38 | £196.68 |
| Full Fibre 145 | £35.99 | £49.32 | £159.96 |
| Full Fibre 74 | £34.99 | £42.48 | £89.88 |
All figures from Plusnet (2026), broadband-only prices including VAT. Both columns are standard prices for the same product at the same speed. The only difference is when the customer last signed a contract.
A Plusnet Full Fibre 300 customer who signed up in early 2024 and has left things alone pays £56.38 a month. The standard price for someone who re-contracted in August 2025 is £39.99. Same 300 Mbps, same network, £196.68 a year apart.
What the same money buys elsewhere
This is where an out-of-contract price stops being merely annoying. Each comparison sets a published standard price against a new-customer deal we verified by hand on 19 August 2026.
Gigabit, and then some
Roughly twice the speed for £732.00 less a year
Ultrafast
Nearly double the speed for £720.00 less a year
Mid range
Over three times the speed for £588.00 less a year
Entry level
Slightly faster, price held for the term, £504.00 less a year
Openreach full fibre
Same speed for £251.88 less a year
Out-of-contract prices from Virgin Media (2026) and Plusnet (2026). New-customer prices from BroadbandSwitch.uk (2026), hand-checked 19 August 2026. Full fibre availability varies street by street and the alternatives shown will not reach every address. Always check your own postcode before assuming a price is available to you.
Not every provider does this
It would be misleading to suggest the whole market works the same way. Two things deserve saying clearly.
Some cap the end-of-contract increase
Sky sets out on its own website that at the end of the 24 month minimum term the monthly price becomes the price paid immediately beforehand, plus £5 (Sky, 2026). That is a very different proposition from a price that trebles.
Some hold the price for the whole term
Our verified deals table for August 2026 records several providers advertising no yearly rise at all during the contract: YouFibre, Truespeed, Zzoomm on 12 month terms, Fibrus, Quickline, Connect Fibre and Zen (BroadbandSwitch.uk, 2026). If price certainty matters more to you than the lowest possible headline number, read that column before the price column.
The honest summary. The very large end-of-contract gaps on this page are concentrated in a small number of providers and packages. Much of the market has moved towards smaller, clearly stated increases. That is genuine progress, and it is also exactly why it pays to check where your own provider sits rather than assuming the worst.
How this fits with the market-wide figures
Ofcom's Pricing and Consumer Engagement Report, published on 26 February 2026, found that 28% of UK broadband customers are out of contract and that customers who are in contract spend between £7 and £9 a month less than out-of-contract customers (Ofcom, 2026). Our own study The Loyalty Penalty (Report No. 28) builds on that figure.
This page reports gaps of £456.12 to £672.12 a year. Both sets of numbers are correct, because they measure different things.
Ofcom's £7 to £9 is a difference in average monthly spend across every provider and every speed tier, including the many providers whose end-of-contract increase is small or capped, and including the large number of customers who re-contract promptly rather than drifting. This page reports the difference between two published list prices for a named package at a named provider. One describes what the market pays on average. The other describes what you will be charged if you do nothing.
If you want the market-level picture, read Report No. 28. If you want to know what your own bill will do, this page and the price checker are the faster route.
Five minutes, once a year
None of this needs special knowledge. It needs one diary reminder.
- Find out when your contract endsLog into your provider's app or account page and look for the contract end date. If you cannot find it, ring and ask. They have to tell you.
- Look up your provider's standard priceSearch for your provider's name plus "price guide" or "out of contract price". The figure will be on their own site, which is the only version worth trusting.
- Check what you are actually usingRun a speed test so you know whether you need the package you are paying for. Plenty of households pay for far more speed than they use. Our free speed test is Pulse.
- Compare against your own postcodeAvailability is the whole game with full fibre. A deal that does not reach your street is not a deal.
- Decide: switch, haggle or staySwitching usually wins on price. Ringing to re-contract usually beats doing nothing. Doing nothing is the only choice with no upside.
One thing to watch. If you are still inside your minimum term, leaving early normally means an early exit fee. Check that figure first. Some providers offer credit towards those fees when you switch to them, so it can still work out, but do the sum before you move rather than after. Our guide to exit fees and setup fees walks through the numbers.
Common questions
How much more do you pay when your broadband contract ends?
It varies enormously by provider. Ofcom found that customers who are in contract spend between £7 and £9 a month less than out-of-contract customers, and that 28% of UK broadband customers are out of contract (Ofcom, 2026). That measures average spend across the whole market. Measured against published list prices the gap can be far wider: Virgin Media's own standard prices run from £456.12 to £672.12 a year above its in-contract prices (Virgin Media, 2026). Sky caps the increase at £5 a month (Sky, 2026). The only way to know your own figure is to check your provider's published price guide.
Does my broadband price go up automatically when my contract ends?
With most providers, yes. The discount was tied to your minimum term, so when the term finishes the standard price applies. A few providers cap the increase and some altnets hold the same price. Your end-of-contract notification will state what the new price will be.
What does Virgin Media charge after the contract ends?
Virgin Media publishes its broadband-only standard prices as £62.00 for M125, £68.00 for M250, £74.00 for M350, £80.00 for M500, £86.00 for Gig1 and £92.00 for Gig2 a month (Virgin Media, 2026).
What is Plusnet's out-of-contract price?
It depends on when you last signed up. For customers who signed up or re-contracted from 5 August 2025, broadband-only Full Fibre standard prices run from £34.99 for Full Fibre 74 to £51.99 for Full Fibre 900. Customers who signed up before 11 July 2024 and never re-contracted pay from £42.48 to £77.50 for the same packages (Plusnet, 2026).
Will my provider tell me when my contract is ending?
Yes. Ofcom requires an end-of-contract notification by text, email or letter between 10 and 40 days before your minimum term ends. If you are already out of contract, your provider must remind you once a year and tell you about its best deals (Ofcom, 2022).
Can I leave without paying a fee once I am out of contract?
Normally yes. Early exit fees apply during the minimum term, not after it. Check your provider's notice period, which is commonly 30 days, and remember that under One Touch Switch your new provider handles the cancellation for you.
Is it cheaper to switch or to re-contract with the same provider?
Switching usually wins, because the lowest prices are reserved for new customers. Re-contracting is still far better than doing nothing. Compare both against live deals at your postcode before deciding.
Why is my broadband so expensive all of a sudden?
The two most common reasons are that your minimum term ended and the discount fell away, or that an annual in-contract increase has been applied. Check your contract end date first, then check your provider's published standard price against what you are being billed.
How we checked, and what we did not check
Every price on this page came from the organisation that charges it. Comparison sites, forums and news coverage were used only to locate official pages, never as a source for a price.
Verified for this article: Virgin Media broadband-only in-contract and standard prices; Plusnet standard prices across four sign-up groups; Sky's end-of-term arrangement; Ofcom's rules on end-of-contract notifications and mid-contract price rises; and the new-customer deals in our own August 2026 comparison table.
Not verified for this article: we did not confirm published out-of-contract prices for BT, EE, Vodafone or TalkTalk from their own websites during this round of checking, so no figures for those providers appear above. We would rather leave a gap than print a number we have not seen at source. If you are with one of them, their own price guide is the page to look for.
Annual figures are the monthly difference multiplied by 12. They compare a full year at the out-of-contract price with a full year at the in-contract price, and exclude setup fees and mid-contract increases. Prices change frequently. Everything here was accurate on 22 August 2026 and should be re-checked before you act on it.
References
- BroadbandSwitch.uk. (2026, August 19). Broadband deals: Verified UK offers for August 2026. https://broadbandswitch.uk/broadband-deals/
- Ofcom. (2022, April 12). Are you in or out of contract? https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/saving-money/in-or-out
- Ofcom. (2024, July 19). Ofcom bans mid-contract price rises linked to inflation. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/bills-and-charges/ofcom-bans-mid-contract-price-rises-linked-to-inflation
- Ofcom. (2026, February 26). New Ofcom research reveals how to cut phone and internet bills. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/bills-and-charges/new-ofcom-research-reveals-how-to-cut-phone-and-internet-bills
- Plusnet. (2026, July 30). Plusnet price guide for residential products. https://www.plus.net/help/legal/plusnet-price-guide-for-residential-products/
- Sky. (2026). Sky TV and broadband packages. https://www.sky.com/tvandbroadband
- Virgin Media. (2026). Broadband only deals. https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/broadband-only
References follow APA 7th edition style for web pages. Where a page carries no publication date, the year of access is given. All URLs were live and carried the cited figures on 22 August 2026.