Press release · 4 May 2026, 08:30 BST

May broadband bills land across Britain. Switching households save up to £292, new data shows

Households switching from an out of contract deal to a market leading like for like package save between one hundred and eighty pounds and two hundred and ninety two pounds a year (£180 to £292), new BroadbandSwitch.uk data shows.

By Dr Alex J. Martin-Smith CMgr · MBA · LLM · DBA, reviewed by Adrian James

Published 4 May 2026, 08:30 BST · Last updated 4 May 2026 · 9 minute read · How we rank deals

The headline finding

UK households that have rolled past their minimum term and stayed on a default tariff are paying, on average, between £180 and £292 a year more than they need to. That is the gap between the typical out of contract bill and the cheapest like for like deal available at the same postcode at the start of May 2026. The lower end of the range applies to slower fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) lines. The higher end applies to households that can take a full fibre (FTTP) deal but have not yet switched.

The data sits behind every postcode lookup on our live broadband comparison and is published in full on this page so journalists, analysts and consumer groups can audit it. The dataset is downloadable as a CSV under a CC BY 4.0 licence, with the methodology explained in detail at how we rank broadband deals.

Why May 2026 is the moment to switch

April 2026 mid-contract price rises have just landed on May bills. Most large providers apply their once-a-year increase on 1 April, and households see the higher charge a month later when the May statement arrives. For many in-contract customers, this is the first time the new figure becomes real money out of the bank.

The good news is that the rules are now firmly on the consumer's side. Since 17 January 2025, every new UK broadband contract must spell out any future mid-contract rise as a fixed pounds and pence amount, set out before sign up. No more CPI plus 3.9% fog. That clarity, plus the speed of One Touch Switch, makes May the simplest month in years to act.

Layered on top is infrastructure. Ofcom Connected Nations 2025 reported full fibre at 78% of UK residential premises in November 2025, and continued altnet rollout puts coverage at roughly four in five UK premises by May 2026. Many households still on slower copper lines can move to a faster, cheaper full fibre package without changing address. Our May 2026 best deals issue lists the live offers postcode by postcode.

How we calculated the £180 to £292 saving

BroadbandSwitch.uk maintains a live price feed across more than thirty UK providers. For this release we took the typical out of contract monthly price paid by UK households on FTTC and full fibre packages, then matched each household profile to the cheapest like for like deal available at the same postcode at the start of May 2026. Saving figures are stated per household per year, in pounds sterling, before any sign up gift or cashback.

The lower bound (£180 a year) is the median annual saving for FTTC households moving to a market leading FTTC or entry-level full fibre package. The upper bound (£292 a year) is the median annual saving for households moving from an out of contract full fibre tariff to the cheapest equivalent full fibre deal in their area. The full method, including data sources and inclusion criteria, is published at /how-we-rank-broadband-deals.html. Editorial principles are at /editorial-policy.html, and any corrections appear at /corrections-log.html.

What the £292 saving household looks like

Take a worked example. A household in a mid-sized English town came off a 24-month full fibre deal in September 2025 and rolled onto the standard out of contract price. After the April 2026 increase, they are paying around £44 a month. At their postcode, the cheapest like for like full fibre deal in May 2026 is £20 a month on a 24-month contract, with a fixed mid-contract rise published in pounds and pence. Annual difference: £288, before any switching gift. Add a typical sign up cashback offer and the first year saving comfortably clears £300.

An FTTC household with similar usage is paying around £36 a month out of contract. The cheapest like for like at their postcode is £21 a month. Annual difference: £180. Both households can complete the switch in around 10 seconds using One Touch Switch.

Providers holding prices steady this year

A small but growing group of UK broadband providers chose not to raise prices for in-contract customers in April 2026. These providers gave existing customers a flat May bill and made no change to advertised prices for new sign ups.

• TalkTalk Fixed Price Plus: a fixed-price tariff that explicitly excludes mid-contract rises.
• Toob, Zen, YouFibre and BeFibre: full fibre challengers that publicly held headline prices.
• Hyperoptic and Community Fibre: long-standing commitment to no mid-contract price rises.

The fact that several well known UK providers held steady in the same year tells you something about competitive pressure in the full fibre segment. Use our live comparison engine to check what they offer at your postcode.

How One Touch Switch turns switching into a 10 second job

Ofcom's One Touch Switch rule went live on 12 September 2024. In its first year, more than 1.6 million Britons used it. The mechanic is straightforward: the consumer signs up with the new provider, and the new provider takes over the entire switch on their behalf, including notifying the old provider, lining up the cease, and avoiding gaps in service.

For most consumers the active step takes well under a minute, often closer to 10 seconds on a phone. No more being kept on hold by an outgoing provider's retentions team. No more accidentally paying for two services at once. Our step-by-step explainer is at how to switch broadband, and our printable switching checklist covers everything to do before, during and after.

Frequently asked questions about the May 2026 findings

About the data and the editorial team

BroadbandSwitch.uk is an independent UK broadband comparison service, owned by SearchSwitchSave® (IoM company 030828B; UK IP UK00004211113; ICO IoM R697728). Editorial is led by Dr Alex J. Martin-Smith CMgr, MBA, LLM, DBA, and reviewed by Adrian James. Our editorial principles, conflict of interest stance and AI policy are public at /editorial-policy.html, our ranking methodology is at /how-we-rank-broadband-deals.html, our affiliate disclosure is at /affiliate-disclosure.html, and every change to our content is logged at /corrections-log.html.

The May 2026 dataset behind this release is downloadable as a CSV under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Citations to Ofcom Connected Nations 2025, Ofcom One Touch Switch guidance and the Ofcom mid-contract price rise rules are linked inline above.

Press coverage and syndication

This release was distributed via EIN Presswire on 4 May 2026, 08:30 BST and is hosted on the following outlets. All thirteen URLs below are independently verifiable and link to the original published version on each outlet. Links open in a new tab.

Press contact and media kit

Read the full May 2026 issue