If you’re out of contract and free to switch, the best time to find a new deal is now!
By switching immediately, you can move to a cheaper tariff and start saving on your monthly outgoings right away.
There’s a huge choice of broadband providers available to sign up to. And every day, Broadband Genie works hard to track down the best prices and promos on offer. You can find these highlighted in our broadband deals with rewards.
Other key times to consider switching:
Black Friday: This is an excellent window for savings, as providers often launch further price reductions for new customers.
Just before April: Switching just before the start of April is a smart move, as some providers allow new customers to lock-in or 'freeze' their bills and avoid annual mid-contract price rises for the next year.
The price of broadband has never been lower
While the cost of most everyday goods and services continues to climb, our research reveals that broadband is one of the rare exceptions.
In fact, the cheapest broadband deals on the market today are 10% lower than they were a decade ago.
And you can get much faster broadband for less, too. The price of an ultrafast (100Mb+) package has dropped by 43% since 2016.
Broadband price tracker: Historic % cumulative change of broadband vs virtual basket of goods
Economic Analysis · United Kingdom
How UK Prices Have Changed Since 2016
| Item | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gas and electricity | 0 | 0.04 | 0.11 | 0.15 | 0.10 | 0.15 | 0.89 | 1.18 | 0.77 | 0.80 | 0.82 |
| First-class stamp | 0 | 0.02 | 0.05 | 0.09 | 0.19 | 0.33 | 0.48 | 0.72 | 1.11 | 1.66 | 1.81 |
| Netflix (Standard Subscription) | 0 | 0.14 | 0.14 | 0.14 | 0.14 | 0.43 | 0.43 | 0.57 | 0.57 | 0.86 | 0.86 |
| Big Mac | 0 | 0.07 | 0.09 | 0.10 | 0.15 | 0.17 | 0.24 | 0.36 | 0.54 | 0.65 | 0.80 |
| Water | 0 | 0.01 | 0.03 | 0.06 | 0.05 | 0.07 | 0.11 | 0.20 | 0.28 | 0.56 | 0.69 |
| Package holidays | 0 | 0.02 | 0.07 | 0.12 | 0.16 | 0.17 | 0.25 | 0.39 | 0.50 | 0.57 | 0.60 |
| Council tax (Band D) | 0 | 0.04 | 0.09 | 0.14 | 0.19 | 0.24 | 0.28 | 0.35 | 0.42 | 0.49 | 0.56 |
| Milk | 0 | 0.01 | 0.03 | 0.03 | 0.01 | 0.00 | 0.34 | 0.57 | 0.52 | 0.52 | 0.52 |
| Rail fare | 0 | 0.03 | 0.06 | 0.10 | 0.13 | 0.16 | 0.22 | 0.28 | 0.33 | 0.40 | 0.41 |
| New cars | 0 | 0.03 | 0.07 | 0.11 | 0.15 | 0.19 | 0.26 | 0.32 | 0.35 | 0.39 | 0.40 |
| Bread | 0 | 0.03 | 0.06 | 0.06 | 0.05 | 0.07 | 0.23 | 0.37 | 0.40 | 0.40 | 0.40 |
| Freddo bar | 0 | 0.20 | 0.00 | 0.20 | 0.20 | 0.20 | 0.20 | 0.20 | 0.40 | 0.40 | 0.40 |
| Pint of beer | 0 | 0.03 | 0.05 | 0.06 | 0.08 | 0.12 | 0.18 | 0.31 | 0.37 | 0.39 | 0.39 |
| Potatoes | 0 | -0.01 | -0.03 | 0.03 | -0.07 | -0.22 | -0.12 | -0.01 | 0.22 | 0.27 | 0.27 |
| TV licence | 0 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.08 | 0.08 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.16 | 0.16 | 0.24 |
| Broadband (cheapest deals) | 0 | -0.06 | 0.00 | -0.07 | 0.05 | -0.10 | -0.10 | 0.00 | -0.03 | 0.04 | -0.10 |
| Broadband (Ultrafast) | 0 | 0.06 | 0.08 | -0.17 | -0.19 | -0.37 | -0.34 | -0.35 | -0.34 | -0.34 | -0.43 |
Summary of the results
- The other utilities in our study include some of the products and services that have seen the largest price increases.
- In 2022 and 2023, gas and electricity experienced the biggest rises, although prices have since fallen. This was driven by supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine, and the close relationship between gas and electricity markets.
- While the TV licence attracts a lot of attention because of its rising cost and perceived value by some consumers, its cumulative price increase is only exceeded by broadband.
- The price of a first-class stamp is now almost three times higher than it was a decade ago.
| Item/service | Category | Cumulative change |
|---|---|---|
| First-class stamp | Postage | 181% |
| Netflix (Standard Subscription) | Entertainment | 86% |
| Gas and electricity | Utilities | 82% |
| Big Mac | Dining out | 80% |
| Water | Utilities | 69% |
| Package holidays | Holidays | 60% |
| Council tax (Band D) | Council tax | 56% |
| Milk | Groceries | 52% |
| Rail fare | Transport | 41% |
| Bread | Groceries | 40% |
| Freddo bar | Groceries | 40% |
| New cars | Transport | 40% |
| Pint of beer | Dining out | 39% |
| Potatoes | Groceries | 27% |
| TV licence | Entertainment | 24% |
| Broadband (cheapest deals) | Utilities | -10% |
| Broadband (Ultrafast) | Utilities | -43% |
Methodology
-
Methodology
Broadband Genie recorded the effective monthly price of the top 10 deals available through Broadband Genie from 2016 - 2026 and compared the cumulative change to a virtual basket of goods and services from the same period.
Broadband effective monthly price: To calculate the “effective monthly price” of a broadband subscription, Broadband Genie took the monthly subscription cost, plus any sign-up fees split over the length of contract and subtract the value of any rewards over the contract length.
Sources for basket of goods and services
Consumer retail and historical prices:- First-class stamp - https://shop.royalmail.com
- Netflix (Standard subscription) - https://www.netflix.com
- Big Mac - https://truflation.com/marketplace/uk-big-mac
- Council tax (Band D) - https://www.data.gov.uk/collections/government/council-tax-statistics
- Freddo bar - https://thefreddoindex.com
- TV Licence - https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk
CPI & RPI Inflation Indices (Rather than tracking single-item cash values, these metrics evaluate category growth using standard macroeconomic indices published by the Office for National Statistics)