Broadband providers are matching the cost of living crisis by raising their prices by up to 9%. This serves as a further hit to lower-income households and those already struggling to make enough money to sufficiently cover their monthly expenses. Luckily, there are a number of ways to reduce these costs and cut your broadband bills, despite the financial instability of current times. In this latest blog, we provide you with the top tips to cut broadband costs, how to cope as a low-income household and how the cost of living is affecting internet service providers as a whole.

Top tips to cut broadband costs

Whether it’s taking the time to seek out a good deal, haggling with your current provider, or taking advantage of schemes and extras, there are a number of ways to cut your rising broadband costs, including:

Switch to another provider

When you come to the end of your broadband contract, compare broadband prices and consider switching providers to save yourself some money. Often new broadband customers receive introductory offers that are priced significantly less than a standard broadband tariff. Regularly switching providers may help you save significantly.

Haggle

There are often times when you can haggle and negotiate with your internet provider, particularly at the end of your contract. By doing this you can save yourself a considerable chunk of the tariff in the long run. Consider researching cheap broadband prices elsewhere when making your case for negotiation.

Look out for incentives

When looking to draw in new customers, many broadband providers offer incentives like reward cards or gift vouchers. This means you are not only saving money by switching providers but also gaining a monetary reward. Look into the main providers and seek out the best rewards each is offering to new customers that switch.

Be conscious of price rises

Many popular providers include price rises within their contracts, so this is important to look out for. Make sure to read over the terms and conditions of a broadband contract to find out if this price rise is stipulated. If so, consider switching out when your current contract ends.

Make the most of extras

Another way to cut prices during the cost of living crisis is by making the most of the extras broadband providers offer when taking out a contract with them. For example, phone and energy deals that come included with your contract. This can then help you to save money in other areas of your life.

Understand the speed you need.

Up to 17% of people could be overpaying for their broadband service simply because they have selected a package too fast for their needs. An easy way to cut costs is to understand your broadband habits and calculate how much bandwidth you will need to consume. If you are only using broadband for streaming, browsing an emails, it’s unlikely you would need speeds over 100Mbps.

How to cut broadband costs on a low income

For those earning minimum wage or living in a low-income household, there is further support you can take advantage of. Social tariffs are on offer to help families facing financial difficulty and help to cut their broadband costs. This scheme is available for all those on benefits such as Universal Credit. Many of the biggest broadband providers offer these social tariffs.

 

How the cost of living is affecting ISP’s

Despite the rocky financial climate the country is now facing, internet service providers are committed to not pushing their customers into further financial difficulty. Some of the biggest providers are doing this by freezing their yearly prices, to give customers peace of mind that their bills won’t continue to increase. There have been concerns that with a number of broadband providers facing bankruptcy, where this leaves their customers. However, there are contingency plans being put in place so that if smaller broadband providers go under, they can be absorbed by larger providers, like BT.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that the cost of living and how it stretches across every sector proves concerning to us all. However, as we have outlined there are a number of steps to take when looking to reduce your bills and loosen the grip of the current cost of living crisis.