The real cost of a broadband deal: why the headline price misleads
The big number on a broadband deal is the price of your first bill. It leaves out setup fees, the price rises built into most contracts, and any free months. Adding them all up gives the total cost of the contract, which is the fairest way to compare two deals.
How we work it out
- Add up every monthly bill across the contract, including each price rise from the date it applies.
- Add any one-off fees you have to pay, such as activation or setup.
- Take off any credit the provider applies to your bill automatically, such as free months.
That’s the total. Dividing it by the number of months gives an average monthly cost: no single bill will show that figure, but it’s a handy way to see how much more a deal really costs each month than its headline price.
Three real examples
These use prices from the providers’ own sites, checked on 12 October 2026, for a 24-month contract starting in October 2026.
Setup fee and two rises: EE 100Mbps
| Headline price | £26.99 a month |
| Setup fee | £30 |
| Rises | +£4 on 31 March 2027 and again on 31 March 2028 |
| Total over 24 months | £773.76 |
| Average monthly cost | £32.24 |
The deal really costs about £5.25 a month more than the headline: about £1.25 a month from the setup fee spread over the contract, and £4 a month from the rises.
A “from” price and an activation fee: Hyperoptic 150Mb
| Advertised | from £19 a month |
| Price at a real London address | £24 a month |
| Activation fee | £19 |
| Rises | +£4 from the April 2027 bill and again from the April 2028 bill |
| Total over 24 months | £691 |
| Average monthly cost | £28.79 |
“From” prices are the lowest available anywhere, not what you’ll be offered. At the address we checked, the real starting price was £5 higher than advertised, and the activation fee adds about 80p a month over the contract.
Rises, then a jump after the contract: Virgin Media M125
| Headline price | £23.99 a month |
| Rises | +£4 from the April 2027 bill and again from the April 2028 bill |
| Total over 24 months | £671.76 |
| Average monthly cost | £27.99 |
| Price after the contract ends | £62 a month |
The rises add £4 a month on average. Then, after month 24, the price more than doubles unless you switch or renegotiate.
Why this changes which deal looks cheapest
Rank these deals by headline price and by average monthly cost, and the order changes:
| Deal | Headline | Average monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| Virgin Media M125 | £23.99 | £27.99 |
| Vodafone Full Fibre 150 | £24 | £27.50 |
| Hyperoptic 150Mb | £24 | £28.79 |
| Plusnet Full Fibre 145 | £24.99 | £29.41 |
| TalkTalk Full Fibre 150 | £25 | £29.00 |
Virgin Media advertises a lower price than Vodafone, but its £4 rises outweigh Vodafone’s £3.50 ones, so Vodafone works out cheaper over the contract. Hyperoptic matches Vodafone’s £24 but its £19 activation fee and bigger rises add £1.29 a month. Plusnet looks cheaper than TalkTalk until you add its £10 activation fee, which TalkTalk doesn’t charge.
What we leave out
- Reward cards and gift offers you have to claim yourself. You might never get them, so we don’t count them as a discount.
- Switching credits that cover your old provider’s exit fees. They help if you’re mid-contract, but they don’t reduce what the new deal costs.
- The price after the contract ends. We show it separately where the provider states it, because by then you can switch.
One thing to know
The average depends on when you start. Rises usually land in spring, so a contract starting in October gets about six months at the starting price before the first rise; one starting in March gets almost none. We recalculate from today’s date whenever the site updates.
Compare broadband deals by total cost or read how we rank deals.