Searching for a 12 month broadband deal, instead of a 24 month contract?
In this guide, we’ve taken a look at three of the best short-term 12 month broadband plans on the market at the moment, and explained their pros and cons, so you can find the right provider for your needs.
Best 12 month broadband deals
Below, we’ve taken a look at three of the best 12 month broadband deals on the market at the moment.
1. EE Broadband 12 month deals
EE’s broadband deals come with a 24 month contract by default, but each of their tariffs is available with a 12 month agreement as well, which you can choose when selecting a speed on their website.
These 12 month deals have slightly higher monthly costs than the default plans, but still come with every other benefit of EE Broadband, and still offer very good value for money – especially given they generally have no upfront costs.
You get a WiFi 7 router as standard on all EE Broadband plans, which performs very well from our testing, offering good speeds and signal, even at long range.
EE’s customer service is also quite good, being UK-based, and their speeds are very consistent in our experience. We have had no issues with slowdowns or dropouts in the three years we’ve used their 150 Mbps and now their 900 Mbps plan so far.
EE also offers the fastest available broadband at many addresses in the UK, with download speeds of up to 1.6 Gbps – though the upload speeds could be faster on this plan.
Pros
- Really good WiFi routers.
- Low monthly costs given the contract length.
- No upfront fees most of the time.
- Good consistency and customer service.
Cons
- Upload speed isn’t the highest, but it’s hard to find better on a 12 month contract.
2. BT Broadband 12 month deals
By default, all of BT’s broadband deals come with a 24 month contract. But most people don’t know that they have a hidden page on their website with 12 month broadband deals.
BT actually owns EE, so the two companies’ deals are quite similar. But EE’s tariffs come with a better WiFi router, since BT is still shipping their relatively outdated Smart Hub 2 to new customers.
However, if you have a smaller house or flat and don’t normally experience issues with your WiFi signal, BT’s 12 month deals can still be a good choice – the Smart Hub 2 still performs well in smaller spaces.
Their deals can be very good value for money, again often coming with no upfront costs, and like EE, BT also offers good customer service.
This provider’s plans are also available throughout essentially the entire country, unlike some other smaller companies’ 12 month plans.
BT doesn’t offer as fast download speeds as EE, but their fastest 900 Mbps plan still has plenty of bandwidth for most families.
So essentially, if you’re looking for a good value, fairly basic 12 month broadband deal, BT is definitely worth looking at.
Pros
- Low monthly costs.
- Normally zero upfront fees.
- Good customer service.
- Great availability.
Cons
- Not the best WiFi router.
- Not the fastest maximum download speeds.
3. Hyperoptic 12 month/30 day deals
Hyperoptic is a broadband altnet, meaning they have their own network infrastructure which isn’t available throughout the whole country.
However, if you live in a city centre, you might be able to get Hyperoptic Broadband at your address, giving you access to their short-term broadband deals.
As well as 24 month packages, Hyperoptic also has rolling monthly plans, making them one of the only broadband providers on the market to offer something like this.
Their deals all come with symmetrical downloads and uploads, which is great, and they offer very low monthly costs in general.
Plus, this provider has particularly good customer service. They’re a bit smaller than the likes of BT, meaning they can take a bit closer care of each individual customer.
Apart from their lack of availability, the downside to Hyperoptic is, their short-term plans can sometimes have quite high upfront costs.
Pros
- Offers fast, symmetrical downloads and uploads.
- 30-day and 12 month deals available.
- Great customer service.
- Low monthly costs.
Cons
- Limited nationwide availability.
- Short-term deals can have high upfront costs.
What you need to know
Below, we’ve explained some important things you need to know when buying a short-term broadband deal.
Which broadband providers offer 12-month deals?
Currently, there are only a few broadband providers on the market that offer 12-month deals:
- EE
- BT
- Hyperoptic
- Community Fibre
Many of the other broadband providers that used to offer this, such as NOW Broadband, have stopped doing so. By default, nearly every provider on the market only offers a 24 month contract.
Is there a catch to 12-month broadband deals?
There are some downsides to 12 month broadband deals compared to regular plans that are worth considering.
- They usually have higher monthly costs.
- They sometimes have higher upfront fees.
- You will have to think about the contract expiring more often than with a 24 month deal. When your contract ends, you will begin paying out-of-contract pricing, which is usually very high, so you want to avoid this by entering into a new agreement, meaning negotiating with your current provider or finding a new one. With a 12 month plan, you will have to do this more regularly.
- Some 12 month deals are more basic – they may come with fewer inclusive extras in some cases. For example, with BT’s 12 month tariffs, you miss out on the reward card you get with their 24 month contracts.
However, with providers like BT and EE in particular, these downsides are not too big a concern in most cases. They don’t always charge upfront fees on their year-long deals for example.
As long as you don’t mind paying a bit more, 12 month broadband deals are still your best option if you don’t want to commit for two years, for example when renting.
Can you get a rolling monthly broadband deal?
If you’re looking for even more flexibility, you can sometimes get a rolling monthly broadband deal, but these are even more rare than 12-month contracts.
Hyperoptic is one of the only major providers to offer this at the moment, but their coverage is only really available in city centres and surrounding areas.
Virgin Media also has 30-day deals, but the monthly costs are extremely expensive.
Alternative ways to get online on a short-term basis
Apart from using fibre broadband, you may want to consider using mobile internet to get online on a short-term basis.
You can read more about this in our article discussing alternatives to fixed-line broadband.
MiFi devices and dongles are often available on a short-term contract, and are easy to get started with, potentially making them a good choice if you want to get online for 12 months or less. However, their speeds are less consistent than using fibre broadband.
What does a 12-month broadband deal typically cost?
Year-long broadband deals typically cost about 10-20% more than similar plans with a 24 month contract.
Therefore, assuming you don’t have any add-ons such as cable TV, a 12 month broadband tariff should normally cost you around £30-£35 per month, or a bit more if you go for a download speed of 500 Mbps or higher.
If there is an upfront cost for new customers when you buy, this will usually be around £20-£30 or so. But most of the time, BT and EE for example have no setup costs on their 12 month tariffs.
What to do when your 12 month contract expires
As we touched on above, it’s important to be prepared for your broadband contract’s expiration, to avoid paying extremely high out-of-contract monthly costs. And with a 12 month deal, the expiration date will come around quite quickly.
- If you want to cancel the contract and stop receiving service, you need to let your provider know a month in advance. You can do this over the phone or often via their website.
- If you want to stay with the same provider, you will likely receive contract renewal offers by email when your current deal is about to expire. Some of these offers will likely be 24 month options, so you may have to call up and ask for a 12 month tariff. Remember, you cannot access new customer deals that you see on the provider’s website when renewing your contract.
- If you want to switch broadband providers, simply place an order on the new provider’s website when your current contract is about to expire. They will handle the switch for you, including cancelling your old broadband connection.
The difficulty is, because there are so few broadband providers that offer 12 month contracts, doing the third option indefinitely can be tricky.
In this case, if you want to keep having just a 12 month deal, you will likely need to switch between BT and EE every year, unless you receive a good 12 month renewal offer when your contract expires.
How to save money when buying short-term broadband
If you’re on a budget, here are some ways to save money when buying a more flexible broadband contract.
- Avoid adding any extras onto your plan that you don’t need, such as WiFi extenders, as these can rapidly increase your monthly bill.
- Avoid 30-day contracts, as they are much more expensive than 12 month deals.
- Avoid paying for more speed than you really need. You can use our speed needs calculator to get an idea of what bandwidth it’s worth paying for, given how you use the internet.
- Choose EE or BT, as they are the cheapest 12 month broadband providers in most parts of the country at the moment.
- Avoid going out of contract at the end of the first 12 month commitment. Always enter into a new contract or switch providers at this stage – ideally the latter, if you want to save as much as possible.
Conclusion
You’ve reached the end of our guide to the best year-long broadband plans on the market at the moment.
For most people, EE and BT are your best choices if you’re looking for a 12-month broadband deal.
If you’re still not sure which provider to choose, feel free to ask us any questions you have in the comments below, and we’ll help out as soon as we can.
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About the author
Tyler is the co-founder of Broadband Savvy. He has been helping people improve their broadband connectivity since 2018 by writing about fibre broadband and mobile broadband providers, as well as creating tutorials to help people improve their broadband speeds and Wi-Fi signal.
Tyler is responsible for the majority of buyer’s guides and broadband reviews published on Broadband Savvy. He has a wealth of experience testing and reviewing different broadband tariffs, including fibre internet plans, as well as 4G and 5G broadband deals. He is responsible for testing and evaluating Wi-Fi routers, performing speed and latency tests, and comparing the value for money of different broadband providers on the market in the UK.
Before co-founding Broadband Savvy, Tyler had a long history of tinkering with computers. He built his first PC at the age of 12, and since then, he’s become obsessed with all things networking and internet-related. He’s a massive gamer, loves Rocket League, and also plays Sunday League football.