How long should a broadband contract be?

Ofcom's General Conditions are the rules every UK broadband provider must follow. Condition C1.11 says a provider must not include a term in any contract with a consumer that sets a commitment period of more than 24 months. That applies to any contract, so a renewal or upgrade with the same provider is capped at 24 months too. The one exception is an instalment contract for a physical connection, which Ofcom defines as a separate contract in which you agree to pay in instalments only for building a physical connection, not for equipment or for the broadband service itself. Condition C1.13 adds that providers must make sure you can sign up to a contract lasting no more than 12 months. Ofcom's revised conditions containing these rules took effect on 17 December 2021.

A second condition, C1.12, matters later in a contract. A provider can't lengthen your contract because you later buy an extra service or a piece of equipment unless you give your express consent when you sign up for that add-on or equipment. So check whether a TV add-on or Wi-Fi booster comes with a new end date before you agree. Add-ons can also carry a minimum term of their own: Sky, for example, says separate 24-month minimum terms apply to Sky Broadband, Sky Talk, Sky Broadband Boost and Sky WiFi Max. Ask whether the add-on's term runs alongside your broadband term or ends on a different date, because an extra you're still tied to can complicate leaving when your broadband term ends.

So 24 months is the ceiling, not the norm you have to accept. If a provider offers you nothing shorter, ask what 12-month option it has. The cap is on the minimum term only: after it ends, a contract can carry on, often on a monthly basis, until you leave or agree a new one.

Source note: we read the wording of C1.11 to C1.13 and the instalment contract definition in an archived copy of Ofcom's unofficial consolidated General Conditions (the version in effect from 3 April 2023, the latest consolidation we could read), and checked it against a law firm's published quotation (decoded.legal, January 2022). Ofcom says its consolidated version has no legal effect of its own, so its published notices remain the final word. For the wider set of rules, see our guide to the Ofcom rules broadband providers must follow.

Over the past few years the big providers have moved towards 24 months. Sky moved new broadband and TV plans from 18 to 24 months on 20 June 2024, and NOW Broadband moved from 12 to 24 months the same day. Virgin Media moved new broadband and broadband-and-TV customers from 18 to 24 months on 26 June 2025. Shorter terms still exist, particularly at BT and at some full fibre providers. This is what providers' own pages and terms showed when we checked in October 2026 (Fibrus's website blocked our checks, so its row comes from its December 2025 price guide, the latest we could read):

Two things follow. First, 18-month terms haven't disappeared, but in our check they turned up at regional full fibre networks such as Gigaclear rather than at the biggest brands. Second, what a provider sells changes with its offers, so treat the table as a snapshot and check the term in the basket before you pay. Our guide to UK broadband providers links to a page on each one. If you're weighing a one-month plan instead, our guide to one-month rolling broadband contracts covers notice periods and set-up charges.

The main cost of a long contract is what you'd pay to get out of it. Early termination charges (exit fees) only apply while you're inside the minimum term, and they're usually based on the months you have left, so they shrink as the term runs down. A few examples of how providers work them out:

• BT: your monthly price multiplied by the months left on each service contract, plus VAT. Your end date is shown in My BT.
• YouFibre: the amount left to pay to the end of the minimum period (excluding VAT), less costs it saves, plus VAT.
• Rebel: its terms take a different line, saying that if you cancel during the minimum service period you're liable for the charges due for the services for the whole minimum service period, whatever the reason. If you're with a provider that words it like this, ask it to confirm the exact amount in pounds before you cancel.

Once your minimum term is over, you can leave without an exit fee. Hyperoptic's terms, for instance, say that after the minimum period you can end the agreement at any time without a Service Termination Fee.

Example (illustrative only): on a contract where the fee is the monthly price multiplied by the months left, leaving with 18 months to go costs nine times as much as leaving with two months to go. On a 12-month term you can never have more than 12 months left; on a 24-month term, a change of plans in the first year can leave you with more than 12.

So the question to ask isn't "which length is best?" but "how sure am I that nothing will make me want to leave in the next two years?" Things that can cut a contract short include moving home, a better offer from a new network reaching your street, or a change in who lives with you. If any of those look likely, a shorter term limits the damage. Our guide to leaving broadband early without an exit fee sets out the situations where you can leave free, and the one for cancelling with a smaller full fibre provider covers how notice works with regional networks.

A longer contract usually means more of the term is covered by whatever price rises the contract already allows. Citizens Advice says a contract that started on or after 17 January 2025 should say exactly how much the price will rise each year; an older one might say a percentage or an inflation-based rise. So for a new contract you can see the rises in advance. The question is how many of them fall inside your minimum term.

Providers take different approaches, and the length you pick changes how much each approach affects you:

• Set rises built in. When we checked in October 2026, Hyperoptic's 24-month packages showed prices stepping up in April 2027 and again in April 2028. toob's 12-month plans showed a set rise from the April 2027 bill, and its 24-month plans from the April 2027 and April 2028 bills. So on toob's plans a 24-month term includes one more scheduled rise than a 12-month one.
• No in-contract rises promised. Zen's Contract Price Promise (since 1 June 2022) keeps the price you signed up for fixed for the whole contract. Rebel's terms say it won't change the monthly charges unless a regulatory body requires it. Fibrus's December 2025 price guide said it doesn't increase prices mid-contract. With providers like these, a longer term can hold a price for longer rather than expose you to more rises.
• No annual rise, but other changes possible. YouFibre's terms say its annual price increases don't apply to fixed-term packages. A separate clause still allows other price changes with at least one month's notice, and lets you end the contract if you don't accept them.
• Prices may change. Sky says prices may change during the minimum term, and Gigaclear's October 2026 offer terms say prices may change during your contract. Read the price section of the contract summary to see exactly what's allowed.

So no length is automatically better on price: it depends on what the contract summary says for each length you're offered. The rules on in-contract rises are explained in our guide to mid-contract broadband price rises.

The monthly price on its own doesn't tell you which length costs less. To compare a 12-month deal with a 24-month one fairly, you need to add up everything you'd pay over the period you expect to stay, not just the first month. Our guide to what to check when comparing broadband deals walks through the full-contract sum step by step. The length-specific points to add:

• Compare like with like. If you'd stay two years, a 12-month deal means a second decision after a year: a new deal with your provider, a switch, or staying on whatever price applies after the term.
• Count one-off charges. Set-up or activation charges sometimes depend on the length: Rebel, for example, waives its set-up charge only on 24 months.
• Include the scheduled rises for each length, from the contract summary.
• Price your most likely exit. If there's a real chance you'll move after a year, work out what the exit fee would be on the longer term at that point.

Every provider must give you a contract summary before you sign (a rule since 17 June 2022). Its "Duration, renewal and termination" section states the contract length, the main renewal and termination conditions, and the fees for ending early. Our guide to the broadband contract summary explains each section.

When you're ready to see real numbers, compare broadband deals at your postcode: you'll see live deals from our comparison partner. Check the contract length on any deal you're interested in before you order. If price is the priority, our cheap broadband deals page is a good starting point, and broadband-only deals leave out phone and TV extras that can carry their own terms.

The 24-month cap applies to the minimum term you agree, but agreeing a new deal with the same provider usually means agreeing a new minimum term. That's how people end up tied in for longer than they expected: a call about a faster speed or a cheaper offer ends with a fresh two years. Providers' own terms say so plainly:

• Hyperoptic: if you move to another package during your minimum period, the new package's minimum period starts when Hyperoptic begins providing it, and charges might go up. You also can't move to a package with a shorter minimum period, or to a monthly rolling package, while you're in your minimum period.
• YouFibre: the fixed term starts when the service is activated. If you change your contract during it, your price may change and a new fixed term applies, and the 14-day cooling-off period doesn't cover changes or upgrades to an existing package.
• Virgin Media: when it moved to 24-month terms in June 2025, Choose reported that existing customers kept their 18-month end date, but anyone who re-contracted had to sign up for a 24-month minimum period.

Note that Hyperoptic's rule means choosing 24 months can close off a later move to a shorter term.

Not every change restarts the term. Under condition C1.12, buying an extra service or equipment can't extend your contract unless you expressly agree to that when you take the add-on, so read what you're agreeing to at that point. And if you re-contract only once your minimum term has ended, you won't owe an exit fee to move, but you are committing to a new minimum term in place of the freedom to leave on short notice. Weigh the new deal's price against that. BT, EE, Vodafone, TalkTalk and others word this differently; our guide to changing or downgrading broadband mid-contract compares what each says.

There's no single right answer, but these rules of thumb follow from the trade-offs above:

• A 12-month term suits you if you might move, if a full fibre network is being built near you, or if you want to review your deal yearly. Check whether a set-up charge applies and what the price becomes after a year.
• An 18-month term, where you can get one, is a middle option. Look at how many scheduled rises it includes and what the price becomes once the term ends.
• A 24-month term suits you if you're settled, the package is right for two years, and the contract summary shows the price terms over the full period are acceptable. It's most attractive where the price is fixed for the term or where the longer term removes a one-off charge.

Whatever you pick, put your end date in your calendar. The day your minimum term ends is when you have the most choice.

Your provider must send you an end-of-contract notification before your minimum term ends; our guide to your options when your broadband contract ends covers what it must include. For choosing a length, the point is what happens next, and that depends on the contract. YouFibre's fixed-term packages become monthly rolling, which you can end on 30 days' notice. Fibrus moves you to its out-of-contract rate until you agree a new term. Gigaclear's October 2026 offers revert to its list price for existing customers. Sky's broadband page says that at the end of the 24-month minimum term your monthly price becomes what you were paying just before it ended plus a set amount, so check the after-term price in the contract summary as well as the in-contract one.

If your provider offers you a deal to stay, you're choosing your next contract length, so run through the same questions again.

• Ask yourself how confident you are that you'll want this service at this address for the whole term.
• Check which lengths are offered for the package you want. If you only see 24 months, ask which 12-month option the provider has.
• For each length, note the scheduled price rises, the one-off charges and the price after the term ends.
• Work out the exit fee you'd face at the point you're most likely to leave.
• Read the "Duration, renewal and termination" section of the contract summary before you sign.
• Note the date your minimum term starts. BT says each service starts on the date in your order confirmation; YouFibre's term starts on activation.
• Before accepting any later upgrade or offer, ask whether it restarts the minimum term.