12-month broadband deals
A year seems like a nice round number if you’re signing up to an agreement. Unfortunately, 12-month broadband packages are now much harder to come by, as providers favour much longer 18 or 24-month contract lengths.
But that’s not to say they don’t exist anymore. With a little digging round, you can still find them!
On this page, we’re going to have a look at the broadband providers who still offer 12-month contracts. We’ll also discuss some other options, including one-month deals. These are also an option if you’re looking for a broadband package without committing to a longer term.
What are my options for broadband with a 12-month contract?
If you’re after a short-term broadband deal, you’ll still be able to sign up for a year with the following broadband providers:
- BT
- Community Fibre
- Cuckoo Broadband
- Direct Save
- Hyperoptic
- NOW Broadband
- Onestream
BT 12-month broadband deals
Great news if you want to sign up to a BT fibre broadband deal with only a year’s commitment! Its Fibre Essential, Fibre 1 and Fibre 2 packages are all available on a 12-month contract. Just bear in mind that you’ll also have to pay a line rental fee for BT as well as a £29.99 set-up fee for these packages.
Unfortunately, this is no good if you want to sign up to BT full fibre. For this, you’ll have to commit to a longer term.
For more information on BT, you can read our full BT Broadband review.
Community Fibre 12-month broadband deals
If you’re based in London, there are a couple of contract length choices available with Community Fibre. This includes unlimited broadband packages with download speeds of 150Mb and 1Gb fibre broadband. The set-up fee is the same regardless of whether you sign up for a 12-month or 24-month contract.
For the benefit of a shorter contract, you’ll only have to pay an extra £2 per month. You’ll also get the same Linksys WiFi 6 routers regardless of your contract term. We think that’s worth it!
See also:
Cuckoo Broadband 12-month broadband deals
There’s a choice of contract length on Cuckoo Broadband. Both are full fibre (FTTP) and offer speeds of either 98Mb or 855 Mbps. For these, you’re looking at a monthly cost of between £40-£55. There’s no upfront cost for new customers.
Direct Save 12-month broadband deals
Direct Save is one of the rare internet service providers who still offer a basic, ADSL broadband package on a 12-month agreement for under £23 per month, including line rental. Although, without cancellation, this price rises to £27.95 per month.
You can also sign up to Superfast Fibre Broadband (35Mb average download speed), or Superfast Fibre Broadband Plus (63Mb average download speed) for a year. These are both available with additional home phone call tariffs. These include:
- Pay per use calls - £2.95 per month
- Free minutes to UK landlines and mobiles - £5.95 per month
- Free anytime calls to UK landlines and mobiles - £11.95
If you want to sign up to a full fibre package with DST, you’ll have to agree to a longer 18-month term.
See more at: 'Direct Save Telecom Broadband Deals'.
-
What does ADSL mean?
ADSL stands for ‘Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line’. It’s broadband technology that allows the transfer data across regular telephone lines. You can make calls at the same time as being connected to the internet.
An ADSL line will, at minimum, allow for a broadband connection of up to 8Mb. These days, that’s pretty slow and won’t allow you to do much other than emailing or basic web searches.
ADSL2+ is now available at nearly all exchanges across the UK with slightly faster data transfer rates of around 10-11Mb.
Hyperoptic 12-month broadband deals
Hyperoptic offers 12-month broadband contracts on both its broadband only packages, and its broadband and phone bundles. The price for a shorter contract length isn’t too hefty, but you’ll need to make sure you cancel before your contract expires. Be aware, the cost after the initial term rises considerably.
All Hyperoptic broadband plans offer a symmetrical connection. This means that the upload speeds are the same as the average download speed. That’s pretty rare when you compare broadband speeds with other providers!
What’s the catch? Hyperoptic has limited availability across the UK as it doesn’t use a traditional phone line for its service. Instead, it runs its own fibre optic network. For a full list of areas this provider covers, you can read our Hyperoptic Broadband Review.
NOW Broadband 12-month broadband deals
This is a good option for TV addicts. NOW offers a whole host of 12 month-contracts for a fibre optic broadband service with NOW TV bundled in. This includes Fab Fibre or Super Fibre with NOW TV Entertainment Membership. There’s a small set-up fee to pay for activation, although this is considerably less than the £65 it asks upfront for its rolling-contract option.
To see if you can get any of these NOW Broadband deals at home, you can pop your postcode or address into our deals checker.
Onestream 12-month broadband deals
Onestream’s 12-month contracts include its Hyperstream Full Fibre deals with speeds up to 900Mb. However, to get this, you’ll have to be rigged up to a FTTP network. All of Onestream’s broadband packages are totally unlimited.
-
What’s FTTP?
Full Fibre broadband is also known as ‘Fibre To The Premises’, ‘Fibre To The Home’. This is often shortened to FTTP or FTTH. They’re all the same thing!
Instead of copper telephone wire making up the final part of the journey from that green cabinet on the street, fibre optic cables are installed right up to your home.
It’s amazing the difference in speed this small data journey can have. With full-fibre broadband you can expect to receive speeds of 1Gb+.
The downside is full-fibre is only available to a small percentage of homes in the UK, and it’s taking a good while to get everyone up to speed.
What are the pros and cons of a 12-month broadband deal?
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
|
Can I get student broadband for less than 12 months?
Obviously, a student year tends to be 9-months rather than a whole year. This can cause issues if you’re in a shared house during term times only. Special offers for students do come around, although these are becoming rarer and only tend to become available around September.
Another option is to look into no-contract broadband, which you may on a month-by-month-basis. Mobile broadband deals or home mobile broadband options can be a good alternative.
See also:
Frequently asked questions about 12-month broadband deals
-
Can you get broadband for just 6 months?
6 month contracts aren’t really an option. Your best alternative is to look into a no-contract, rolling monthly deal. NOW Broadband has some great packages available.
-
Can you get out of a 12-month broadband contract?
When you sign up to a 12-month broadband deal, you’re committing to pay every month for the whole year. Cancelling a broadband contract early can end up expensive, as you’re likely to have to pay an early termination fee. There may be some special circumstances where you can cancel for free, such as being ill. But this will need to be discussed with your provider.
If your provider is signed up to Ofcom’s Broadband Speed Code of Practice, you could also get out of a broadband contract early if you’re not receiving the speeds you signed up for. For more help, read our guide ‘how to cancel a broadband contract early’.
-
Does Sky have 12-month broadband deals?
Currently, you’ll need to commit to a longer 18-month contract on all Sky broadband and TV packages.
-
Does TalkTalk have 12-month broadband deals?
You’ll have to commit to a longer 18-month contract on TalkTalk fibre and full fibre deals.
-
Does BT have 12-month broadband deals?
Yes! BT 12-month broadband deals are available for its Fibre Essential, Fibre 1 and Fibre 2 products.
-
Which broadband providers offer one-year deals?
You can currently sign up to one year broadband deals with the following providers; BT, Community Fibre, Cuckoo Broadband, Direct Save, Hyperoptic, NOW Broadband and Onestream.
Expert Summary
You’ll have less choice when it comes to broadband packages and providers if you want to sign up to a 12-month contract, but they are readily available.
Internet Service Providers tend to offer more varied broadband only and bundled broadband and TV deals on longer 18-month or 24-month contracts.
On the plus side, a 12-month contract is ideal if you are looking for a shorter commitment, or you’re unsure what your circumstances will be in the near future. Remember, providers are normally very open to helping you keep your contract running if you move home. Some will even let you leave a contract for free if they can’t supply their service to your new address. (See also: 'Guide to broadband and moving home'.)
The downsides are that you’re likely to have to pay a higher set-up fee and a slightly higher price per month, in general.
If you’re looking for a low commitment, short-term contract, NOW Broadband currently gets our vote for its range of flexible packages, including bundled NOW TV deals.