HOW TO YOU CONNECT WITHOUT A CONTRACT

Is it possible to get a good deal on your home phone and broadband without signing-up to a long term contract?

Just about everyone requires broadband these days. Whether you are working, catching up with friends, watching TV, listening to music or even shopping, the likelihood is you will require connectivity. To live without it is unthinkable.

There are lots of amazing home-phone and broadband deals currently available in the UK. For less than it costs to buy a pint of beer (£1.95 with Direct Save) people can enjoy unlimited broadband and free calls, but these deals all have something in common – a long term contract.

To enjoy the discounted prices broadband customers have to sign-up to a minimum 12 month contract, often longer. Internet suppliers will simply not drop prices for a shorter time period, as it offers them no security and therefore makes no financial sense.

But what about the people who cannot sign-up to a long-term contract? There are many instances where people require broadband but simply cannot commit to a long contract, for example students, travellers, short-term renters, temporary workers or someone in between jobs.

What happens to these forgotten broadband outcasts, are they simply ignored as are not considered a key target market by the internet service providers? It’s a fact, when it comes to broadband, if you do not want a long term relationship most providers do not fancy you.

However, all is not lost, as there are still some great deals currently available in the UK contract free, but of course you have to pay more if you want anything without commitment. The cheapest is currently supplied by budget telco Direct Save Telecom, which offers a no-commitment 28 day rolling basic package for just £11.95 a month. This deal includes free weekend UK calls, a free wireless router worth £35, free set-up worth £24.95 and line rental at £15.35. There is also an £8.95 postage and packing charge.

So to add it all up, the cheapest someone can get telephone and broadband without signing up to a long-term contract is £36.25 for the first month, then £27.30 thereafter. The shortest contract any of the big 4 telcos offer is Virgin’s 9 month contract 50Mb fibre broadband deal.

“Customers who want broadband without a contract are often overlooked by the bigger providers as basically they are not going to make a lot of money on them,” explains Stavros Tsolakis, CEO of Direct Save Telecom.

“However, there are good non-contract deals out there if you shop around, yes you have to pay more than if you were signing-up to a longer-term contract, but you still do not have to break the bank. We have customers from all walks of life who take our non-contract offer, such as students, non-contract workers and travellers. Recently we have seen an upsurge in take-up in Edinburgh as thousands flood there for the Edinburgh Festival.”

Edd Dawson, Editor of broadband.co.uk, adds: “Non-contract broadband is more expensive and often comes with extra connection costs in order to maximise profit as there’s no guarantee ISPs will retain customers for very long. It also makes the cheaper bundle prices more attractive and probably sways quite a few people to committing to the longer contracts.

“However, there is a market out there for non-contract broadband, for a variety of reasons. Of the major providers, Plusnet (which is BT owned) are the only ones who offer short contract deals. Zen, a more expensive yet highly rated ISP, also offer short contract deals. However, some of the more budget providers, such as Direct Save, has been offering these deals for a while, and TenTel even make it a selling point that their contracts are short in order to attract customers looking for broadband without long-term commitment.”

Here is a list of the best non-contract broadband deals currently available in the UK:

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