BT to raise broadband, landline and mobile prices for millions next month

If your contract starts on or after 17 January 2020, your bill WON'T rise next month – but it will go up in line with inflation in March 2021.

As well as the rise in monthly bills, BT is also increasing some extra charges paid by landline customers, such as out-of-allowance calling rates and optional add-ons - for example, out-of-allowance calls to UK landlines will rise from 15p/minute to 15.19p/minute. These changes will apply to ALL BT landline customers, regardless of when you took out your contract.

BT mobile customers won't see any change in the cost of add-ons and out-of-allowance calls, texts and data, while some broadband and landline products will also remain at the same price.

BT broadband and landline customers enjoyed a year without any price rises in 2019, after being stung with two rounds of hikes in 2018. But the firm's warned that after this year, anyone who signed up since 11 January 2019 can now expect to see CPI-linked price rises every March.

Those who signed up or recontracted before 11 January 2019 aren't affected by any inflationary price rises – though of course BT may decide to separately raise prices at some point in the future.

What if I'm unhappy with out-of-allowance increases? 

A rule from telecoms regulator Ofcom means you can escape your contract penalty-free if you can successfully prove you've suffered "material detriment" as a result of a price increase. 

When it comes to an inflation-linked price rise to your main service that's written into your terms and conditions, you won't be able to claim "material detriment" to leave penalty-free, as we explain above. 

But price increases to out-of-allowance costs are more of a grey area. Ofcom says that whether a customer could argue they'd suffered "material detriment" for out-of-bundle extras depends on the circumstances - for example, how much and how regularly a customer uses the service, and how much the price is going up by. 

So while there are no guarantees, it could be worth getting in touch with BT and showing them how you'll be negatively affected by the out-of-allowance price rises, and asking if you can leave penalty-free as a result.