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You might want a short-term broadband deal for a number of reasons. Perhaps you’re one of nearly three million students in the UK who needs to rent for a few months at a time. Or maybe you’re working away from home or temporarily living with relatives.
No long-term commitment – the main benefit of internet with no contract is that you’re not tied to a long-term deal. It’s also a good way to try out a broadband provider before signing up for a longer contract.
No cancellation fee – if you’re not happy with the broadband speed or any other aspect of the deal, you don’t have to pay a cancellation fee to end your contract. Do the same during an 18 or 24-month deal, and you could pay a penalty charge.
Quick switches to cheaper deals – you can swap broadband provider quickly and easily when a better monthly WiFi deal comes along.
No change in performance – you’ll get the same speed and reliability as a long-term broadband deal but with the flexibility of a short-term contract.
High set-up fees – short-term packages are unlikely to offer free set-up and you might have to pay for the WiFi router. If you switch from one short-term provider to another, you may be charged another set-up fee.
Higher monthly cost – rolling monthly broadband plans and short-term deals are usually more expensive than longer contracts.
No special offers – the discounts, vouchers and freebies used to entice long-term customers aren’t usually offered with short-term contracts.
Narrower range of broadband speeds – some providers may not offer their top-tier speeds on a rolling, short-term contract.
You can compare broadband deals here at Compare the Market. Just pop your postcode into our postcode checker and tell us your current provider to see whether there are any no-contract internet deals available in your area.
On the results page, you can select the broadband speed and contract length you want, to find the broadband deals available to you.
Find flexible broadband options and what to consider when comparing deals
A rolling contract is an agreement that continues from month to month until you give notice to end it. Rolling one-month contract broadband offers you flexibility as it doesn’t tie you down in the same way as a traditional 12-month WiFi contract.
You can find rolling contracts of different lengths, but one-month WiFi contracts let you cancel your deal and switch at the end of the month. That makes it easier to switch to newer deals.
The downside is that rolling contracts can be more expensive.
The shortest agreement most providers offer is broadband for a single month. You may see this advertised as rolling one-month contract broadband, which means you need to give 30 days’ notice to leave.
As long as you do this, you won’t be charged for cancelling.
A six-month WiFi contract is harder to find than a rolling one-month deal. Although you may still come across them, you’ll have fewer options. This means you’re unlikely to have the best choice of broadband deals.
Many providers in the UK offer no-contract broadband deals.
These include:
Cuckoo
Hyperoptic
NOW Broadband
Plusnet
Virgin Media
If no-contract broadband doesn’t work for you, you may want to consider:
Mobile broadband – depending on where you live, you could use a dongle to get online. However, this is more suitable for basic web browsing than streaming.
Tethering – this is where you use your smartphone as an internet hub or WiFi hotspot, essentially ‘tethering’ it to your PC. If you’re on limited data, it will eat up your allowance, so watch out for excess data-usage charges.
Student broadband – if you’re a student at university, you can sign up for a nine-month contract. That means you won’t have to pay for broadband during the summer holidays.
Your broadband speed will depend on the type of connection you have, which might be:
Fibre broadband – often called superfast broadband. It uses a fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) connection and gives you speeds of around 70 Mbps.
Full fibre broadband – often referred to as ultrafast broadband. It uses a fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connection and can provide speeds up to around 900 Mbps.
Gigabit broadband – offers the fastest speeds of all, delivering speeds of 1,000 Mbps (1 Gbps) or more.
The broadband speed you need depends on how you use it. If you have a large family or live in shared house that spends a fair amount of time streaming and gaming, you’ll need the speeds provided by superfast fibre optic broadband.
If you live alone or only use the internet for light browsing, you could probably get away with less.
No-contract broadband usually involves paying a one-off set-up fee. Set-up fees vary but you could pay as much as £60. You may see these fees included in your delivery charge.
If you don’t have a WiFi router or telephone line installed at the property, you’ll probably have to pay a connection charge too.
It should be fine to get a short-term internet deal if you’re moving home, as most broadband providers will let you move the service with you.
Each broadband provider offers different services. What’s available to you depends on your postcode. Depending on where you’re moving, you might have to change your plan.
Whether your service is portable comes down to the provider, your current deal and where you live.
Yes, no-contract fibre broadband deals are available. However, you won’t find as much choice since most providers only offer longer-term fibre packages.
No, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) home broadband isn’t available. But you can get PAYG mobile broadband without having to sign a contract or pay a monthly fee.
Simply top up your account as and when you need data. This gives you flexibility if you only occasionally use the internet, but it could be more expensive than short-term broadband.
It’s possible to get no-contract broadband without line rental, but options are limited because most broadband is supplied through a landline. So, in most cases you’ll still have to pay for line rental, which will be included in your bill.
With the UK racing towards gigabit speeds and our phones more integral to our lives, Matt wants to make sure you have great packages that can keep up. And with more than 10 years' experience working with digital brands, he’s shaping our broadband, TV and phone comparison journeys.
What our expert says...
“If you know you only need broadband for a few months, short-term broadband could be better value than getting tied into a long contract. But always check the set-up fees, as well as monthly line rental and average speed.”