Broadband Hidden Charges

Broadband Charges

Broadband hidden charges are something to be aware of and the guide below will help you distinguish between the different fees broadband providers charge.
Additional fees broadband providers can charge include house moving fees, downgrade fees as well as many others.

Broadband Hidden Fees: What some broadband providers may charge

There is an increased trend to include hidden charges within broadband packages, so don't be tricked by the headline price, this can include thin profits for the internet service provider who aim to increase profits and cover costs using other methods.

These charges need to be reviewed carefully before deciding on a your broadband package, these are discussed below:

Credit card surcharges

Credit card companies charge a fee to companies that receive payments by credit card, these can range significantly from one merchant to another.

Some broadband providers pass on this charge to you, the consumer. Some of the broadband providers charging for the use of credit cards are as follows:

Pipex Internet charge £1.00 per transaction.
Orange charge £1.00 for any payment method other than direct debit, which is an additional monthly cost.
BT charge £1.50 for any payment method other than direct debit, which is an additional monthly cost.

Cancellation charges

Cancellation charges generally only apply to contracts that are 12 months or longer, if you cancel before the 12 months are up then you will usually incur an additional charge.

Examples of these charges are as follows:

Aol broadband charge the full amount due over the remainder of the minimum term of the contract (18 Month contracts).
BT Total Broadband charge the full amount due over the remainder of the minimum term of the contract.
Eclipse Internet charge a £47 cancellation charge.
Orange charge the full amount due over the remainder of the minimum term of the contract.
PlusNet charge £40 if you leave before 12 months.
Talk Talk charge an amount equal to cost of disconnecting service or the total of the minimum fees that will occur up to the end of your minimum term.
Tiscali charge the full amount due over the remainder of the minimum term of the contract.
Virgin Media charge the full amount due over the remainder of the minimum term of the contract.

Note this should not affect most consumers as they are likely to honour the minimum contract term, but is still worth bearing in mind.

Downgrade charges

If you sign up to a particular package you will usually receive benefits that are only applicable to that package, therefore the internet provider will not be keen on you downgrading to a lower valued service.

In order to prevent this from happening a downgrade fee can apply, this will generally only be applicable when you are within your minimum term.

Examples of these charges are as follows:

Be charge a fee from downgrading from their Be pro product to their Be unlimited product.
BT broadband may charge you up to £40.

House moving fee

Some providers charge you for moving house, this is usually a pass through of the connection charge from BT (£34.86).

If you are out of contract you can always cancel and move to a provider that gives you free setup, see our switching guide for help with migrating to another provider.

Examples of these charges are as follows:

Eclipse Internet give this free if you sign a new 12 month contract.
Madasafish charge £80.62.
Tiscali may charge a fee for this.
Virgin Media have a service transfer charge.

Hardware delivery charge

Most broadband providers give free hardware (i.e. modems, routers or wireless routers) in exchange for signing up for a 12 month contract.
Even though the hardware is free they charge a delivery fee, which enables them to keep the headline price the same and offer the 'free' modem or router.

Broadband providers that have these charges include Pipex (£7.50) and Eclipse Internet (£4.99).

Hardware Recovery fees

Some broadband providers charge for recovering the hardware as they retain ownership of it.
Again this is usually hidden in the small print, and providers charging this fee includethe following:

BT broadband may charge you up to £45 for any equipment provided to you as part of the service.
Eclipse Internet may charge between £25.99 to £51.99
Orange may charge the price of the hardware if they do not receive it back in full working order.
Plusnet charge between £29.99 to £64.99 if you leave before 12 months.

Reconnection charges

Some broadband providers charge you when your telephone gets disconnected, this can be as much as £40.

Examples of these charges are as follows:

Be may charge you if your account has been suspended because of failure to pay Be for Services or if your current phone provider has disconnected your line.
Madasafish could charge between £40.96 and £80.62.
Toucan may charge you to reconnect you to the service after a suspension.

Cease charges

BT are looking at charging internet providers a fee for any of their connections that ceases., this charge is likely in most cases to be passed on to you, the end customer.

Note that there is only a charge for customers that do not migrate to another provider but cancel their line completely. This includes those who move house as they are essentially cancelling their old service and starting a new one.

The providers that will pass on this charge is not clear as the charge should have become applicable in July, but has been temporarily set to £0.00.

Examples of providers charging these are as follows:

Plusnet may charge £39.66 in line with BTs proposal.
Tiscali may charge you if you end your contract for broadband and do not request and use a MAC, to cover any cancellation charge that they must pay BT and any associated administration costs.

Helpdesk charges

Some providers have freephone numbers for their customer service and technical support team and many have local rate numbers. But some have national rate or even premium rate numbers, that can become quite expensive if you ring often.

If you ring the customer services department for 30 minutes per month then this can lead you to incur up to £3.00 of charges each month.

Providers helpdesk numbers are shown below (note 0870 is national rate and 0845 is local rate charges):

AOL broadband have an 0870 helpdesk number
Be broadband have an 0870 helpdesk number
BT total broadband have an 0845 helpdesk number
Demon Internet have an 0871 helpdesk number
Eclipse Internet have an 0845 helpdesk number
Madasafish have an 0844 helpdesk number
Orange have an 0870 helpdesk number
Pipex Internet have an 0845 helpdesk number
Plusnet Internet have an 0845 helpdesk number
Sky have an 0870 helpdesk number
Toucan have an 0800 helpdesk number
Virgin Media have an 0845 helpdesk number

Tip: One way round these helpdesk charges is to use the web support facilities (assuming your connection is working) that many providers offer.

Interest on overdue balances

This is only a minor point and you should not generally worry about this, but it is worth noting that if you don't pay your bill on time then some providers will charge you interest.

Examples of providers that may reserve the right to enforce these charges include:

Madasafish at a rate of 4% above the base rate of HSBC Bank plc until the Fees are paid.
Pipex at a rate of 3% per annum above the base lending rate of Barclays Bank plc.
Plusnet at a rate of 2% above the base rate of National Westminster Bank Plc together with VAT if applicable.
Talk Talk at a rate of 2% per annum above the base lending rate of Barclays Bank plc.
Tiscali at a rate of 2% per annum above the base lending rate of Barclays Bank plc.
Virgin media at a rate of 4% per annum above the base rate of Barclays Bank plc.

BT Engineer Call out charge

BT charge ISP's when an engineer is called out, if the call out was unnecessary (i.e. when the fault is not BT's and is that of you, the customer). This charge can be as much as £160 and your internet provider can charge this to you. Therefore when you request an engineers visit you need to ensure that you have checked everything from your end to ensure that this cost does not end up on your bill.

Note that Namesco may charge £160 for an engineers visit and Plusnet reserve the right to charge on any charges from BT.

Other Hidden charges

Other hidden charges include charging for additional services, such as anti-virus and firewall, for instance Pipex offer this free for the first year but it is not clear whether this is the case for periods after this.

Tip: Check the small print (at the bottom of the pages on the web site) and terms and conditions of the service

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