If you want to upgrade your broadband speed, find out if you can get superfast or faster broadband already by using our postcode checker and visit our how to get better broadband page and follow the steps or find out about the other options available.
Tips to improve your current speed
Check the Home Broadband Networks guide for advice on how to maximise broadband speeds and capacity while working from home.
One of our long-standing Broadband Champions has provided some useful tips to help improve your current broadband speeds and details can be found on his Increase Broadband Speed website.
Reduced broadband tariffs
Some providers offer reduced tariffs for households and existing customers claiming certain benefits.
BT launched Home Essentials in July 2021, a social tariff for financially vulnerable individuals who are on specific means-tested benefits (such as Universal Credit or Pension Credit) to offer a low-cost telephone and broadband package fibre broadband. And Virgin Media offers existing customers on benefits a 15Mb connection for £15/mth.
Anyone on Universal Credit with no supplementary income is eligible for a free super-fast broadband connection if they are with an Openreach provider, from October 2021, via their ‘Connect the Unconnected’ programme.
There is a round-up of all the other social tariffs on the Money Saving Expert website which lists the full qualifying criteria for each one (plus info on a different scheme for jobseekers from TalkTalk):
- Sky Broadband Basics – 36Mb broadband £20/mth for 18 months
- NOW Broadband Basics – 38Mb broadband £20/mth for 18 months
- BT – 36Mb broadband £15/mth
- Virgin Media – 15Mb broadband £15/mth
- Hyperoptic – 50Mb broadband £15/mth
- TalkTalk – 38Mb broadband free for six months for jobseekers
If you’re not on benefits, there’s also help and advice about how to find out about other cheap deals on comparison websites such as the Money Saving Expert website.
