Eighteen against twenty-four

British broadband has a favourite length: twenty-four months, long enough to make a teaser look like a gift, short enough that you will be back in the funnel before you have changed the sofa. Eighteen months is the compromise product. Twelve is the “we know you have been burned” product. Rolling is the “we have stopped pretending” product, and it is priced accordingly.

Term is a risk you can price. Loyalty is a story you cannot.

If the household is stable, a 24-month Openreach 150 that wins on first-year cost is a rational buy. If a job, a visa or a landlord is a question mark, paying £4 a month more for twelve months is not weakness. It is matching the contract to the calendar you actually have.

Price the risk, then pick a length

How ranking treats term on this site

If you set a preference for flexibility, shorter and rolling deals lift. If you set cost, first-year cost dominates and a 24-month teaser can win without being virtuous. You can see the weights on the methodology page. We will not hide a long handcuff behind a badge.

Hybrid jobs and lets

A 24-month intro is a bet that your desk, your tenancy and your plant will sit still. Hybrid policies move. Student lets end in June. Sale dates slip. If any of those are in the next year, 18 months or rolling is the product, even if 24 looks £2 cheaper. Exit fees are how cheap intros collect the people who have lives.