Some UK internet service providers offer flexible home broadband on a one-month rolling basis.
When signing up for most home broadband services in the UK, you’ll normally need to commit to a contract of between 12 months and 24 months in length. This isn’t ideal if you’re looking for flexibility (e.g. because you’re planning to move home soon or because you’re looking for a temporary home broadband solution). Thankfully, an alternative does exist with a number of UK home broadband service now available with no contract.
At present, six UK internet service providers offer home broadband on a one-month rolling basis. They are Direct Save Telecom, EE, NOW Broadband, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone. Some of them make use of a wired connection into your home, whereas others use wireless 4G & 5G home broadband technology.
In this article, we’ll review and compare flexible home broadband services that are available in the UK. We’ll start by giving an overview of the available options before looking at each individual broadband provider in more detail.
Contents
Overview of No Contract Broadband
In the UK, there are six internet service providers currently offering home broadband on a one-month rolling basis:
| Internet Service Provider | Broadband Technology | Monthly Cost | Data Allowance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct Save Telecom | ADSL (phone line) | £27.95/month | Unlimited Data |
| EE | 4G (no phone line required) | From £35/month | 50GB – 500GB |
| NOW Broadband | ADSL & FTTC (phone line) | From £18/month | Unlimited Data |
| Three | 4G (no phone line required) | From £30/month | Unlimited Data |
| Virgin Media | Cable | From £44/month | Unlimited Data |
| Vodafone | 4G & 5G (no phone line required) | From £30/month | 100GB – Unlimited |
Broadly speaking, the above providers can be categorised in one of two groups based on the broadband technology they use:
- ADSL, Fibre & Cable: If you’re using ADSL broadband, fibre broadband or cable broadband, it will utilise a wired connection into your home (typically either your phone line or a cable connection). Because there’s a bit of work to set up the service, you’ll normally need to pay an activation fee upfront when you sign up. The broadband service will be linked to your specific address and will normally need to be cancelled if you’re moving elsewhere.
- 4G & 5G: If you’re using 4G or 5G home broadband, it will utilise a wireless connection between your internet service provider and your home broadband router. It’s usually far easier to get set up and you can normally get started as soon as the router arrives in the post. The broadband router can be brought with you to a different location (either temporarily or permanently if you’re moving to another address). Because the router is a little more complex, you’ll normally need to pay an upfront fee for it. However, once this is paid, the router will be yours.
In our opinion, you’ll get a lot more flexibility with 4G & 5G home broadband so this is typically our recommended choice if you’re looking for maximum flexibility. However, a wired ADSL or fibre broadband service may sometimes be better if you’re looking for unlimited data and faster download speeds.
Recommended ISP
For most people, we’d recommend Three’s 4G home broadband service if you’re looking for a flexible home broadband solution with no contract.
 |
Three Home Broadband
Whilst landline-based solutions are available from other providers, the 4G home broadband service from Three gives you much more flexibility. You can easily set it up yourself without needing an engineer visit and you can take the broadband connection with you elsewhere. In theory, it’s possible to get download speeds of up to 300Mbit/s, though average speeds are normally closer to 15-20Mbit/s in practice.
View Three Home Broadband Plans → Please see Three’s website for a full list of their available home broadband plans. |
We recommend If you’re looking for a wired solution, we’d recommend the 30-day rolling plans available on NOW Broadband. You can choose either an ADSL or fibre broadband service, both of which will be delivered through your BT Openreach phone line. There’s an upfront fee of £65 to set up your NOW Broadband service on a one-month rolling contract.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for the fastest possible speeds, Virgin Media has a 30-day rolling contract with download speeds of up to 362Mbit/s.
No Contract Broadband: By Provider
Direct Save Telecom
In the UK, Direct Save Telecom is a fairly small internet service provider. They offer ADSL broadband on a one-month rolling basis. You’ll pay £27.95/month for the service, plus £34.90 upfront (£24.95 to set up the service and £9.95 P&P for the router).
Average download speeds of 11Mbit/s are available on the service, which is delivered through your BT Openreach phone line.
| Service | Average Speed | Contract Length | Upfront Price | Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
No Contract Broadband | 11Mbps download | 1 month contract | £34.90 | £27.95/month |
The cost of your line rental is included in the above price but phone calls are not included. You can pay an extra £3/month to add evening and weekend calls or an extra £5/month to add anytime calls.
EE
On EE, it’s possible to get 4G home broadband on a one-month rolling basis. This is currently available on the 4GEE Home Router. In the background, the router connects to EE’s 4G mobile network, producing a wi-fi network that up to 64 other devices are able to connect to.
You’ll get average download speeds of 31Mbit/s on 4GEE Home. There’s a choice of data plans available with between 50GB and 500GB of data per month:
| Service | Data Allowance | Contract Length | Upfront Price | Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 4GEE Home | 100GB Data | 1 month contract | £100 | £35/month |
4GEE Home | 200GB Data | 1 month contract | £100 | £40/month |
4GEE Home | 300GB Data | 1 month contract | £100 | £45/month |
4GEE Home | 500GB Data | 1 month contract | £100 | £50/month |
See all EE 4G Broadband Deals →
You’ll pay an upfront fee of £100 when taking the service on a one-month rolling basis. You can save on the upfront cost by taking out an 18-month contract instead. This still gives you the flexibility to bring your broadband connection to another location (simply bring the router with you as it isn’t tied to the phone line in your home).
Unfortunately, EE’s ADSL and fibre broadband services are only available on a longer 18-month contract. Because these broadband services are linked to your phone line, there’s also less flexibility to bring the broadband connection with you elsewhere (though they do offer a home mover service if you want to take ADSL or fibre broadband to another address).
NOW Broadband
NOW Broadband is a low-cost sub-brand of Sky, offering ADSL and fibre broadband services on a one-month rolling contract.
Prices range from £18/month for a basic ADSL broadband service (with average download speeds of 11Mbit/s) to £28/month for the Super Fibre service (with average download speeds of 63Mbit/s). An upfront fee of £65 applies (this is made up of a £60 set-up fee and a £5 delivery fee for the router).
| Service | Average Speed | Contract Length | Upfront Price | Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Brilliant Broadband | 11Mbps download | 1 month contract | £65 | £18/month |
Fab Fibre | 36Mbps download | 1 month contract | £65 | £23/month |
Super Fibre | 63Mbps download | 1 month contract | £65 | £28/month |
The cost of your NOW Broadband service includes your landline rental fee as well as anytime phone calls for the first 12 months.
If you’re still a NOW Broadband customer after the first 12 months, the monthly fee for your service will increase to £25/month for Brilliant ADSL Broadband, £32/month for Fab Fibre or £35/month for Super Fibre. You’ll also lose the anytime phone calls which is only included for the first 12 months. After the first 12 months, you’ll need to pay an extra £4/month to add evening and weekend calls, or £8/month to add anytime calls.
When placing your order through the NOW Broadband website, simply choose the “No Contract” option during checkout. If you don’t select this option, it will default to a 12-month contract instead.
Three
Three offers flexible 4G home broadband on a one-month rolling basis, with prices starting from £30/month for unlimited data. You can choose from either the HomeFi Plus router (Huawei B535) or the Huawei AI Cube (a two-in-one device, combining a 4G router with an Amazon Alexa smart speaker).
Being a 4G home broadband service, there’s no need to have a phone line when signing up for Three Broadband. Instead, simply plug in your router at the wall and it will automatically pick up a 4G home broadband signal. Download speeds of up to 300Mbit/s are available on the service, but speeds might be closer in practice to 15-20Mbit/s.
| Service | Data Allowance | Contract Length | Upfront Price | Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Three 4G Plus Mi-Fi | 2GB Data | 1 month contract | £39 | £12/month |
Three 4G Plus Mi-Fi | 5GB Data | 1 month contract | £39 | £13/month |
Three 4G Plus Mi-Fi | 10GB Data | 1 month contract | £39 | £14/month |
Three 4G Plus Mi-Fi | 15GB Data | 1 month contract | £39 | £15/month |
Three 4G Plus Mi-Fi | 20GB Data | 1 month contract | £39 | £16/month |
Three 4G Plus Mi-Fi | 40GB Data | 1 month contract | £39 | £19/month |
Three 4G Plus Mi-Fi | Unlimited Data | 1 month contract | £39 | £25/month |
 Three HomeFi Plus | Unlimited Data | 1 month contract | £49 | £30/month |
 Three AI Cube | Unlimited Data | 1 month contract | £149 | £32/month |
See all Three Broadband deals →
For more information, see our review of Three broadband or Three’s official home broadband website.
Virgin Media
On Virgin Media, a 30-day rolling broadband plan is available for customers living in a home connected to the Virgin Media network. You can get unlimited data on a choice of four different plans with download speeds between 54Mbit/s and 362Mbit/s.
An upfront fee of £80 applies when you sign up for the service, along with a monthly fee as follows from £44 per month:
| Service | Average Speed | Contract Length | Upfront Price | Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
M50 Fibre | 54Mbps download | 1 month contract | £80 | £44/month |
M100 Fibre | 108Mbps download | 1 month contract | £80 | £49/month |
M200 Fibre | 213Mbps download | 1 month contract | £80 | £54/month |
M350 Fibre | 362Mbps download | 1 month contract | £80 | £59/month |
A phone line isn’t included in the above price. If you’d like one, it’ll cost an extra £7/month on top of the broadband only price. This also gives you inclusive weekend phone calls. For more information, see the Virgin Media website.
Vodafone
If you’re looking for flexible home broadband with no commitment on Vodafone, the GigaCube 4G & 5G services start from £30/month.
In the background, GigaCube makes use of Vodafone’s 4G and 5G network. This means there’s no need to have a phone line to sign up and you also have the flexibility to use it in different places. The GigaCube should deliver similar or even faster speeds than traditional fixed-line broadband, with speeds sometimes reaching 200Mbit/s or more when connected to 5G.
The following table shows a list of Vodafone’s GigaCube plans on a 1-month rolling contract:
| Service | Data Allowance | Contract Length | Upfront Price | Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vodafone Mobile Wi-Fi | 2GB Data | 1 month contract | £35 | £15/month |
Vodafone Mobile Wi-Fi | 6GB Data | 1 month contract | £35 | £21/month |
Vodafone Mobile Wi-Fi | 24GB Data | 1 month contract | £35 | £26/month |
 Vodafone GigaCube 4G | 100GB Data | 1 month contract | £100 | £30/month |
 Vodafone GigaCube 5G | 100GB Data | 1 month contract | £325 | £30/month |
Vodafone GigaCube 4G | 200GB Data | 1 month contract | £100 | £40/month |
Vodafone GigaCube 5G | 200GB Data | 1 month contract | £325 | £40/month |
Vodafone GigaCube 4G | 300GB Data | 1 month contract | £100 | £50/month |
Vodafone Mobile Wi-Fi | Unlimited Data | 1 month contract | £35 | £32/month |
Vodafone Mobile Wi-Fi | Unlimited Data | 1 month contract | £35 | £37/month |
Vodafone GigaCube 5G | Unlimited Data | 1 month contract | £325 | £50/month |
See all Vodafone GigaCube deals →
You’ll pay a larger upfront cost if you want access to 5G or a smaller upfront cost if you’re happy with the slower 4G service. You’ll get a Huawei B528 router on the GigaCube 4G service and a Huawei 5G CPE Pro router on the GigaCube 5G service.
Unfortunately, Vodafone’s other home broadband services including Superfast and Gigafast are not available on a one-month rolling contract.
For more information, see our in-depth review of the GigaCube service or Vodafone’s official webpage on the GigaCube.
Other Internet Service Providers
Unfortunately, most other broadband internet service providers only offer lengthier 12-month, 18-month or 24-month contracts. This is particularly the case for most ADSL and fibre broadband services as it takes a reasonable amount of time and effort to set up the service.
For ultimate flexibility in terms of how and where you use your home broadband service, we’d recommend choosing a 4G solution like Three’s HomeFi Plus, EE’s 4GEE Home or Vodafone’s GigaCube. All of these 4G services are available on a flexible one-month rolling contract. Alternatively, you can choose a longer contract as there’s still flexibility to bring the broadband connection with you to a different location.
More Information
For more information, please see the Direct Save Telecom, EE, NOW Broadband, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone websites. You may also find it useful to read our other guides to home broadband.
Keith Murrell said:
Hello Ken. I see you recommend three as the favourite ISP. I was with three for six months using the B535 Router and the service was very very patchy. There are lots of people who are also dissatisfied with the three service not just home broadband but three in general. There is a Facebook page which has almost 3000 members all documenting their grievances with three. You may like to check it out.