10.4 million could save up to £657 this Black Friday on their broadband and mobile bills

• 10.4 million people are out of contract on their mobile or broadband and free to switch penalty-free this Black Friday^[1]
• One in four (24%) don't know when their broadband contract ends, so could be overpaying without realising^[1]
• Households switching to a new broadband deal save an average of £395 a year^[2]
• Mobile customers whose handset contract has ended could save £262 a year by keeping their phone and moving to a SIM-only deal^[3]
• Several broadband providers will cover a new customer's exit fees this Black Friday, so even households still in contract may be able to switch^[4]
• Simrat Sharma, tech expert at Uswitch.com, shares ten checks that show whether a Black Friday deal will actually save you money
• Mobile customers can text INFO to 85075 to find out when their contract ends and whether they can switch today

Around 10.4 million people are out of contract on their mobile or broadband and free to switch this Black Friday, according to new research by Uswitch.com, the service helping households compare, switch and control their bills.

Those who do save an average of £395 a year on broadband, and could save £262 a year by moving from an ended handset contract to a SIM-only deal, according to Uswitch pricing data.^[1][2][3]

One in eight (13%) mobile customers and one in 17 (6%) broadband customers say their contract has already ended, while one in nine (12%) and one in four (24%) respectively don't know when it ends.^[1]

November is a peak month for contracts ending. Anyone who signed a two-year deal in the Black Friday sales of 2024 comes out of contract this month. On mobile, once a handset contract ends, many customers keep paying the same price for a phone they already own. On broadband, out-of-contract customers typically pay £7 to £9 a month more than those still in contract.^[5][6]

Ten checks that show whether a Black Friday deal will actually save you money

1. Know what you're paying now before you look at anything. For your phone and broadband, text INFO to 85075 for your mobile contract end date, and look for the 'price after your contract ends' on your broadband bill. Out-of-contract broadband customers typically pay £7 to £9 a month more than those still in contract, so a Black Friday deal has to beat that.[6]
2. A 'was' price is only a saving if it was ever the price. Retailers and networks measure Black Friday discounts against the RRP, not what the item sold for in October. A TV that was 'reduced' from £999 may have been, say, £649 all summer, and a 'lowest ever' broadband price is often a pound below last month's. Check what it cost in October on a price tracker such as PriceSpy or CamelCamelCamel before you believe the saving.
3. Add up the real cost, not the ticket price. A cheap TV with a £40 delivery charge, a printer that needs £30 of ink a month, a smart doorbell that only works with a subscription: the sticker price is rarely the price you pay. For a phone or broadband deal, add the upfront cost to every monthly payment over the full contract, then take off any reward card or bill credit. Three months free on a £30 deal takes £90 off the total, but you still pay £30 a month after that.
4. Check what goes up after you've bought it. Fitness bands, smart doorbells and streaming boxes often come with a free trial that then becomes a monthly fee. Phone and broadband contracts go up every April: new contracts must state the rise in pounds and pence, typically £3 to £4 a month on broadband and £1.50 to £2.50 on mobile, so a £22 broadband deal with a £4 rise costs £96 more over two years than the headline suggests.^[7] If you would rather know exactly what you will pay, Hyperoptic, Zen, giffgaff, Smarty and Voxi promise no rise at all.
5. Last year's model is this year's bargain. The deepest Black Friday cuts land on the console, laptop or TV that has just been replaced by a newer version, and a refurbished phone with a 12-month warranty can be hundreds of pounds cheaper than new. The cheapest phone deal of all may be the one already in your pocket: if your handset contract has ended, you are still paying for a phone you own, and moving to a SIM-only deal could save £262 a year.^[3]
6. Buy the spec you'll use, not the biggest one in the sale. An 8K television, a top-tier laptop or a gigabit broadband package is only a bargain if you will use it. Ofcom found nearly four in ten pay-monthly mobile customers are on 50GB or more, yet only 5% use that much, and over half use a fifth or less of their allowance.^[8] Check your usage in your provider's app before you pay for unlimited. If you rarely come close to your limit, a smaller plan will do, though heavy streamers and gamers on mobile data may still be better off with more.
7. Claim the freebie, or it was never free. Cashback through sites like TopCashback and Quidco, mail-in rebates on TVs, and the reward cards and bill credits that come with broadband deals all have claim windows, often of just a few months. An unclaimed £150 reward card turns a bargain back into full price. Put the claim date in your diary the day you buy.
8. Locked into something? Price the exit before you write off the deal. A broadband exit fee is roughly the remaining months times your monthly price, less a small discount. If it comes to £150 and EE will cover up to £200, or £300 with TV, or Quickline or Fibrus will buy out the contract in full, you are better off leaving now.^[4] The same logic applies to a mobile contract or a streaming bundle: ask for the termination charge and set it against the saving.
9. Don't wait for the Friday, and don't panic if you get it wrong. Black Friday deals have been live since early November and run into December, so there is no need to hold out for the day itself, and popular handset deals can sell out before it arrives. Anything bought online, from a laptop to a broadband contract, comes with a 14-day cooling-off period, and faulty goods can be returned under the Consumer Rights Act.^[9] Switching broadband takes one call: with One Touch Switch you contact only the new provider and they cancel the old one.^[10]
10. Check it's real, and check it's live. Black Friday is peak season for fake retailer sites and phishing emails offering deals that don't exist, so type the retailer's address yourself rather than clicking a link. AI tools and deal round-ups often quote prices that have expired or miss the April rise, so confirm the price and the small print on the retailer's, provider's or comparison site's own page. Pay by credit card where you can: purchases between £100 and £30,000 are protected under Section 75 if something goes wrong.^[9]

Black Friday falls on Friday 27 November this year. Uswitch is running Black Friday broadband and mobile deals from 2 November to 4 December, and only labels an offer a Black Friday deal if it is better than the same deal in the weeks before.^[11]

Simrat Sharma, Uswitch tech expert, says: "Forget the phone in the shop window - the biggest Black Friday saving might be the contract you have already paid off and are still being charged for. Millions of people are out of contract right now, and a few minutes of checking could save them money for the next two years.

"If you signed a two-year deal in the Black Friday sales of 2024, your contract ends this month, and you are probably still paying for a phone you already own. Keep the handset, move to a SIM-only deal, and that is more than £250 a year back in your pocket.

"Still being in contract is no longer a reason to sit this one out. Several broadband providers will cover your exit fees if you switch to them this Black Friday, so check what your fee is and whether an offer covers it.

"Being out of contract is the one moment the power is in your hands. Text INFO to 85075, find out where you stand, and don't give that advantage away by doing nothing."

Visit Uswitch.com to compare Black Friday broadband and mobile deals.

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