Are you overpaying for business broadband? Probably.

When did you last actually look at what you’re paying for business broadband? Not glance at the direct debit — really look at it. What connection type you have. When your contract ends. Whether what you agreed to two or three years ago still makes any sense for what your business does today.

In our experience, most Yorkshire businesses haven’t. And most are paying more than they need to — sometimes significantly more — for a service that has probably been superseded by something faster, more reliable, and cheaper.

This article walks through exactly how to review your business broadband costs, what you should be looking at, and where the real savings usually come from. No jargon, no sales pitch — just practical advice from the people who set this stuff up every week.

Step one: find out when your contract ends

This sounds obvious, but a surprising number of businesses genuinely don’t know the answer. Business broadband contracts are typically 12, 24 or 36 months. When they expire, most providers roll you onto a monthly rolling contract — at the same price, or sometimes higher — without any fanfare. They are not required to tell you. And they benefit from you not noticing.

If your contract ended more than a few months ago and you haven’t renegotiated or switched, you are almost certainly paying over the odds. Check your original paperwork or call your provider and ask directly: “When does my current contract end and am I on a legacy package?”

Step two: understand what type of connection you actually have

Business broadband is not a single thing. There are several quite different connection types, and knowing which one you have — and whether it’s still the right one — is fundamental to getting value for money.

ADSL (standard broadband over copper)

If your broadband arrives entirely over copper phone wire, you’re on ADSL. Download speeds cap out around 20–24Mbps in the best case, and real-world performance is usually lower. ADSL is cheap but slow and inconsistent. For most businesses in 2026, it’s no longer fit for purpose — particularly if you’re using cloud applications, video calls, or Microsoft 365 heavily. If you’re on ADSL, upgrading will almost always improve performance significantly for a similar or lower monthly cost.

FTTC (fibre to the cabinet)

FTTC uses fibre to the green cabinet on your street, then copper from the cabinet to your building. Most UK businesses that “have fibre” are on FTTC. It’s faster than ADSL — typically 40–80Mbps download — but the copper final leg means speeds vary depending on how far you are from the cabinet, and upload speeds are considerably slower than download speeds.

FTTC contracts signed two or three years ago often look expensive compared to current full-fibre pricing. If you’re on FTTC and paying more than £40–50 per month, it’s worth getting a current-market quote.

Full fibre (FTTP — fibre to the premises)

Full fibre runs optical fibre all the way to your building — no copper in the chain. This delivers faster speeds, better upload performance, lower latency, and significantly more consistency than FTTC. Full fibre availability across Yorkshire has expanded considerably over the past two years and is now accessible to the majority of business premises in the region.

Crucially, full fibre is now often cheaper than equivalent FTTC packages from the same providers — particularly for new contracts. If you haven’t checked full fibre availability at your premises recently, check again.

Leased line (dedicated fibre)

A leased line is a dedicated, uncontended connection — the bandwidth is yours alone, not shared with other businesses or households on the same infrastructure. Leased lines provide symmetrical speeds (same upload as download), guaranteed uptime backed by SLA, and typically a 4-hour fix guarantee if something goes wrong.

They cost more than standard broadband — typically £200–£600 per month depending on speed and location — but for businesses where connectivity is critical, the maths often work out in their favour when you factor in the cost of an outage. If your business cannot function without the internet, a leased line is worth serious consideration.

Step three: look at what you’re paying for your phone lines separately

Many businesses have broadband and traditional phone lines as separate bills from separate providers. In almost every case, this costs more than it needs to — both in monthly outgoings and in the management overhead of dealing with two suppliers.

If you’re still running ISDN phone lines or analogue PSTN lines alongside your broadband, you have a deadline to be aware of: BT is switching off the entire PSTN and ISDN network in January 2027. After that date, traditional phone lines will simply stop working. This isn’t optional or avoidable — every business in the UK needs to migrate to an IP-based phone system before then.

The solution is hosted VoIP — phone calls delivered over your broadband connection rather than a dedicated copper line. Modern VoIP systems are indistinguishable from traditional phone lines in call quality, and they add features — mobile apps, call recording, call queues, call analytics — that ISDN simply cannot provide.

The cost saving is usually significant. Businesses switching from ISDN to hosted VoIP typically reduce their combined broadband and telephony monthly costs by 30–50%, while improving the service they receive. Getting broadband and VoIP from a single supplier also means a single bill, a single point of contact, and no finger-pointing between providers when something goes wrong.

Step four: check for charges you might have forgotten about

Business broadband contracts often include recurring charges that started as one-off items and became permanent line items on the bill. Common ones to check for:

• Static IP address charges — Usually £5–£10 per month. Worth having if you need it, but many businesses pay for a static IP they no longer use.
• Router or hardware rental — Some providers charge a monthly rental for the router they supplied at installation. Buying your own hardware and ending the rental can save money over time.
• Engineer call-out clauses — Some contracts charge for engineer visits even for faults on the provider’s own network. Check your terms before you have a problem.
• Excess usage charges — Rare on modern business contracts but still present on some older agreements. If you’re on a data-capped contract, check whether you’re regularly going over.
• Multiple lines you don’t need — Some businesses added extra broadband lines for specific purposes — a backup line, a guest WiFi circuit, a line for a specific piece of equipment — and continued paying for them after the need ended.

Step five: get a current-market comparison

The business broadband market in 2026 is meaningfully different from the market in 2023 or 2024. Full fibre rollout has increased competition, wholesale pricing has shifted, and providers are actively competing for business customers with better packages than were available a few years ago.

If you haven’t had a proper comparison done recently, it’s worth doing. Not a quick online comparison tool — those rarely cover business-grade products properly — but an actual conversation with someone who can check your postcode, understand your usage, and tell you what’s available at your specific premises.

How much could you actually save?

This depends entirely on your current situation, but to give you a sense of scale: businesses we work with who were on out-of-contract FTTC packages and moved to full fibre with a new supplier have typically saved between £20 and £80 per month on broadband alone. Those who simultaneously moved from ISDN to hosted VoIP have seen combined monthly connectivity and telephony costs fall by an average of around £150–£300 per month, depending on the number of lines and users.

Over a three-year contract, that’s a meaningful sum — and you end up with a faster, more reliable service at the end of it.

The short version: if you haven’t reviewed your business broadband and phone costs in the past 12 months, you should. It takes an hour at most and it almost always identifies savings. If you want someone to do that review for you — at no charge and with no obligation — call BOOM I.T. on 03333 660 005. A real engineer will answer.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if I’m overpaying for business broadband?

The fastest way is to check when your contract ends and compare your current monthly cost against current-market pricing for the same connection type. If you’re out of contract, you’re almost certainly overpaying. If you haven’t reviewed your broadband in the past two years, the market has likely moved significantly — full fibre is now widely available across Yorkshire at competitive prices.

What is the difference between FTTC and full fibre broadband for businesses?

FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) uses fibre to the street cabinet and then copper to your premises. Full fibre (FTTP) runs fibre all the way to your building, delivering faster and more consistent speeds with no copper in the chain. For most Yorkshire businesses, full fibre is now available and delivers significantly better performance at a similar or lower price than older FTTC contracts.

Can switching to VoIP reduce my business internet and phone costs?

Yes — significantly. Traditional ISDN phone lines are expensive to maintain and are being switched off in January 2027 anyway. Moving to a hosted VoIP system that runs over your existing broadband connection typically reduces monthly call and line costs by 40–60%, while adding features like mobile extensions, call recording and call queues that ISDN can’t provide.