You don’t have to switch to stop overpaying.
When your broadband deal ends, the choice isn’t just “stay and pay the standard rate” or “switch to someone new”. There is a third option that usually beats both: ring your current provider and ask them to do better. It is the move comparison sites never mention, because they only earn when you leave.
Why it works
Keeping you is cheaper for them than winning you back.
Broadband providers spend heavily to acquire customers, on advertising, on the promotional discounts themselves, on the cost of installing a new connection. Losing you and replacing you with someone else costs them far more than giving you a reason to stay. So when an existing customer whose deal has ended asks for a better rate, there is real room for them to say yes.
None of this is advertised, because a deal you have to ask for is a deal most people never ask for. The standard rate exists precisely because most customers drift onto it quietly. Asking is what moves you out of that group.
When to re-contract, when to switch
The size of the gap decides it.
Re-contracting wins when the better rate exists but the saving from actually moving isn’t large enough to justify the hassle, a new router, a possible engineer visit, the small risk of a gap in service. A ten-minute call that gets you most of the way there beats a switch you could do without.
Switching wins when there is a genuinely large gap your provider won’t close, or when a new-customer offer elsewhere is far better than anything they’ll match. The point is not that you should never switch. It is that switching should be a decision you make because it is worth it, not a reflex because your deal ended.
One thing switchers get that stayers don’t
New-customer bill credit is real money, with a catch.
There is one genuine advantage to switching that re-contracting usually can’t match: new-customer bill credit. Several providers offer a one-off credit, often around one hundred euro, to new broadband customers. That is real money and it tilts the first year toward switching.
The catch is that it is a first-year effect only, and it usually comes with conditions, a sign-up window, a minimum active period before the credit lands, sometimes a specific plan. It is worth counting when you compare, but it doesn’t change the underlying question of what you pay year after year, which is where the re-contract call does its work.
How to make the call
Know the competing rate, name it, be willing to leave.
The call works best when you have done a little homework. Know what a competitor is actually offering for your speed at your address, so you can name a specific figure rather than asking vaguely whether they can do better. Be genuinely prepared to switch if they say no, because the willingness is what gives the request weight.
If the first person can’t help, the words “cancellations” or “retentions” usually reach someone who can. And the timing matters: the leverage is strongest once your minimum term has ended, because you can leave without a fee. That is the same window where your promo price steps up to the standard rate, so it is worth acting the moment it does rather than months later.
Why we can say this
We’re paid by you, not by the switch.
Every comparison site that earns a commission on a switch has a reason to tell you to switch, and no reason to tell you that a phone call would have done. Shrewd takes no commission from any provider, so “ring them and stay” is an answer we can give freely when it is the right one. It often is.
This guide describes how to weigh the decision, not a specific offer. Retention rates, credits and standard prices vary by provider and change without notice, so confirm current terms before acting. Last reviewed July 2026.