Broadband for students, house shares and short lets

Standard broadband contracts run 18–24 months. Student tenancies run 9–12, and short lets less. Signing the default deal and paying the exit fee at the end is the classic (and avoidable) way to overpay. Here are the options, in the order worth checking.

1. Match the contract to the tenancy

1. 30-day rolling contracts — the most flexible: cancel with a month’s notice. You pay a higher monthly price and sometimes a setup fee, but there’s no exit charge. Ideal for lets under a year with an existing usable line.
2. 12-month contracts — several providers offer them; the sweet spot for a standard academic-year tenancy.
3. Student / 9-month deals — a few providers offer term-length contracts around the academic year. Availability changes yearly, so check current offers rather than assuming.
4. 18–24-month deals only if you’ll genuinely keep them — remember you can usually take broadband with you when moving (see moving home: broadband checklist), which can make a longer deal workable if you’re staying in the same city.

Before signing anything long, price the escape route with the exit fee calculator and read mid-contract price rises and your rights.

2. Consider 4G/5G home broadband — the renter’s friend

For short tenancies, 4G/5G home broadband has structural advantages:

• No engineer, no new line, no landlord permission — it’s a plug-in router.
• Often short or rolling contracts.
• It moves with you — next flat, same router (signal permitting).

The catch is that performance depends entirely on local signal and cell load. Check the address with our 4G/5G suitability checker before committing — and if the house already has a decent line installed, fixed broadband is usually steadier at peak times.

For a stay of a few weeks, tethering from a big-data mobile plan may be all you need — see the backup internet planner for how far tethering stretches.

3. Sort the house-share basics upfront

• One name on the contract. That person is liable for the whole bill — the provider won’t split it. Choose whoever is staying the full tenancy.
• Agree the split in writing (a group chat message counts) and collect monthly by standing order.
• Pick a speed for the number of people, not the marketing. Four people streaming and on calls need more than a couple sharing — work it out with what speed do I need?.
• Check what the house can actually get before promising gigabit to housemates: if you can visit, run a speed test on the current line and check the figure against the plan, and check what speed the address should get by connection type.
• Wi-Fi that reaches every bedroom matters more than headline speed in a share — see better Wi-Fi in every room.

4. Before you sign: the two-minute checklist

1. Total cost over your tenancy length (monthly price × months + setup + exit fees if any) — not the monthly price alone.
2. Activation time — if a new line needs an engineer, order early; use tethering to bridge the gap.
3. Contract end vs tenancy end — set a reminder a month before whichever comes first, then run the should I switch checker rather than lapsing onto out-of-contract pricing.
4. If money is tight and you receive a qualifying benefit, check social tariffs — no exit fees is exactly what a short tenancy needs.

→ Use the 4G/5G suitability checker