Broadband price rises 2026 — every Irish provider

The tracker: every Irish broadband provider’s 2026 rise

The “built-in?” column comes straight from our August 2026 dataset. The rest is what each provider published for the 2026 round, or — where marked reported — what customers and secondary sources described and we could not pin to a provider page. Amounts are per month.

Three things jump out. First, the CPI formula is nearly dead for new customers: Eir, Vodafone and Three all now quote a euro figure, and only customers on older contracts still get a percentage. Second, Sky’s rise is the only one that explicitly spares the offer price — but it also means the €67.50 you land on at month 13 was €64 a year earlier. Third, Eir applies its rise to the standard price before discounts, so a customer on €34.99 still pays the full €4 step (Eir’s own worked example is a €65.99 plan discounted to €34.99 rising by €3.80).

Who does not hike in 2026

The shortlist, with the catch each one carries. None of these is “the bill never changes” — it is “no automatic April letter”.

If you want the regulator’s version, ComReg Compare has a filter for plans without annual price increases, and it shows the formula where one applies. Cross-check it against the order summary — retailers reword tiles faster than any table updates.

The rule in 2026: when a rise lets you leave

Short version, because the April price rises guide walks through the mechanics. Irish electronic-communications rules require at least one month’s notice of a contract change, with a right to exit without penalty if the change is not in your favour. That notice is the Contract Change Notification.

The 2026 wrinkle is the pre-agreed clause. ComReg’s current guidance (advice page and its March 2026 Compare update) is blunt: if the increase is built into the contract you signed — a disclosed CPI+3% or a flat euro figure — you generally cannot exit penalty-free inside the minimum term. Vodafone says the same in its own words; Eir says “this price change will apply as per your terms and conditions”. So in 2026 the exit right really bites in two cases: a provider with no clause repricing mid-term (a Sky or Virgin customer outside an offer, on standard pricing), or a clause that was not disclosed clearly enough at sign-up — in which case keep the paperwork and complain in writing before the effective date.

What 5.8% means in euro

5.8% was the 2026 CPI+3% figure (January 2026 CPI 2.8%, plus the 3% Eir and Vodafone add). It is applied to the standard price, not your discounted one — which is why the percentage looks small and the euro figure does not. Rounded to the cent, per month:

Put the flat figures beside those and the “fixed euro” switch is not a discount: €3.50 on Vodafone’s €40 is 8.75%; €3 on Three’s €30 intro is 10%; €4 on Eir’s €34.99 intro is 11.4%. The percentage only looks modest on the standard price nobody wanted to pay in the first place.

Three-year cost per provider, rises included

The table most pages skip. We take each retailer’s cheapest-year-one plan at 500 Mb or better from the August 2026 dataset, assume you sign in September 2026 and stay 36 months, and add the April steps where the provider publishes one: Eir €4 from 2027, Vodafone €3.50, Three €3, Sky €3.50 on the standard price only. Virgin, Pure, Digiweb and Imagine are modelled with no step. This is a model, not a quote — setup fees are included, TV is not, and promos that run six months are costed as six months.

What the model says, plainly. Vodafone’s Vodafone 500 Mb on 24 months is the cheapest three-year fibre in the set even after three €3.50 steps, because its standing price is €40 and nothing jumps at month 25. Eir’s 500 Mb is the dearest fixed line by a distance: a €34.99 headline turns into roughly €2,448 over three years, with the April steps alone adding about €204. Sky sits in the middle — the €3.50 only bites once you are on the standard price, but €67.50 standard is where you spend 24 of the 36 months unless you leave at month 12.

The obvious caveat is that nobody should sit on Sky or Eir for three years. The point of the table is the gap between “no rises” and “rises in”: it is roughly €150–€200 across the hikers, which is the size of the retention discount you should be asking for in month 12. If you do stay and haggle, do it before the April letter, not after — the retention offers guide covers what people are actually being given.

This is not the month-13 cliff

Two different things get called “the price going up”. The month-13 jump is your introductory discount ending — Sky 500 Mb going from €30 to €67.50, Eir from €34.99 to €75.99. You agreed that number on the order summary, it is not a contract change, and it does not open an exit window. The April rise is a separate step applied to the standard price, often while you are still in term, and it is the thing this page tracks. A plan can have a brutal cliff and no April rise (Pure Telecom), a gentle cliff and an April rise (Vodafone), or both (Eir). The cliffs live in broadband prices after 12 months; add the two together before you pick.

What to do with this in August 2026

• Signing now? Eir customers who join on or after 1 March 2026 skip the 2026 rise and get the flat €4 from April 2027. Vodafone’s €3.50 lands in April 2027 inside your term. Pure, Digiweb and Imagine have no step; Virgin locks the term. Compare on the best broadband ranking with the year-two price in view.
• In contract with a clause? Budget the step, diary the contract end, and switch on the day it ends. ComReg’s own tip: sign a 12-month deal in April so the next rise cannot reach you before you can move again.
• Out of contract on a standard price? You are paying the thereafter and the rise — Sky’s €67.50 is the 2026 number, not 2025’s €64. Check the Eircode at find your broadband and move. No-contract options are on the no-contract broadband page if you are only bridging to fibre.
• Got a letter and no clause? That is a CCN. One month, penalty-free. Order the new provider inside the window — the April price rises guide has the calendar and the ETF page has what you avoid.

We will update the tracker when the 2027 notices start arriving — usually late February. If a provider’s page contradicts a row above, the provider’s page wins; tell us and we will fix it.

About the author

Darragh Murphy

Broadband & Fixed-Line Specialist

Darragh Murphy has tested and compared Irish broadband services since 2018. He runs matched.ie’s real-world speed and reliability tests across fibre, cable and rural fixed-wireless connections.

8+ years analysing Irish broadband performanceTested 50+ providers including Eir, Virgin Media, Sky and SIROCertified in Cisco Networking and Openreach fibre standardsBased in Galway, regularly covers rural rollout issues