The short version: ring four to six weeks before the term ends with a rival’s new-customer price for your Eircode written down. Say you are leaving, say the number, and let them route you to the loyalty desk. Customers report the best results at Eir, Digiweb and Virgin Media, a coin-toss at Sky, and small but painless reductions at Vodafone and Pure because their standing prices are already lower.
If the offer does not land within a few euro of the rival, switch. Under ComReg rules the new provider manages it and you do not serve notice. Over 24 months a €45 “loyalty” price costs €1080; Vodafone’s €25-then-€40 costs €870.
What each provider’s retention desk actually does
This is synthesised from boards.ie, askaboutmoney.com and the providers’ own pages as of August 2026, plus our own renewals. Every figure here is what customers report. Agents have different offers on different days, and the same call can go two ways. Use it to set expectations, not as a price list.
| Provider | How you reach retention | What customers report (August 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Sky | Sky Ireland customer number, cancellations option. Sky asks for 31 days’ notice if you actually leave — you do not need to serve it if a rival is managing the switch. | Mixed. Retention is mostly about the TV: 12-month discounts on the package are reported, and one customer got €35 a month off. But in February 2026 several people reported renewal quotes far above their year-one price (one was paying €50 for broadband + Stream + Netflix, was offered €89 without Netflix, and took Virgin at €57 for two years). Broadband-only customers tend to be told the new-customer price is for new customers. |
| Virgin Media | 1908, sales option, then ask for the loyalty team (it is in Limerick). Web chat and “customer loyalty” also works. 30 days’ notice applies if you cancel outright. | The most “haggleable” of the big names. Reports over the years: 25% off for 12 months, half price for six months, €30 a month off a TV-and-broadband bundle, and new-customer rates after threatening to cancel. The High Court found in February 2025 that Virgin paid agents commission for “saving” customers and ordered it to retrain agents to stop once you clearly say you are cancelling. Some long-term hagglers report the offers dry up after the third year of the same routine. |
| Eir | 1901, ask for the loyalty team (customer care has a smaller menu of offers). eir.ie/existing-customer lists upgrade pricing. | Consistently decent once you get to the right desk. Customers report re-contracting at or near the new-customer intro — €34.99 for 12 months on 1 Gb with the first month free, €39.99 held instead of a €49.99 first offer — and one poster says Eir has always matched the new-customer price when asked. Others were refused. The standing price Eir is saving you from is its own €75.99. |
| Vodafone | Vodafone rings you before the term ends, customers report. Otherwise 1907 / My Vodafone. | Small reductions (around €5 off) rather than a drama, because there is no cliff to fall off: the €25 promo ends at month six and you sit on the €40 standing price for the rest of the term and beyond. Existing customers can re-sign on the standing price, and there is a bundle discount for having Vodafone mobile on the same account (customers report around €10 — confirm in My Vodafone). Less to haggle, less need to. |
| Pure Telecom | Irish call centre; ring or use the contact form. End of Contract Notice reported about a month out. | Polite, straight, not generous. Pure told one customer re-contracting at the going rate is “no problem”; another was offered 500 Mb + phone at €35 for 12 months then €55 for six on an 18-month term, and a third could not get a broadband-only renewal and switched to Sky and back. The 500 Mb intro is €35 and thereafter is €50, so the gap is narrower than Sky’s or Eir’s to begin with. |
| Digiweb | Irish call centre; Digiweb often rings you as the term closes. | The friendliest retention in the market by reputation. Customers report being given the new-customer intro rate again on request, being refunded the difference for a month they had drifted out of contract, €35 for six months, and €5 off for a year when they wanted to keep a legacy speed profile. |
Notice the pattern. The providers with the biggest thereafter cliffs — Sky (€30 to €67.50), Eir (€34.99 to €75.99), Virgin (€35 to €70 or €80) — are the ones where a retention call moves the bill the most, because the “discount” is mostly the provider climbing down from a number nobody should pay. The cliff figures themselves are on prices after 12 months.
Your leverage: two ComReg rules and one rival price
You are not begging. Three things put you in the stronger chair.
- The End of Contract Notice. Since 9 June 2023 the Electronic Communications Code regulations (Regulation 89(6)) require your provider to tell you the minimum term is ending, how to cancel, and — as Best Tariff Advice — the best plan it has for you, then repeat the tariff information at least once a year. Eir, Vodafone, Virgin and Three confirmed to ComReg they send these. Sky argued its contracts were “indeterminate” and outside the rule; the High Court disagreed in February 2026 and ordered it to comply. If your notice never arrived, say so on the call and, if it goes badly, to ComReg.
- Gaining-provider-led switching. You do not have to cancel to leave. Order with the new provider; they contact the old one, the old contract ends when the new service starts, and you should not be without service for more than one working day. Virgin’s 30 days and Sky’s 31 days are for customers who cancel outright with nothing to move to. This matters because the retention agent’s strongest card is “you’ll be offline for a month” — and it is not true. Mechanics: how to switch broadband.
- The new-customer price on your own socket. A SIRO or Open Eir line is the same line whoever bills for it. The number you read down the phone is what a rival charges a new customer at your Eircode this month — not a vague “I hear Sky is cheaper”.
| Your bargaining number | Plan (August 2026) | Intro | Then | Year one | Why it works on the phone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sky | 500 Mb Ultrafast Plus · 12 months | €30 | €67.50 | €360 | Open Eir, SIRO and NBI — the same socket most people are already on |
| Vodafone | 500 Mb full fibre · 24 months (€25 for 6 months) | €25 | €40 | €390 | €25 for 6 months, then a €40 standing price — no cliff at month 25 |
| Pure Telecom | Pure Fibre 500 · 12 months | €35 | €50 | €420 | Irish-owned; no built-in April rise on the plans ComReg Compare flags |
| Virgin Media | 500 Mb · 12 months | €35 | €70 | €420 | Cable / Virgin fibre only — useless as a threat if you are not on a Virgin street |
| Eir | 500 Mb · 12 months | €34.99 | €75.99 | €419.88 | €75.99 thereafter — fine as a bargaining number, poor as a destination |
| Digiweb | SIRO Gigabit · 12 months | €37.95 | €49.95 | €485.35 | SIRO 1 Gb; €29.95 activation — quote the year-one total, not the monthly |
Only quote something that is actually available at your address. Check with the Eircode checker first; quoting Virgin on a street with no Virgin cable gets you nowhere, and agents can see the same availability you can.
Before you dial: what to have in front of you
- Your contract end date. It is on the End of Contract Notice, in the app, or on a bill. If it is more than six weeks away, wait — offers are thin while you still owe an early termination fee.
- Your account number and UAN. The Universal Account Number is on the bill. The new provider needs it to run the switch, and asking for it mid-call tells the agent you have read up.
- The rival quote, written down. Provider, plan, speed, intro price, how long the intro lasts, thereafter, contract length, setup fee. One line. Vodafone 500 Mb: “€25 for six months, then €40, 24 months, no setup fee.”
- What you are currently paying, and what the thereafter is. The agent will quote the discount off the standing price to make it sound big. You compare to the rival, not to the cliff.
- Twenty minutes. Customers report the first transfer and hold is where most people give up and accept €5 off.
The script
Plain, polite, specific. You are not trying to win an argument; you are trying to get past the first desk to the one with offers.
Opening: “Hi, my contract ends on [date]. I’ve been offered [rival] 500 Mb at [€X] a month for a new customer at my Eircode. I’d rather stay if you can get close to that. What can you do on my account?”
If the first offer is small (€5–€10 off): “Thanks, but that still leaves me [€Y] a month above the other quote. Is there a loyalty or retentions team that can look at it? If not, I’ll need to go ahead and move.”
When you reach loyalty: “Same question. [Rival] is [€X] for [term]. I’ll stay today for [€X plus a few euro] on a 12-month term with no installation fee.”
If they say “we can only offer [€Z]”: “Okay — is that €Z held for the whole 12 months, and does it include the April increase? Can you email that to me before I decide?”
Close: either “Go ahead and apply it, and send the new contract summary by email,” or “No problem, I’ll arrange the switch. Please note on the account that I don’t need to serve notice as the new provider is managing it.”
Three things the script is built around. First, you always give a number — “what can you do” invites €5. Second, “we can only offer X” usually means this desk can only offer X; it is an invitation to ask for the next desk, not a final answer. Third, everything in writing: the new term length, the monthly, the date it starts, and whether an April rise sits on top. Eir’s flat €4 from 2027, Vodafone’s €3.50 and Sky’s standard-price increases all apply to re-contracted customers — details on April price rises.
Do not bluff. If the number does not come, say thanks and order the rival the same afternoon. Half the value of a retention call is that the provider now knows you will actually go. Virgin customers who bluffed for three or four years in a row report the offers getting worse, and Virgin’s own court case showed agents retained 76% of the 194,784 cancellation callers the court looked at — the desk is built on people who do not follow through.
TV bundles: where Sky and Virgin retention really lives
If you have Sky TV or a Virgin TV bundle, most of the retention budget is on the TV, not the broadband. The broadband is sold on the same Open Eir, SIRO or Virgin line as everyone else’s and Sky in particular will let a broadband-only customer walk. The TV box, the sports pass and the multiroom are the parts they are paid to keep.
- Unbundle in your head first. Price the broadband alone at a rival (the table above), then price the TV alone: Sky Stream or Virgin TV 360 as a standalone, Now, or a free Saorview and Freesat box if you are not a sports household. Only then does the bundle “saving” mean anything.
- Ask for the package at a lower tier, not just a discount. Customers report better results dropping Sky Cinema or a Sports pass for the renewal than trying to get the whole package for the old price.
- Watch the term. Retention TV deals are often 12 months; Virgin has offered 24. A 24-month TV re-contract also locks the broadband for 24 months at a price that might be €20 above the market in a year.
The bundle-by-bundle comparison is on broadband and TV bundles, and the Sky-versus-Virgin head-to-head is on Sky vs Virgin Media.
Retention vs switching: the 24-month maths
A retention offer is usually described per month and compared to the thereafter. Compare it over two years to the rival instead — that is the period you are actually deciding about.
| What you do (500 Mb fibre, August 2026 prices) | Months 1–12 | Months 13–24 | 24-month total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accept a €45 retention offer and stay | €45 × 12 | €45 × 12 (if held) | €1080 |
| Switch to Vodafone 500 Mb, 24 months | €25 × 6, then €40 × 6 | €40 × 12 | €870 |
| Switch to Sky 500 Mb, then switch again to Pure at month 13 | €30 × 12 | €35 × 12 | €780 |
| Switch to Sky 500 Mb and do nothing at month 13 | €30 × 12 | €67.50 × 12 | €1170 |
Read it two ways. A €45 “loyalty” price is €210 dearer over two years than Vodafone’s 24-month plan, and €300 dearer than switching twice. But the last row is the one the retention desk is banking on: a switcher who forgets month 13 pays €1170 — worse than the retention deal. The cheapest strategy is only cheapest if you diary the next renewal too. April rises are excluded from all four rows and apply to most of them.
A rough rule: a retention offer is worth taking if it lands within about €5 a month of the rival’s average monthly over the term (Vodafone’s 24-month average is €36.25), on a term no longer than 12 months, with the price confirmed in writing. Above that, the router swap pays for itself in the first three months.
When to stop haggling and switch
- The offer is still €10+ a month over the rival after you have reached loyalty. There is no fourth desk.
- They want 24 months to give you 12 months of discount. Month 13 to 24 at the standing price is where that deal earns its keep.
- The provider has a built-in April rise and the rival does not. Pure and the Imagine freeze plans are flagged by ComReg Compare; a “no hike” retention price at Eir is still €4 dearer every April from 2027.
- You are on FTTC copper and the rival can sell you full fibre on the same Eircode. Haggling over €5 on a 70 Mb line is the wrong fight — see what is at your Eircode.
- You have done this three years running with the same provider. Customers report the offers shrink. Become a new customer somewhere else; you can come back in 12 months as a new customer again.
Then do it the right way: order with the new provider, give them your UAN and Eircode, let them run the switch, and keep the old direct debit live until the final bill. The step-by-step is on how to switch broadband; today’s rival prices are on the best broadband in Ireland ranking and the cheapest broadband list, both dated August 2026.
