Why it’s time to break the deal cycle

We all love a bargain, but when it comes to buying home internet, I think we’re doing it all wrong. 

We’ve been trained by Big Broadband companies and their big marketing budgets - and the likes of Martin Lewis and price comparison sites - to look for one thing and one thing only from our internet provider: the highest speed for the lowest price. But your home internet experience is more than just speed; it’s also Wi-Fi coverage, signal strength, and customer service. Big Broadband doesn’t want you to think about any of those things because that’s exactly where they’re failing their customers. 

When you get the same poor experience from all the major providers, of course it makes sense to compare on speed and price. And of course customers will buy the best deal available, so those providers discount heavily in order to hook you in. 

Here’s the thing: I believe a market that relies on deals is bad for business and bad for customers. Speed and price are important, yes, but BT offers great deals on ultrafast internet and still disappoint their customers on a daily basis (why else would they have a Trustpilot score of 1.5?). They dupe customers into believing speed and price are the only metrics that matter and customers are frustrated with the reality of the experience. These deals are symptomatic of a low quality market driven by distrust.

It’s why Martin Lewis has a job; he’s on the side of the customer not getting screwed over by big companies. We founded Rebel because we believe that being on the side of the customer would mean not screwing them over in the first place. 

How did we get here? 

Big Broadband companies love to make big promises about their SUPER FAST SUPER FANTASTIC fibre optic broadband, but here’s what they don’t want you to know: broadband is broadband, whoever you buy it from. Broadband is the physical network that brings the internet to your home via fibre or copper cables. The speeds available to you depend on the infrastructure in your area and most providers are using the same cables to deliver it - Rebel included. We use the same Openreach network as BT, Sky, Vodafone, and the rest. Broadband is a commodity and we don’t pretend otherwise, but there’s more to your home internet experience than the speeds that arrive at your front door. 

When companies sell a commodity product, they have a choice to make: add value in other ways; or cut back on quality, pile it high and sell it cheap. Most do the latter. But don’t be fooled by the cheap price you sign up to - Big Broadband will always find a way to claw back profit in the end. They deploy what we call ‘attract and extract’ tactics, luring customers in with teaser rates and then exploiting them in every way possible to maximise returns. Of course, every company has to make a profit, but in the case of Big Broadband it comes at the customer’s expense. 

How the deal hurts customers 

The deal hurts the customer in two ways: financially and in the quality of their broadband experience. 

Financially, we all know what happens at the end of a fixed-term deal: the price of your broadband suddenly skyrockets. We sign up to the deal thinking we’ll find a new one before this happens, but most customers slip up at some point, paying over the odds for months on end while out of contract - and that is exactly what Big Broadband wants from you. They only become profitable when they start exploiting their loyal customers. 

But the damage actually starts long before then, right at the start of the relationship. If you sign up to a teaser rate, your home internet is doomed to fail. Since your provider isn’t making any money for the duration of the deal, they need to minimise their losses. This means they send outdated equipment and cut back on customer service, so your entire broadband experience is sub-standard. The company just isn’t incentivised to give you a good service, which is why everybody hates their broadband provider.

A market that operates in this deal cycle leaves customers with two choices: 

1. Shop around every 12-24 months for a new deal. We all know there are deals to be had out there, but it’s a lot of time and effort to change broadband provider and you risk an even worse experience, so most customers prefer to stick around (the average tenure of a BT customer is 7.5 years). So your only option is to…  
2. Try to convince your current provider not to screw you over. This usually means spending hours on the phone, being passed from person to person, offered paltry discounts until you finally threaten to leave. Then you have to sign up for another 12-24 months, paying only slightly more than you did before and feeling like you should be grateful for your hard-won ‘victory’. 

Both options are time consuming, exhausting, and ultimately unsatisfying. We think it’s time to rebel against companies that show their customers so little respect. 

What it really means to be on the side of the customer 

Big Broadband companies are in a race to the bottom, competing over speed and price in the hope that they can fleece you later. Meanwhile, customers are having a horrible experience with their broadband and their broadband company. 

We think there’s another way to do business: sell a quality product at a fair price. No tricks, no gimmicks, no dirty tactics. 

In other words, investing in a better customer experience. In home internet terms, that means providing quality Wi-Fi technology (hardware and software) as standard instead of the outdated technology provided by legacy providers. It means offering customer service that actually helps people solve their problems, and even goes the extra mile with things like Network Performance Monitoring to ensure a good connection at all times. Yes, it might appear more expensive at first glance, but sometimes it’s smarter to resist the deals and the endless life admin that goes with them. And when you factor in Big Broadband's punitive price hikes that come at the end of a fixed rate deal, Rebel will even save you money in the long run. 

Rebel is designed to rebuild trust

When we founded Rebel, we rewrote the rulebook because we know the deal cycle is bad for customers, and whatever is bad for customers is bad for business. 

That’s why we offer:

• No teaser rates. When a price is too good to be true, you’ll pay for it later. We don’t want to do business by tricking our customers. Sign up to Rebel and you’ll never be caught out by a huge price hike. 
• Quality products and services. Customers just want Wi-Fi that actually works, so we provide the equipment and customer support that answers their needs. Our customers stick with us because they actually like the service we provide and experience we deliver.

If you’re looking for the fastest broadband at the lowest possible price and you’re willing to sacrifice the quality of the Wi-Fi and woeful customer service, Rebel might not be for you. We’re for the customers that value quality, reliability, and service. And we value your custom in return. 

It’s time to rebuild trust between companies and customers. It’s time for a rebellion.