Student broadband 2025/26 · May 2026
£21
cheapest 12-month broadband (Now Brilliant Fibre)
9 months
BT's purpose-built student contract length
£25
Hyperoptic rolling, in eligible student blocks
£174.50
TV licence 2025/26 (refund for summer months out)
Prices May 2026; verify with each provider before signing up. Availability is postcode-specific.
The four routes to student broadband in 2025/26
Most "student broadband" comparisons miss the point: there are four genuinely different routes to broadband as a student, and the right one depends on where you're living and how long your contract on the property runs.
- 1BT Student Fibre 9-month contract, the only mainstream purpose-built student deal in the UK. Starts September, ends June, no rollover. Verify with a .ac.uk address. ~£30-£45/month depending on speed.
- 2Cheap 12-month contract, Now Broadband Brilliant Fibre at £21/month is the cheapest. Works perfectly if your tenancy is also 12 months (i.e. you keep paying over the summer either way).
- 3Rolling-monthly deal, Cuckoo at £26/month, Hyperoptic at £25/month (in eligible blocks), Now Broadband at £28/month. Higher per-month cost but you can stop whenever. Best for term-only stays.
- 45G mobile broadband, Three 5G Hub at £24/month (24-month), Smarty 5G Wi-Fi SIM at £20/month rolling. Takes the SIM with you when you move; perfect for students who change accommodation each term.
Halls of residence and purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) almost always include broadband in the rent, usually basic and shared with hundreds of other students. If you need consistent speeds for online study, gaming or streaming, a personal line on top is often worth it.
Which student broadband route is cheapest for you?
Enter how many months you'll actually live at the student address, then split the cost between housemates. We'll compare a 9-month BT student deal, a 12-month Now Brilliant Fibre and a rolling-monthly Cuckoo line.
Standard academic year is 9 months. Some tenancies run 10 or 12.
Total tenants sharing the broadband bill.
BT 9-month student
Now Brilliant 12-month
Cuckoo rolling-monthly
BT student requires .ac.uk email verification. Now Broadband 12-month assumes you stay billed all 12 months even if you leave the address earlier. Prices May 2026.
BT Student Broadband: the only purpose-built deal
BT is the only mainstream UK provider still running a dedicated student product in 2025/26. The contract runs 9 months (typically September to June) and ends automatically, no rollover to a standard rate, no early-exit fee at the end of term.
| Package | Speed | Monthly | Setup |
|---|---|---|---|
Student Fibre Essential
|
36 Mbps | £30 | £35 |
|
Student Fibre 2
|
67 Mbps | £35 | £35 |
|
Student Full Fibre 100
|
150 Mbps | £40 | £35 |
|
Student Full Fibre 500
|
500 Mbps | £45 | £35 |
Verified May 2026; BT may relaunch the 2025/26 lineup with revised pricing in late August. Always confirm before signing.
The Smart Hub router is included on all packages. You verify your student status by signing up from a .ac.uk email address, partner or postgraduate students who don't have one can sometimes verify with an enrolment letter via BT support.
Cheap 12-month deals that work well for students
If your tenancy actually runs a full 12 months, the case for most shared houses outside halls, a cheap mainstream 12-month deal is usually cheaper than the BT student option. The contract pays for itself across the academic year, and you typically don't save money trying to cancel for the summer.
| Provider | Deal | Speed | Monthly | Upfront |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Now Broadband |
Brilliant Fibre (12-month) | 36 Mbps | £21 | £0 |
 Onestream |
Superfast Fibre (12-month) | 67 Mbps | £23 | £0 |
 Direct Save Telecom |
Fast Fibre (12-month) | 35 Mbps | £23 | £0 |
 Cuckoo |
Fast Fibre (rolling) | 67 Mbps | £26 | £0 |
Prices verified May 2026 and likely to refresh ahead of the September 2026 academic year.
Don't pay for the summer you're not there
Get the right deal for your academic year
Our broadband team will line up a 9-month, 12-month or rolling deal at your student address and show you which one's cheapest after splitting between housemates.
Halls of residence and purpose-built student accommodation
Most university halls of residence and PBSA (Unite, Vita, iQ, Sanctuary, etc.) include broadband in the rent. Speeds are usually adequate for browsing, video calls and HD streaming, but rarely consistent at peak times when hundreds of students are online at once.
If you're in halls and the included broadband isn't cutting it:
- ✓Hyperoptic has installed in around 700,000 student-block units across the UK. If your block is on the list, you can subscribe to a personal Hyperoptic line from £25/month on a 1-month rolling deal, separate from the building's default broadband.
- ✓5G home broadband, a Three 5G Hub or Smarty 5G Wi-Fi SIM gives you a private connection that doesn't share bandwidth with everyone else in the building. Takes 5 minutes to set up.
- ✓Mobile data tethering, if your phone contract includes generous data and you only need backup, tethering from your phone is the cheapest stop-gap.
Check with your hall's landlord before signing up: a small number of PBSA contracts forbid running parallel broadband services on the building's wiring.
Selectra's 2025/26 student broadband verdict
- ✓Best for 9-month-and-out (private rental): BT Student Fibre Essential at £30/month.
- ✓Cheapest for 12-month shared house: Now Broadband Brilliant Fibre at £21/month, no upfront.
- ✓Best rolling option: Cuckoo Fast Fibre at £26/month or Hyperoptic Fibre 50 at £25/month in eligible blocks.
- ✓Best when you move every term: Smarty 5G Wi-Fi SIM at £20/month rolling. Takes the SIM, takes the router, no install.
- ✓Best for halls of residence with poor included Wi-Fi: Hyperoptic rolling-monthly (in eligible blocks) or a 5G hub.
Selectra's broadband expert answers your questions
The questions UK students ask most about broadband for the academic year.
For most students in private rented accommodation: BT Student Fibre Essential is the only mainstream 9-month contract designed for the academic year (around £30/month for 36 Mbps, set up to align with the September-June term). For shared houses on a 12-month tenancy, Now Broadband Brilliant Fibre at £21/month on a 12-month deal is the cheapest mainstream option. In purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) and city flats, Hyperoptic often beats both at £25/month rolling.
Yes. BT Student Fibre Essential and BT Student Full Fibre are 9-month contracts that start in September and run through to June, with no rollover commitment. You must verify your student status with a .ac.uk email address. Setup is around £35; monthly prices range from £30 to £45 depending on speed. EE (BT's consumer brand) does not run a separate student product.
Yes, if you watch any live TV or BBC iPlayer at your student address. The TV licence (£174.50 for 2025/26) covers any TV you watch in the property, regardless of how many people live there. If you only watch Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Apple TV+ (no live TV, no iPlayer), you do not need one. Students living at home for the summer can apply for a refund of around £50 for the months you're not at the student address.
Yes, but the legal contract sits with whichever name is on it. Most providers won't let you set up a joint account with multiple billpayers, so one housemate signs up and the rest pay them back. Use a free splitting app (Splitwise, Settle Up) to track it. If the named billpayer leaves mid-tenancy, the contract has to be cancelled or transferred, not all providers allow transfer.
Almost never. Landlord bills-included packages typically bundle broadband at £15-£25/month per tenant, multiplied across 4 to 6 housemates, that's £60-£150 a month for the household just for broadband, when a single Now Broadband line at £21/month would serve them all. Bills-included is convenient when you don't want to split the admin, but you almost always pay more for that convenience. If your landlord is flexible, opting out and arranging your own line is usually cheaper.
Your two genuine options for a 9-month-and-out stay are: BT's student 9-month contract (purpose-built, no early-exit hassle) or a rolling-monthly deal from Cuckoo, Now Broadband or Hyperoptic (£26-£32/month, cancel any month). A standard 12-month deal will charge you broadband over the summer even when you're not there, usually around £100 of "wasted" payments. Some providers will let you suspend a line for up to 3 months for a small fee; ask before assuming you have to keep paying.