Grain’s half price offer gives the least to its cheapest package
Grain has put some of its full fibre packages on a half price deal, and how long the discount runs depends on which one you take. ISPreview reports that new customers on the entry level 250Mbps package, normally £19.99 a month, pay £9.99 for the first month of a 24 month term. The 500Mbps tier gets three months at half price, the 900Mbps tier six, and the top 2Gbps package nine, at £15.99 a month before it steps up to £31.99 for the remaining fifteen. The promotion is expected to run for the whole of September.
So the headline is up to nine months. The up to is doing most of the work. The more you agree to spend each month, the longer the discount runs, which is the reverse of the way most people read an offer like this.
What the discount is actually worth
On the figures ISPreview lists, the entry package is a single ten pound saving spread across two years. The 2Gbps package takes about sixteen pounds a month off for nine months, which is roughly £144 over the same term. That is a real difference, but only if 2Gbps was the package you wanted anyway. Paying more each month to unlock a longer discount leaves you ahead on the offer and behind on the bill.
There is a gap in the reporting, too. The standard monthly prices for the 500Mbps and 900Mbps tiers are not in the report, so there is no way to tell from it what three months and six months off are worth on those two. Ask Grain for the standard price before you judge the discount.
What happens when the discount ends
The step up is the part to put in a calendar. On the top package the bill roughly doubles in month ten, from £15.99 to £31.99, and stays there for the rest of the term. That is not a mid contract price rise in the usual sense: ISPreview notes that Grain pledges no mid contract hikes, with first term discounts not counted, so the standard price was always the deal and the half price months were a window on top of it. It lands on your statement the same way, though, which is why our guide to broadband price rises is worth reading before a two year term rather than nine months into one.
If Grain has not built your street then none of this applies, and only a checker knows either way. Our availability checker will tell you which networks reach your address, our cheapest full fibre deals guide compares offers on what the whole term costs rather than what the first month does, and the Grain Connect page has what we hold on the network itself.
One caution. This is one outlet reporting one promotion, the terms above are as ISPreview described them, and offer terms move. Check the current ones with Grain before you commit to twenty four months of anything.