A new warning has been issued to millions of UK homes, and those who don’t want to face bigger bills next month would be wise not to ignore it. Almost all UK internet service providers (ISPs) are hiking things from April 1st, with many rates going up by as much as £4 per month – that’s over £45 a year. But by shopping around and switching deals, UK broadband users could find they save some serious money.

“Okay, now it’s getting serious. Make sure you don’t overpay on your broadband by switching to a new provider before price rises kick in on 1 April,” explained the team at Uswitch in a message seen by Express.co.uk

Moving isn’t as complicated as it may sound, with all of the biggest ISPs doing all the hard work for you. That’s due to new Ofcom rules that require providers to offer a One Touch Switch service.

“Under the new One Touch Switch process, landline and broadband customers only need to contact their new provider to make the change,” Ofcom explained.

So all you need to do is find a better deal, and everything should be sorted for you.

As a quick guide to some of the offers out there, Sky is currently offering 150Mbps speeds for just £25 per month. Virgin Media also has some very low prices – including 125Mbps for £23.99 – and has confirmed things will not go up until 2027.

There are also plenty of alternative networks offering deals, including Community Fibre, which supplies large parts of London with web access. Prices start from under £20 and are fixed until 2027.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE BEST DEALS

Don’t forget that those claiming Universal Credit can also take advantage of so-called social tariffs which start from around £12 per month.

Along with shopping around, it’s also a good idea to check what speeds you really need. The faster your downloads the more you will pay.

As a quick guide, a couple who simply stream the odd movie, send some emails and surf the web only need speeds of around 70Mbps. A busier household downloading games, working from home, watching Netflix in 4K and chatting on video calls should look at getting speeds of at least 200Mbps.

Remember, your broadband is like a road. The more traffic that runs along it, the slower things can get.