September’s back-to-school fiber and mobile deals jump in price after the first year — and almost nobody notices until the bill arrives.
It happens every September. Carriers launch their “back-to-school war”: fiber from €10, full packages under €20, deals that look like a steal compared to what you’ve been paying for the last three years. A self-employed worker or a small shop sees the ad, switches thinking they’ve saved money, and forgets about it.
Until the month-13 bill shows up.
This September, Movistar is advertising 300 Mb fiber at €19.90 for the first year — then €30. MásOrange offers a full package (1 Gb fiber, 90+ channels and a landline) at €35 for twelve months, then €49 from month thirteen. Digi is running a student promo at €10 a month. None of these offers are lies or illegal small print: all of them state, somewhere, when the launch price ends. The problem isn’t that they’re misleading. The problem is that almost nobody writes that date down anywhere.
What has changed this September (and what hasn’t)
What’s changed: most of these promotions no longer require a commitment period. You can leave whenever you want, with no penalty. That’s genuinely good news, and it’s worth saying so plainly.
What hasn’t changed: no commitment period doesn’t mean no price increase. Without a lock-in, the carrier can’t force you to stay and keep paying more. But it also won’t call you to warn you that, from month thirteen, the same contract costs €14 more a month. That part is still on you.
Month 13 doesn’t show up in the ad
And we see this every week: businesses that switched carriers a year or two ago, drawn in by a September deal, and have been paying the “normal” price for months without realizing when the promotion ended. It’s not that they didn’t know it would go up — it was in the contract. It’s that nobody remembers to check an internet bill a year after signing it, especially when it’s paid by direct debit.
Do the math with the MásOrange full package example: €35 a month for the first year, €49 from the second year on. That’s a €14 monthly difference, €168 a year, indefinitely, until someone looks at the bill again or decides to switch once more.
Before you sign (or let it auto-renew), do this
1. Put the exact date your promotional price ends on a calendar — any calendar, your phone’s works fine — not the date you started the contract.
2. Ask in writing, before signing, what the price is “after the promotion.” If the salesperson won’t say it clearly, ask twice.
3. When that date arrives, compare the new price with what’s on the market that same month — not with what was on the market when you signed.
4. If you do switch, ask what happens to the router and the landline number if you want to move again later.
There’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of a September deal. The problem is signing it without knowing when or by how much it will go up, and finding out a year later on a bill nobody looked at closely.
Do you already know what price you’ll be paying in month 13 of the contract you just signed — or the one you’ve been paying without checking for a while?
Twenty years teaches you a lot: among other things, how to watch the same September deal repeat itself almost every year, with the same fine print. We’re not a rate comparison site and we won’t tell you which carrier to pick — what we do is review what you already have, or what you’re about to sign, so the price you see in the ad is the price you actually pay. If you want us to take a look at your contract before you sign anything, get in touch.
