The promo cliff: why your internet bill quietly climbs after 12 to 24 months
The number that won you as a customer was never the number you were going to keep paying.
There is a particular kind of internet price increase that arrives without a letter, without a call, and without anything changing about your service.
You signed up at one number. Twelve to twenty-four months later, the bill reads a very different number, and the internet is exactly the same internet. Nothing broke. Nothing upgraded. A clock simply ran out, and the clock was always going to run out, because it was set the day you signed.
That is the promo cliff, and it is worth understanding properly, because once you can see it, you can plan around it. The timing of the cliff turns out to be the single most useful piece of leverage a household has.
- The promo cliff is the scheduled jump when an introductory internet rate expires, typically after 12 to 24 months.
- It is a pricing model, not an accident: providers win customers on a low rate and rely on inertia once it resets.
- NotchUp's negotiation data documents the pattern: a plan advertised at $49.99 becoming $89.99 after month 12.
- Your bill usually names the date. The line that says "savings" or "promotional credit" has an expiry attached.
- That expiry date is your leverage window, and it is the moment a pooled cohort has the most power too.
Why the internet price increase is scheduled, not accidental
The increase is scheduled because the discount was never a price. It was an acquisition cost. Providers compete hard for new customers, so the advertised rate is set low enough to win the signup, with a defined term attached: usually 12 months, sometimes 24. When the term ends, the plan reverts to its regular rate, and the regular rate was doing the real work all along.
NotchUp, a service that has run more than 14,000 Canadian telecom negotiations, documents the shape of it plainly: a plan advertised at $49.99 that becomes $89.99 after twelve months. The number that won the customer is not the number they end up paying. And because the reset arrives quietly, on autopay, in a month like any other, most households absorb it without ever quite registering that it happened.
The discount was never a price. It was the cost of acquiring you.
How to spot your own cliff before it lands
Your bill usually tells you, in small print. Look for a line called "promotional credit", "savings", "discount", or a bundle credit with a duration beside it. Somewhere near it is a date, or a phrase like "for 12 months". That date is your cliff. If the bill does not show it, your original order confirmation email does, and the provider's account page usually lists the term under your plan details.
Two other tells are worth knowing. If your bill has been creeping up by small amounts, a few dollars at a time, that is ordinary rate drift and it is separate from the cliff, which arrives as one distinct step. And if you have been a customer for more than two years without ever renegotiating, you are almost certainly past your cliff already, paying the full regular rate that the promo once masked.
What the reset actually costs over a contract
The honest way to compare internet plans is not the advertised monthly rate but the 24-month total. Take the documented example: twelve months at $49.99 and twelve at $89.99 comes to about $1,680 over two years, an effective rate of roughly $70 a month. The $49.99 on the banner was true for exactly half the story. Any plan you are offered deserves the same arithmetic before you judge it, because the cliff is where the real price hides.
| Period | Rate | ('n', 'Cost') |
|---|---|---|
| Months 1 to 12 | $49.99 / mo | $599.88 |
| Months 13 to 24 | $89.99 / mo | $1,079.88 |
| 24-month total | $1,679.76 | |
| Effective monthly rate | ≈ $70 |
What you can do about it, alone
The standard advice is real: call before the cliff, not after. A contract approaching its end is the one moment a retention agent has genuine room to move, because you are cheap to keep and expensive to reacquire. Ask for the current new-customer rate, name a competitor's price, and be genuinely willing to switch. It works often enough to be worth an hour of your year.
But notice what the fix amounts to: a recurring appointment to argue with a call centre, every 12 to 24 months, forever, with your leverage resetting to zero each time. The cliff is a system, and the phone call is a patch.
The cliff is a system. The phone call is a patch.
The other thing the expiry date is good for
Here is the reframe worth taking away. The expiry date on your promo is not just a warning, it is a coordinate. It says exactly when you will be free to move, which is exactly when providers will compete for you. One household at that moment has a little leverage. A few hundred households in the same region, all reaching that window around the same time, have a great deal of it, because now the providers are bidding for a group that is genuinely free to leave.
That is precisely how Whollar organises its cohorts: by region, and by when contracts come up for renewal. Members join free, providers bid for the group in a reverse auction, and nobody is ever obligated to accept an offer. The promo cliff stops being a trap that catches you and becomes the schedule the group moves on.
Find your date. That date is your leverage.
Pull up your bill and look for the credit with an expiry. Whenever it lands, that is when your side of the table gets strong, and it is stronger still with your neighbours beside you. The first cohorts are forming now, region by region, timed to exactly these windows.
Free for households · nothing to buy today · you only act if a bid comes back that you want.
Frequently asked questions
Is it normal for an internet price to go up after a year?
Yes, in the sense that it is standard practice. Most Canadian internet plans are sold on an introductory rate with a 12 or 24 month term, after which the price reverts to the regular rate. It is not a billing error, it is how the plans are designed, which is exactly why it is worth planning around.
How do I find out when my internet promo ends?
Check your bill for a line labelled promotional credit, savings, or discount. It usually carries a duration or an end date. If the bill does not show it, your original order confirmation email will, and your online account's plan details page typically lists the term as well.
Can I avoid the increase by calling my provider?
Often, yes, especially if you call shortly before the term ends and are genuinely prepared to switch. Retention agents have the most room to move at that moment. The catch is that whatever you win is another term with another expiry, so the call becomes a recurring chore rather than a fix.
What happens if I just do nothing?
The plan continues at the regular rate, and you keep paying it until you act. Nothing else changes about the service. Over a few years the gap between the promo rate and the regular rate typically adds up to hundreds of dollars for an identical connection.