HiHi Contract Length Explained: Why It's Often 5-7 Years

"I Thought I Signed a 3-Year Contract"

That single sentence appears, in some form, in dozens of 1-star reviews on uk.trustpilot.com/review/hihi.co.uk and uk.trustpilot.com/review/4com.co.uk. The customer believes they signed a 3-year, sometimes 2-year, sometimes 5-year telecoms deal. The paperwork — when they actually read it months later — shows something different. Often a service contract on one term and a separate handset finance lease on a much longer term, frequently 84 months (7 years).

This article explains why HiHi contract lengths look the way they do, the structure that creates the surprise, and exactly what to check on your paperwork before you sign anything new — including any "upgrade" your current 4Com or HiHi account manager offers you.

We are Compare The Networks, an independent OFCOM-regulated business telecoms comparison service since 2008. We are not affiliated with HiHi, 4Com, BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions or Propel Finance.

The Two-Contract Structure

Almost every HiHi installation is built on two parallel agreements. Until you understand this, the contract length question is unanswerable.

Contract A: The Service Agreement

This sits between you and HiHi or 4Com. It covers the things that look like telephony to you — calls, line rental, the cloud platform, mobile SIMs if bundled, broadband if bundled, software updates, support tickets. Common term lengths reported on Trustpilot are 36, 48 or 60 months.

Contract B: The Handset Finance Lease

This sits between you and a third-party leasing company — typically BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions or Propel Finance, named explicitly in publicly posted Trustpilot reviews and a 2025 BBC investigation. It covers the HiHi handsets themselves, the central base unit, and sometimes the software licence. Common term: 84 months (7 years). It is non-cancellable in the legal sense — once you sign, the rentals are committed for the full term unless the finance company chooses to settle early.

The two terms rarely match. A 36-month service contract bolted onto an 84-month lease is a 7-year commercial commitment from your perspective, even though no single document says "7 years" on the front page.

See 4Com finance agreement trap and 4Com 7-year contracts for the deeper anatomy of this structure on the 4Com side, which is how most HiHi handsets reach customers.

Why 7 Years for the Hardware?

From the customer's perspective, 7 years is unusual for a touchscreen desk phone. The hardware itself is similar to a Yealink T5-series or a Poly Edge — kit you can buy outright for a few hundred pounds and expect 5 to 7 years of service life from. So why a 7-year lease at hundreds of pounds per month?

Two reasons reviewers and independent commentators consistently describe:

1. It Makes the Monthly Payment Look Smaller

A handset that costs £2,100 over 84 months sounds like £25 per month. The same handset on a 24-month lease would sound like £87.50 per month. The longer term lets the salesperson say a smaller monthly number.

2. It Locks In Margin

The reseller is paid a commission against the total contract value. A longer lease = a bigger commission. The structure is rational from the seller's perspective. From the buyer's perspective, it commits them to 7 years of payments on hardware that may be obsolete or replaced before the term ends.

The BBC's 2025 investigation into 4Com referenced cases where independent telecoms experts said the prices charged were "grossly inflated, in some cases several times higher than typical market rates." 4Com strongly denies any wrongdoing and says the cited examples represent less than 1% of its 17,000 clients.

The "Upgrade" Trap — Why the Clock Resets

This is the single most important section of this article. If you take only one thing away, take this.

Reviewers repeatedly describe being offered, at around the 18 to 24 month mark, a free upgrade. A new model HiHi (HiHi3 instead of HiHi2, or HiHi4 instead of HiHi3), perhaps a new feature, perhaps a small monthly saving. The upgrade is presented as a tweak — sign here, no real change.

What reviewers describe finding later is that the upgrade was a new 84-month lease that replaced or supplemented the original. The clock starts again. Where they had 60 months left, they suddenly have 84. Where they thought they were a third of the way through their commitment, they are back at the start.

If a 4Com or HiHi account manager calls offering an upgrade, the question to ask, in writing, before signing anything, is: "Will this upgrade reset, extend or replace any existing finance lease, and if so, what is the new term length and the new total contract value over the full term?"

Get that answer back in writing, by email. Not over the phone. Verbal answers do not survive a CISAS hearing six months later.

How to Check Your Own Contract Length — Step by Step

If you are currently a HiHi or 4Com customer and want to know exactly what you have signed, follow this process.

1. Email — Do Not Phone

Send a written request to your HiHi / 4Com account manager and to the customer service mailbox. Ask for:

A copy of every signed agreement on your account (service, finance, maintenance, every variation)
The original signature date for each
The end date of each
The current monthly charge for each
The early termination or early settlement figure if you were to leave today

2. Email the Finance Company Separately

You also need to write directly to BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions or Propel Finance — whichever appears on your direct debit. HiHi cannot give you the lease end date authoritatively; only the finance company can. Their contact details are on the lease document.

3. Cross-Check the End Dates

Lay the agreements next to each other. The service contract end date and the lease end date are very rarely the same. Whichever ends later is your real exit date.

4. Check for Auto-Renewal Clauses

Most HiHi service contracts auto-renew unless you give written notice in a defined window — often 90 days before the renewal date. Miss the window and the contract rolls over for another full term. This is one of the most cited issues in 1-star reviews. See Leave HiHi for the notice process.

5. Check for "Co-Terminus" Language

Some paperwork says the maintenance is "coterminous" with the service. Some says the lease is "coterminous" with the service. Coterminous means they end on the same date. If a clause says coterminous but the dates do not match on your direct debits, ask why in writing.

Why Business Contracts Have No Cooling-Off Period

Consumer contracts have a 14-day cooling-off period under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. Business-to-business contracts do not. A sole trader, micro-business, freelancer or limited company signing a HiHi deal is treated as a business — there is no statutory right to cancel within 14 days.

The right that does apply is misrepresentation law (Misrepresentation Act 1967). If you were induced to sign by a false or misleading statement — wrong term length, undisclosed finance company, hidden total cost — the contract can be challenged. That is the basis of most CISAS misselling claims. See HiHi misselling and 4Com no cooling-off period.

The practical implication is that the time to discover your real contract length is before you sign. Reviewers who only realise the structure of their HiHi deal months later have to pursue formal complaints rather than simply ringing up to cancel.

What a Normal Business VoIP Contract Looks Like

For comparison, here is what the rest of the UK business VoIP market looks like in 2026.

CTN VoIP: 24 months, all-in monthly price, handsets included or rented transparently, OFCOM-compliant £-and-pence annual increase clause
Major hosted VoIP brands (8x8, RingCentral, Vonage Business): typically 12 to 36 months, separate hardware decisions
plan.com / Daisy / Gamma resellers: usually 24 to 36 months on the service, with handsets bought outright or rented on a coterminous schedule
Microsoft Teams Calling, Google Voice: monthly or annual, no hardware lease

Nobody else in the market is selling 84-month handset leases as a standard B2B small-business arrangement. The HiHi / 4Com structure is an outlier.

What to Insist On Before You Renew

If your HiHi contract is approaching its renewal window and you are tempted to stay, insist — in writing — on the following before signing.

A single integrated total cost for the full term, in £ and pence, including handsets, service, maintenance, support, finance interest and any add-ons.
Matched terms. If the service is 36 months, the handset financing should be 36 months too — not 84.
An OFCOM-compliant annual price rise clause in £ and pence (e.g. "£X.XX + VAT per line per month each April"), not CPI-linked. CPI-linked rises were banned for consumer contracts from January 2025; the industry has largely moved to £-and-pence on B2B too.
Explicit statement of all parties. If a third-party finance company is involved, name it on the cover sheet, not buried in clause 14(c).
A 14-day review window in writing. B2B has no statutory cooling-off, but nothing stops you negotiating one. If the salesperson refuses, that itself tells you something.

If any of those five are refused, walk away and get a free comparison from CTN. We will price the same requirement on a transparent 24-month basis.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is a typical HiHi contract?

The service contract is commonly 36, 48 or 60 months. The separate handset finance lease — held by a third party such as BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions or Propel Finance — is commonly 84 months (7 years). The longer of the two is your real commitment date.

Can a HiHi contract really be 7 years?

The combined effect of the two-contract structure is a 7-year commercial commitment for many customers. Reviewers on Trustpilot and a 2025 BBC investigation describe this consistently. 4Com strongly denies misselling and says the cited examples represent less than 1% of its client base.

How do I find my real HiHi contract end date?

Email HiHi / 4Com for copies of every signed agreement and end date. Email the finance company (BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions or Propel Finance) separately for the lease end date. Take the later of the two — that is your real exit date.

Does an upgrade from HiHi3 to HiHi4 reset my contract?

Reviewers describe upgrades resetting the underlying 84-month lease. Before signing any upgrade, ask in writing: "Will this upgrade reset, extend or replace any existing finance lease, and what is the new term length and total contract value?" Do not accept a verbal answer.

Is there a cooling-off period on a HiHi contract?

No. Business-to-business contracts do not carry the statutory 14-day cooling-off period that consumers get. Your right of challenge is misrepresentation law and the CISAS adjudication scheme — see our HiHi misselling guide.

Compare the Real Length Against the Real Market

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About this article. Claims reported here are attributed to public reviews on Trustpilot and similar platforms. They represent the opinions of the reviewers cited, not statements of fact by Compare The Networks. Brands named may dispute these claims. If you are a brand representative who believes any content requires correction, please contact us.

HiHi Contract Length Explained: Why It’s Often 5-7 Years & How to Check (2026)