Martin Lewis has revealed how you could avoid major increases to your mobile phone bills later this year. The financial journalist said most mobile phone providers would be raising their prices by around 14% from April, leaving many forced to fork out hundreds of extra pounds on their bills.
Speaking on The Martin Lewis Money Show on ITV, Mr Lewis said customers had a number of options available to them when it came to avoiding the increases. He said up to nine million people might be out of contract and overpaying on their current deal.
"What you need to do to check, in most cases, is free text INFO to 85075 on your current phone," he said. "That should tell you whether you have termination fees to leave your contract. Sometimes they can't do it, but it's worth checking." Mr Lewis added that anyone who had termination fees and was within their contract may have to wait it out in order to save money.
Read more: Thousands of people in Wales are missing out on extra £300 a week in benefits
Mr Lewis said people could also switch networks, which gave the opportunity for "huge savings. All you do is change the SIM in your phone, which is your phone's ID. Use a comparison site because they have lots of deals that can be factored in to them," he said, adding that anyone who wanted to keep their number could do so by texting PAC to 65075 on their current phone. He said customers could also use the opportunity to haggle with their provider for a better deal.
For anyone wanting to keep their existing deal, Mr Lewis said it was important to bear in mind that only four different phone signals existed in the UK, covering every provider. "There are only four networks in the UK - EE, O2, Three and Vodafone. Every other mobile provider is piggybacking on their signal.
"Some comparison sites will let you do a comparison limiting to the signal that you get, so you may be able to save money and stick on your signal. I'm not saying it will be exactly the same service - these are different firms, you might not get WiFi calling, you might have to pay for voicemail, you might not get 5G, you might not be able to tether. But the point is, if you're staying where you are solely because you like your signal, why not give one of the piggyback providers, if they're cheaper, a go as well?" To get all the latest money-saving news straight to your inbox twice a week sign up here.
Read next:
