Martin Lewis has issued a warning to mobile phone users ahead of 14% price hikes in April.
Mobile phone bills are set to rise in eight weeks' time and the financial expert highlighted this issue on The Martin Lewis Money Show on Tuesday. 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," said Martin. "That should tell you whether you have termination fees to leave your contract. Sometimes they can't do it, but it's worth checking."
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"Last week I told you broadband and mobile bills are going up 14% in April for most of the big firms," Martin said on his ITV show. "What I want you to do first is I want you to check if you're out of contract. Over 9 million of you are and are overpaying."
He added: "If you're out of contract there are actually some of you - outrageously and this should not be allowed - who got a contract with a handset and once you paid the handset off, they keep the price at the same level so you're still paying the with-handset price even if you're no longer using it."
He continued: "If you want to keep your number, text PAC to 65075 on your old phone, they will send you your PAC code and you use this with your new provider as a way to keep your old number. Of course you could use this as a way to haggle with your existing provider."
He explained that there are only four networks in the UK - EE, O2, Three and Vodafone - and every other mobile provider is "piggybacking on their signal," reports Birmingham Live. Martin added: "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?"
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