Despite the fact it can end up saving you hundreds, switching providers is often a bit of a faff — but not when it comes to your mobile phone contract.
In the latest edition of his newsletter, Martin Lewis has revealed a handy trick to ‘slash’ your bill without compromising on data and call allowances.
According to the Money Saving Expert (MSE) founder, a whopping 14 million Brits are out of contract for their phone. And if you’re one of them, it could be costing you.
Many forget their agreement’s end date, continuing to pay the same each month even though the handset is long paid off.
Martin previously called this ‘a dodgy trick that should be banned,’ but since it isn’t, your best recourse is finding out when the contract finishes and shopping around as soon as you’re able to.
To check if you’re eligible to switch to a cheaper plan, he recommends using an initiative created by regulator Ofcom to combat unnecessary loyalty.
All you need to do is text INFO to 85075 and your provider is required to reply letting you know if you’re still locked in with them.
Answers are typically instant, except for Three, Smarty or iD mobile customers (who need to prove identity with their date of birth before receiving one) and those on ‘multiple-phone’ contracts (who need to check directly).
If your contract is up, the response will say something like ‘£0 early termination/cancellation charge’. Then, as long as you don’t need a new phone, you can swap to a Sim-only deal that’s a fraction of the price.
Cheapest mobile phone contracts
In terms of where to switch to, MSE says Lebara – a network using Vodafone signal – currently offers the cheapest deals.
Its most budget-friendly plan comes with 5GB data per month along with unlimited minutes and texts and free roaming in Europe and a £15 high street gift card, all for just £1 a month for up to three months and £4.90 a month after that (averaging out to £2.68 a month over the first year).
Additionally, as it’s a rolling contract, you can cancel at any time — even during the three-month introductory period.
If you’d prefer more data, the next-cheapest option, also from Lebara, features 35GB data and all the same bells and whistles as above at an average of £3.47 a month (when factoring in the £1.50 monthly cost for the first three months, £6.90 thereafter and £25 gift card you get for joining).
Whichever plan you go for, make sure you do your homework before signing on the dotted line, and don’t assume more data means a better deal; the majority of people actually use about 3GB, so it’s worth checking how much of your allowance you typically burn through.
If you’re happy with your current service, you might also want to consider calling up the network and asking them to drop their price to get you to stay.
Katerina, who took Martin’s advice and switched, said: ‘I’ve now saved £324 a year on my monthly contract price and even managed to stay on the same network.’
Not bad for a simple text.
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