Money saving expert Martin Lewis has revealed a simple tip to save “shed loads” of money ahead of a rise in mobile phone network prices. In a video posted on his social media, he urged his followers to send a free text which would inform them if they were able to switch networks.
“Why not text INFO to 85075, it’s free and it will tell you whether you’re one of 14 million people in the UK who are currently out of contract and therefore free to switch and can likely save a shed load,” he said. He noted that the text may not work for those with multiple phones on one household contract, but added that if you’ve been with the same provider for more than two years, you are likely out of contract.
His comments come shortly before mobile phone networks are expected to rise by around eight per cent at the beginning of April. This comes on top of hikes of up to 17.3 per cent last year, meaning that someone on a standard two-year contract paying £20 a month at the start of 2023 could soon be paying over £25 a month.
Describing it as “absolutely outrageous”, Mr Lewis said he had written and lobbied to the chancellor to end above-inflation, mid-contract rises. Major providers including BT, EE, O2, Sky, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone have all confirmed rises for this spring.
“It’s a really good opportunity to see if you can save,” he said. “As for what you can get, the best deals aren’t direct, they’re going through comparison sites where they put marketing budget into giving you cheaper prices. You can currently get 100 gig of data a month SIM for less than a tenner a month and a lot of people are paying far more for less.”
He reminded consumers that there are only four mobile networks in the UK, with all others piggybacking off one of those four. He advised using comparison tools to find the cheapest deal on the signal you currently have.
