Mobile Contract Annual Renewal - The Cheek!

Richie

Richie

Richie

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Bit of background that most people are probably aware of - Last year, Ofcom decided to ban inflation linked annual price increases and decided that they need to show precise amounts in £ and pennies. Bearing in mind that mobile companies were tagging on 3.9% on top of the inflation figure (might vary dependant on your operator but I am using EE, who is mine)

The companies used December CPI figures as their benchmark to set the increases.

I just had a text message from my operator saying my bill is increasing by £xx.xx amount from 1st March so I thought I would have a quick look, because I'm a cynical ******* :o

If they used the old system (CPI+3.9%) then my bill rises by 7.3% (3.4% Dec CPI + 3.9%)
My bill is actually increasing by 8.7%

It's pennies to me but all adds up for the operators over lots of customers.... Who'd a thunk that companies will take the **** out of their customer's off the back of Ofcom trying to make it fairer :rolleyes:


I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences as they receive their increases and how it compares to what it would have been under the old inflation linked system.
 
EE are slimy ********. I'm with them now, but I suspect I will be moving away once they notify me of their price increases.

Our contracts expired a while ago, but I'm holding out to April to avoid these price increases.
 
Well I was going to start a new thread about this but I'll join this one. I'm also with EE and they are adding £2.50 to my monthly fee from March. I own my phone and have a SIM only plan with EE. I pay £15 a month now for 10GB data. So £17.50 for 10GB which is absolutely absurd. I am planning to leave EE but for whom? Are MVNOs better to jump to than EE/O2/Three/Vodafone etc?

I don't really need lots of data, perhaps between 10 and 20GB. Is Giffgaff my best option or Smarty, if MVNOs are the way to go for me?
 
Thekwango said:
There’s plenty of options out there that avoid have these crappy mid contract rises.
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I know. But none of them are major networks.
KIA said:
Lebara.
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Just got one of their SIMs yesterday to test it out... :D

For context: I currently pay £18 a month for 30GB and EU roaming for two SIMs (£9 each) with EE. Both contracts have expired.
 
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It is slightly amusing to me, in that I loathe the RPI+ approach they used to use.

However, as my bill is about £7 per month, it going up by even 10% isn't too bad. Any of the new deals they want to sign me up to would have £2+ added to the bill, which is colossal.

So for now I'm sticking with my RPI+ contract.

In the main, I think buy your own phone and MVNO is the way to go, though you do have to be a bit careful with things like eSIMs and WiFi calling etc - the budget MVNOs sometimes skip entire features that I'd be keen to keep.
 
MarcLister said:
Well I was going to start a new thread about this but I'll join this one. I'm also with EE and they are adding £2.50 to my monthly fee from March. I own my phone and have a SIM only plan with EE. I pay £15 a month now for 10GB data. So £17.50 for 10GB which is absolutely absurd. I am planning to leave EE but for whom? Are MVNOs better to jump to than EE/O2/Three/Vodafone etc?

I don't really need lots of data, perhaps between 10 and 20GB. Is Giffgaff my best option or Smarty, if MVNOs are the way to go for me?
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Checkout 1p mobile, they use the EE network
 
MarcLister said:
Well I was going to start a new thread about this but I'll join this one. I'm also with EE and they are adding £2.50 to my monthly fee from March. I own my phone and have a SIM only plan with EE. I pay £15 a month now for 10GB data. So £17.50 for 10GB which is absolutely absurd. I am planning to leave EE but for whom? Are MVNOs better to jump to than EE/O2/Three/Vodafone etc?

I don't really need lots of data, perhaps between 10 and 20GB. Is Giffgaff my best option or Smarty, if MVNOs are the way to go for me?
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I was in a similar situation with EE - 30GB plan for £20 or something until last June when I renewed my SIM only plan with them after thinking of leaving. They weren't able to offer any better deals when I spoke to their regular customer service until I requested a PAC code to leave, which then the EE retention team called me immediately. They offered a much better deal, which apparently only the retention team can get access to, of a 24 month contract with unlimited data and EU roaming for £12 a month, so staying with them was a no brainer.

It is going up in March, as expected, to £13.50, so won't be as good as my first year of this plan. It's still very good for what I get though.
 
SoundsGood said:
Checkout 1p mobile, they use the EE network
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Will do, thanks. I found out about Mozillion last night but found some quite negative reviews. It would be nice to stay on the EE network so 1p mobile is tempting. I was paying £10.80 a month in January 2025 and it went up to £11.48 in April so not sure where this £15 came from and then the impending £2.50 increase.
Nabinium said:
I was in a similar situation with EE - 30GB plan for £20 or something until last June when I renewed my SIM only plan with them after thinking of leaving. They weren't able to offer any better deals when I spoke to their regular customer service until I requested a PAC code to leave, which then the EE retention team called me immediately. They offered a much better deal, which apparently only the retention team can get access to, of a 24 month contract with unlimited data and EU roaming for £12 a month, so staying with them was a no brainer.

It is going up in March, as expected, to £13.50, so won't be as good as my first year of this plan. It's still very good for what I get though.
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30GB for £20 makes my current 10GB for £15 look rubbish. I was also going to leave EE a few years ago for Giffgaff and EE's retention team called me and offered me a really good deal so I decided to stay. They offered me 3GB for £19 and gave me £13 discount I think. Good deal then but with the annual increases it isn't such a good deal anymore.
 
MarcLister said:
Will do, thanks. I found out about Mozillion last night but found some quite negative reviews. It would be nice to stay on the EE network so 1p mobile is tempting. I was paying £10.80 a month in January 2025 and it went up to £11.48 in April so not sure where this £15 came from and then the impending £2.50 increase.

30GB for £20 makes my current 10GB for £15 look rubbish. I was also going to leave EE a few years ago for Giffgaff and EE's retention team called me and offered me a really good deal so I decided to stay. They offered me 3GB for £19 and gave me £13 discount I think. Good deal then but with the annual increases it isn't such a good deal anymore.
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Try leaving them again, so you get through to the retentions team. They might offer a better deal.
 
20gb for £6.95 with Lebara and my spare phone is ID mobile £3.99 think that's only 1gb Data or something. It's just used for Pokémon go though.

I don't think I've seen a price increase in years.
 
MarcLister said:
Call them up you mean? Was just going to ask for PAC by text and then migrate to 1pmobile. Still got a few weeks to research and make my mind up.
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Nah, request the PAC code as you're already planning to do and then the retentions team will usually call you. That's how I spoke to them last year when I got my deal.
 
24GB for £7 on smarty for 15months if you do it before 24th Feb i think.

Nothing beats buying a phone and goong pay&go for me. No RPI rises either. Used to pay vodafone £10 for 5GB and their SIM only tariffs were more expensive and had rises, not sure what they're thinking.
 
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