O2 to hike mobile bills by 2.7% charging millions of customers up to £11 more a year
MILLIONS of O2 customers will be hit with 2.7 per cent price hikes from April, the mobile network has confirmed.
The increase is in line with January's retail prices index (RPI), measure of inflation, as announced earlier this month.
For some customers, for example those with O2's priciest "Unlimited Airtime" tariff at £35 a month, it means prices will rise by 95p each month, or by £11.34 over the year.
According to O2, the average increase across all its customers is 62p a month - or £7.44 a year.
The increase applies to all pay-monthly tariffs taken out or upgraded since January 23, 2014, including standard, mobile broadband, and Sim-only tariffs, regardless of the contract length.
While O2 would not confirm exactly how many people are affected, it said it would be millions. It has 23million UK customers.
How to avoid the mobile hike
HERE'S what action you can take to try to avoid Three's price rise:
If you're in contract - haggle your price down
If you're still in contract with O2 you may not be allowed to leave your contract penalty free as a result of the increase.
Mobile users can typically only cancel their contract if an increase is what regulator Ofcom deems is "of material detriment" to them, and an inflation linked increase is unlikely to fit this bill.
If you find yourself stuck, your best option will be to haggle your price down. Use a mobile comparison site, such as to see if you could save by switching elsewhere.
Then take this to O2 and argue that cheaper prices elsewhere, alongside a price hike, mean you're not happy with the service provided.
If you're out of contract and want to stay - also haggle
Again, compare prices elsewhere and then come armed with the facts when you're talking to a customer service rep.
If it won't budge on price, see if you could get extra minutes, texts, data or freebies such as Spotify or Apple Music chucked in.
Switch to a Sim-only deal if you're out of contract
If you're out of contract, check if you can save by switching elsewhere.
You can either take out a new contract or, if you now own the handset outright, consider getting a cheap rolling Sim-only tariff.
These can start from around just £5 a month.
For O2 Refresh customers, whose bill is split into the cost of minutes, texts and data they are paying for, called the Airtime Plan, and the cost of the device itself, the increase will only apply to the Airtime costs.
O2’s Refresh plans allow users to shorten their contract length but pay more each month.
If you are unhappy about the price hikes and you are on a Refresh contract, you can cancel your contract at any time and you won't be charged anything extra.
Your final bill will include any out-of-bundle charges you have incurred before you cancelled and, if you terminate your airtime contract before paying off the cost of your device in full, your final bill will also include the lump sum you still owe.
But if you are on a standard contract, you will be charged a termination fee, which varies depending on your contract and how much of it is left to go.
Pay as you go customers are not impacted by the RPI changes.
A spokesperson for O2 said: “The annual RPI adjustment this year is 2.7 per cent. Unlike some other operators that apply RPI increases to bundled tariffs, increasing both the handset and airtime costs, O2 Refresh customers only have this rate applied to their Airtime Plan.
“We’re contacting our customers to let them know the change, which will be reflected from their April bill.”
Customers receive their April bills in early May and are being notified of the increase from today.
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And Martin Lewis has raved about super cheap Sim-only mobile deals that cost from £5 a month.