News - UK spends £3.5 bn a year on extra mobile phone charges

[HEXUS]

A new report reckons we each give operators almost £200 a year more than we should.

Read more.

[Saracen]

The "fail to use the full allowance offered by said tariff" is a large part of the reason why I gave up a contract phone and went PAYG.

But I agree with the (HEXUS) article - the picture is more complex than the headline figure would suggest. There's probably a large element of truth in the allegations though, even if the headline figure itself is an exaggeration.

[aidanjt]

Meh, networks have been gouging the consumers for over a decade. Everything from the cross-network fees, to SMS charges, and exaggerated tarrifs. It's no wonder the likes of Vodafone turns over tens of billions a year.

[TheAnimus]

I never thought so many people would buy £600 phones. Let alone the number who paid £1,800 for the original iPhone, that was a complete half baked turd.

As such I wouldn't be remotely surprised if this number rises! If your wanting the latest phone, on what is effectively credit, then prepare to be gouged by the networks.

[tickedon]

Let alone the number who paid £1,800 for the original iPhone

Err... what?

The original iPhone was priced at £269 with £35, £45 or £55 per month options on a 18 month contracts... so the most expensive option would be £1259. That also ignores the special £99 upgrade for the iPhone 3G (your 18 month period then restarted also) when it first came out, which would significantly reduce the effective cost of that original iPhone.

Anyway... would tend to agree that while there is some truth in the statement, I think the headline savings are likely much much lower.

[crossy]

When we take out a £35 per month contract it's not necessarily because we need all the minutes that come with it, it's because we want the handset for ‘free'.

Hmm, I'm very sure that this isn't the case for quite a few people. Personally speaking I know I'm not getting the best use from my £30/month contract - basically because I use a lot of data, less text messages, and hardly and talk-time (the fact that voice calls to other networks/landlines are excluded from the inclusive minutes being the one reason for this).

Now if someone had done a contract with 1GB data, 200-300 texts and 60 minutes talk time, then that'd definitely be better value for me. But no-one was doing that, and in fact, I'm not sure that there's something like that available (maybe T-Mobile with some combo of add-ons).

I'd vote for proper "menu" pricing - so you start out with (for example) 200MB data, 100 texts and 60 minutes talk time. Want a free phone? That'll be another £5/month. Need more data, that's another £5, etc. Plus - to the benefit of the phone companies - that kind of flexibility would make the job of price comparison sites very difficult.

Still, my contract's not up until June next year, so maybe by then there will be a "better" plan available.

[Gordy]

The amount of my clients who pay massively over the odds for mobile contacts/broadband and tv packages is scary. I try to help out those I see, but really unless you keep on top of it yourself, and regularly renew/research the best options out there you are going to have issues.

The classic instance seems to be people still paying £35 a month for very few minutes and a terrible old nokia.