Top 10 ways to slash your mobile phone bill!

85% of us are getting ripped off by mobile phone deals. Here's how to make sure it doesn't happen to you.

The sheer number of mobile phone deals on offer these days is pretty overwhelming. That’s why it’s really easy to choose the wrong one for you, and end up paying a lot more than you should.

We’ve become accustomed to switching energy providers and car insurance every year, but can you say the same about your mobile phone contract?

Related how-to guide

Spend less on your mobile

Hate receiving your mobile phone bill every month? Don't put up and shut up - find out how to slash that bill and cut your costs!

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If you stick with the same provider for years, your tariff will, without question, start to lag behind. After all, this is a ferociously competitive market with ever more attractive deals continually coming onto the market.

And according to Consumer Focus, there are more than nine million deals available, so it’s hardly surprising many of us get it right. In fact, 85% of Brits are already paying too much.

To cut your costs, join our Spend less on your mobile goal and make sure your contract offers good value for money. Here’s how to do the latter:

Getting the best mobile phone deal

Before you sign up

1. Don’t be tempted to sign up to a contract at a high street shop. The same deals will often be available for significantly less online. Better still you could earn as much as £100 cashback by buying your phone via a cashback website. You can find out how in Get up to £100 off a mobile phone.

2. If you plan to switch networks, check there’s decent coverage in your area first. You can do this easily at the Ofcom website. (Ofcom is the communications regulator). Check out the coverage checkers for each of the five main mobile phone providers to find out how strong the signal should be. And, most importantly, check whether you can return the handset and cancel the new contract if coverage turns out to be poor.

3. Find out whether any new contract entitles you to free upgrades in the future, and asked how you’ll be notified if and when they become available.

Cutting your costs

4. If you’re quite happy with the handset you already have, consider a SIM-only deal. Not only will you avoid tying yourself into a lengthy contract - most SIM-only deals are operated on a 30-day rolling contract - but you’ll often get loads of free minutes and texts for your money.

SIM-only tariffs can be much cheaper than deals on a long contract. For example, Talk Mobile is currently offering the SIMple texter SIM-only deal which includes 300 texts and 50 anytime cross network minutes for just £7.50 a month.

What’s more, if you find a better deal elsewhere you can sign up without incurring any nasty penalties from your SIM-only provider. But, on the downside, these deals mean no fancy handset upgrades later on.

5. Luckily, there are several super simple ways you can keep your mobile bills down. For example, while online billing is the norm these days, some providers still charge for itemised paper bills. If your provider charges for this service make sure you switch to paperless billing. You should also put a bar on premium rate phone calls if you don’t ever use them.

6. And give mobile phone insurance a miss. These policies are normally very expensive for the protection they provide. And, worse still, they’re notoriously difficult to claim on successfully which means the cover isn’t really worth the paper it’s written on.

Check your home insurance policy and find out whether mobile phones are already covered. If not you may be able to add some extra cover on. You may even decide insurance isn’t necessary. After all, it may be better to put some money aside to cover the cost of replacing your handset if it is stolen, lost or damaged.  

Switching your deal

7. Switching your contract really is the best way to shave pounds off your bills each month. There are plenty of online comparison websites which will help you do that such as Recombu, Omio and Mobiles.co.uk. I think you should also give the new BillMonitor site a whirl. This is the only Ofcom accredited comparison service available for mobile phones.

Uniquely, the BillMonitor tool is actually capable of analysing your online mobile phone bills to calculate where you can make savings, and find the perfect fit for a new contract. All you need to do is give the site permission to access your bills and away you go. Nifty eh?

This is a great feature for helping you choose a contract which is better suited to your actual phone usage. After all, there’s no point in shelling out for a deal which includes 600 minutes a month if you only use 150. Most people overestimate how much they use their phones which can only mean one thing - you’ll be paying out for things you don’t actually use.

Just bear in mind BillMonitor can only analyse contracts. It can’t yet compare pay-as-you-go deals, although this option is coming soon.

8. Next you should always beware of choosing a deal on the basis of freebies such as cashback games consoles or netbooks. Cashback is a particularly bad example. Of course it sounds very tempting, but actually claiming the money can be incredibly difficult, especially if you’re expected to send in your bills at specific times to qualify for the offer. Miss one and you’ll probably find the cashback disappears into thin air.

If you really want cashback make sure you choose a contract which enables you to receive it automatically upfront, rather than waiting months on end - and jumping through hoops - before you get it.

9. Stay on the ball by making a note of when your new contract expires so you can repeat the switching process if necessary. This will enable you to take advantage of the latest competitive deals. Don’t rely on your friendly provider to get in touch with you when your contract is up!

10. If you really don’t want to switch provider and you have been with them for some time, try haggling instead, and see if you can negotiate a better deal with them in return for keeping your business. You should compare deals then ask your current provider to match (or even beat!) the most competitive one.

Finally, if you need more help cutting back the costs of your mobile phone, don't forget to ask the lovemoney.com community for help using our excellent Q&A forum. And check out The top five worst mobile phone scams! for more tips on how to avoid getting ripped-off using your mobile abroad and pricey 08 numbers.

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