Both phone networks are bumping up monthly contract prices by 1.1% over March and April.
EE and O2 will be increasing their monthly contract prices by 1.1% over March and April.
The price rise is in line with January’s Retail Price Index (RPI) measurement of inflation, which was published last month.
EE: who is affected?
EE (including Orange and T Mobile) pay monthly mobile users who joined or upgraded before 11th February 2015 will see price rises starting on 26th March.
However, EE subscribers who joined or upgraded on or after 11th February 2015 won’t be affected by the change as they’ve only just signed up to a new contract. They will start seeing price rises from March 2016.
Those who joined or upgraded between 23rd January 2014 and 25th March 2014 won’t be affected either. This is because their contracts have conditions which don’t allow EE to change prices mid-term.
The network said that the change will add around 31p a month to the average bill. Pay-as-you-go mobile users and broadband users will not be affected by the changes.
All of EE’s affected customers should have already received a text or email about the price rise. They’ll also be notified when they sign into their online accounts.
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O2: who is affected?
As for O2, pay monthly, O2 Refresh (airtime plan), SIM-only and mobile broadband users will see a 1.1% increase in their April bills. That’s worth around 19p a month.
Rises to its out of bundle calls and charges were also confirmed:
UK voice calls will rise from 40p a minute to 45p a minute from 1st April. International calls will rise to £1 a minute for calls to Europe, USA, Alaska and Canada (up from 60p a minute).
Making a call to Eastern Europe and the rest of the world will now cost £1 a minute, up from 80p a minute.
Finally, a text to Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man will set you back by 20p a message from 14th May. These were previously included in bundles.
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Leaving your contract
Ofcom rules, which came into force last year, state that customers can leave mobile, landline or broadband contracts penalty-free if their provider increases prices in the middle of their contract without warning. This applies if you bought the contract on or after 23rd January 2014.
O2 says that it warns subscribers about this in its terms and conditions while EE says that anyone who took out a new contract from 26th March 2014 would have this outlined in their contract.
If you joined or upgraded before this date, you can leave your contract without penalty if you can prove that a price rise will cause you “material detriment”. Ofcom doesn’t go into much detail about what material detriment involves, so it is likely to be assessed case-by-case.
If you're OK to fork out some cash, the networks say that customers can leave their contract mid-term if they pay an early exit fee. The price will depend on the length of the contract and how much you pay per month.
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