Brits paying £800m in extra phone charges
Research has shown that more than a quarter of mobile phone users are paying an additional £40 a year in fees. The most common reason for these extra charges is users exceeding their smartphone data limits. This means that in Britain alone, consumers are spending in excess of £800 million each year as well as their standard monthly fees.
The research has been carried out by uSwitch, which talked to around 2,000 telecoms customers in March. The findings show that the average additional charge is £39.72 per year. The fact that most people are paying extra for data is believed by uSwitch to show that most consumers are not on the right deal for their requirements.
Around a quarter of customers are charged for premium rate calls and texts. A fifth of consumers end up paying for roaming charges while they are travelling. Thirteen per cent of customers get charged for going over their call allowances, and nine per cent pay extra for dialling overseas numbers.
The survey also revealed that 37 per cent of consumers do not understand the difference between SMS and MMS messages, and this leads to more charges. The telecom analyst for uSwitch, Ernest Doku, has said that most of these charges can be avoided if people get on the right plan.
Not all deals include unlimited data, and many users underestimate the total data usage that they have. Doku is advising users to check their bills to see where they are overpaying and then use this information to work out which tariff would be best for them.