Brits waste £200 on mobile contracts

A new survey from billmonitor reports that three quarters of Brits are on the wrong mobile tariff, and are overpaying nearly £200 each and every year as a result.

The survey, based on 28,417 people’s mobile bills here in the UK, shows, collectively, in Britain we are wasting £4.9 billion a year on our mobiles.

According to billmonitor, there are so many mobile tariffs on offer in the UK we have trouble picking the right one for our usage.

The survey found 76 per cent of people who have subscribed to a mobile phone are on the wrong tariff for their needs. Of those, 52 per cent are on a contract that's too much for their usage. For example, using just a quarter of their voice call allowance.

Another 29 per cent are on tariffs too small for their needs, and therefore spending more money after using up their monthly allowances.

Billmonitor points out that of the £3.47bn spent outside allowances, half is accounted for by the top 5 per cent of customers. That means some people are throwing away a huge amount on money, having already purchased a contract.

The remaining 19 per cent have the right level of minutes, but are wasting money on tariff length and other costs.

"We knew when we started billmonitor that considerable savings could be generated by being on the right mobile phone contract but even we were surprised by just how many UK subscribers are on the wrong contract," says director Dr Stelios Koundouros.

"With only few customers truly aware of their usage patterns and with almost 8 million mobile phone contracts available in the UK, customers are being overburdened by choice and are in need of guidance."

It is probably worth checking out billometer if you are thinking of changing tariff and don’t want to get ripped off, as they run an online service designed to help people choose the right one for you.

Alternatively, you can read a few of our tips - Purchasing a contract: Some dos and don'ts.