Money man Martin Lewis has warned that everyone is being ripped off on their mobile phone bills and issued a step-by-step guide on how to save hundreds every year.
The Money Saving Expert said you could bring your phone bill down to as low as £3.50 by taking just a few simple steps and warned the nation that many phone companies are raising bills way above the rate of inflation.
Speaking on his ITV show, Mr Lewis said: "Most of you watching this – you are being ripped off on your mobile bill.
"You need to take action to change it."
He then went on to explain exactly how people could do it – and the first step is finding out where you stand with your contract.
Customers should first see if they are still tied into their contract – and they can do this by texting 'INFO' for free to 85075.
Those in contract could have to pay a fee, he warned, but for those out of contract – like 14 million Brits who may not be aware – you could leave with no cost at all.
Once you have worked this out, you can then shop around for the best phone deals.
He spoke about one deal with TalkMobile, which offers 6GB and unlimited texts on a one-year contract for just £3.50 a month.
Another he singled out was iD Mobile, which offers 100GB of data for £7 a month on a one-year tariff.
Those who are hesitant to leave as they do not want to switch numbers need not worry.
Because there are ways you can keep your phone number and stop the faff of letting everyone know you have new contact details, after you switch contracts.
To keep your number, simply text the word 'PAC' to 65075, which will send you a code which you can pass on to your new network.
Martin Lewis also spoke about other fears customers may have – such as leaving a provider to get a worse service with worse signal.
He said: "There are only four mobile networks in the UK. Every other company is piggy-backing", and insisted it should not be much of a problem.
The warning comes as the recent rise in inflation renews fears of “completely unacceptable” price rises for millions of broadband customers from April.
Many of the biggest broadband firms – such as BT, EE, Plusnet, Shell Energy, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Vodafone – raise prices every April in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the Retail Price Index (RPI) plus an additional three per cent, 3.7 per cent or 3.9 per cent.
Wednesday’s announcement that CPI has risen to four per cent could see broadband bills increase by 7.9 per cent in April in what will come as unwelcome news for consumers struggling with rising living costs.
Uswitch calculated that the increase could cost the individual consumer around £27.19 more a year for broadband and £24.23 for mobile bills on average.
