Martin Lewis, the money-saving guru, is encouraging everyone with a mobile phone to send two free texts immediately to potentially save hundreds of pounds on their annual mobile phone bills. He has warned that the average contract is set to increase by eight percent due to mid-contract price rises in April.
However, there are steps you can take right now to keep costs down, including sending two texts. During a special Budget 2024 edition of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV1 and ITVX on Tuesday night, he discussed various topics including water bills, broadband, and council tax.
Additionally, he provided a five-step guide to combat the upcoming mobile phone price increases. Firstly, text INFO for free to 85075 from your current phone to find out if you’re out of contract and free to leave.
Then, he suggested looking for cheap SIM-only deals on price comparison websites rather than going directly to providers. Currently, comparison sites offer a Lebara SIM with 12GB of data for £4 a month, or Three’s ID Mobile with 100GB data for £8 a month.
The money expert shared that you can usually find a cheaper network that uses the same signal. He explained to ITV viewers that there are only four real mobile networks in the UK – O2, EE, Vodafone and Three, reports Yorkshire Live.
All the others like Tesco and Giffgaff simply use another network’s signal.
He pointed out that the only difference might be perks like 5G or wi-fi calling not offered on budget networks. But if you get signal on the main network, you’ll also get signal at home on the cheaper network that uses its signal.
The fourth step is to get your PAC code by texting ‘PAC’ to 65075. This lets you give the resulting code to a different network to ask for your mobile number to be moved across to the company you want to switch to to save money.
Martin told viewers: “You tell them ‘I am leaving I want my PAC code’. Do you know what they often do? They go, ohhh, you’re leaving look we can do you a much better deal than you currently have.”
“This is the weapon that you have to make sure they have to win your custom and protect your custom to really get the best deals”, because it sends a warning to your network that you want to leave and are taking steps to do so actively.
Finally, Martin advised mobile customers that you can use a cheap deal as a benchmark to haggle. He suggested customers to ask to cancel when negotiating, and get put through to customer retentions.
Martin received a message from a lady named Emma, who followed these steps and managed to reduce her monthly phone bill from £18 to just £10. However, for the millions of customers who are not currently tied into a contract, the potential savings could be even more substantial.
