London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Mobile users ‘stuck between mid-contract hikes and exit fees of more than £400’

Mobile users ‘stuck between mid-contract hikes and exit fees of more than £400’

Which? is calling on providers to reconsider price rises – regardless of whether they are ‘transparent’.
Mobile phone users are facing the option of “exorbitant” mid-contract price rises or exit fees of more than £400, a consumer group has warned.

Which? is calling on providers to reconsider price rises – regardless of whether they are “transparent” – as consumers grapple with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, and allow customers to leave their contract without penalty if charges are hiked mid-contract.

It has also urged them to cancel 2023’s inflationary-charged hikes for financially vulnerable consumers.

The “big four” mobile firms – EE, O2, Three and Vodafone – raise prices every April in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or Retail Price Index (RPI), plus an additional 3.9%.

EE, Three and Vodafone use CPI – leading to price increases of more than 14% this year, while O2 uses the higher RPI measure, meaning some customers will face hikes of more than 17%.

As the price rises are often applied mid-contract, customers either have to accept them or pay exit fees to leave.

The price hikes are highest for bundled contracts when the customer pays for both usage and the handset.

Which? calculated that the average EE customer on a bundled contract would see an annual increase of £66.36, while the typical Three customer would see a hike of £56.40.

The same EE customer would face exit fees of £424.67 to leave a year early and Three’s customer would need to pay £379.46 to leave their contract.

Additionally, using the example of an EE customer who took out a 36-month contract for an iPhone Pro Max with unlimited data, Which? estimated the customer would pay an additional £105 for the handset over the next year due to the price increases.

It calculated that the Three customer with the same contract would pay an estimated £86 extra for the handset over the next year.

For O2 and most Vodafone contracts, only the airtime part of a contract is subject to inflation.

An average SIM-only customer with EE would see a potential annual increase of £46.20, followed by O2 and Vodafone customers who would see annual price hikes of £42.72 and £42.36 respectively. The average customer with Three would see the lowest annual increase of £25.20.

EE SIM-only customers would face the highest exit fees of £295.36 if they wanted to leave a year early, followed by Vodafone and O2 customers at £287.88 and £237.08.

Three customers face the lowest exit fees of £169.59 for leaving their contract a year early.

Ofcom is currently investigating mid-contract price rises and their fairness for consumers.

Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said: “It’s hugely concerning that many mobile customers could find themselves trapped in a Catch-22 situation where they either have to accept exorbitant – and difficult to justify – mid-contract price hikes this spring or pay costly exit fees to leave their contract early and find a better deal.

“With many households struggling to make ends meet, it is completely unfair that people are trapped in this situation. Which? is calling on providers to act quickly and reconsider any price rises. Firms should cancel 2023 hikes for financially vulnerable consumers and allow all customers to leave without penalty if they face mid-contract price rises.”

An EE spokesperson said: “We strongly refute the research methodology used by Which? to compare SIM only and handset plans to calculate inflation related price rises. This figure was calculated using a SIM only deal, when in fact we do offer a limited number of plans where customers can pay for their handset and monthly line rental separately.

While price rises are never welcome, we do feel this year’s increase, of around £1 per week for the average customer receiving the rise, reflects incredible value given the cost increases we’re facing, the considerable investments we’re making, and ultimately the additional data that’s being consumed month on month by our customers

Financially vulnerable customers are protected through our market leading social tariffs. Any customer worried about paying their bills should contact us and we will help find a solution which works for them.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×