Millions of O2, Three and Virgin Mobile customers to be hit with price hikes of up to 11.7% from April – here's what you need to know

If you're out of contract and free to leave, check if you can switch and save

These firms have millions of customers who are out of contract and have been rolled on to often pricier tariffs without signing up for them. But if that's you, you can leave at any point penalty-free – and given the best broadband and mobile deals tend to be for newbies, there's a good chance you're overpaying anyway. Benchmark prices elsewhere and switch if you can get a cheaper deal.

See full help in our How to find cheap broadband deals guide and use our Broadband Unbundled and Cheap Mobile Finder tools to see what other deals are out there.

Alternatively, if you're willing to stay, you can try haggling and see if your provider will match or beat a deal you've found elsewhere. See our Broadband haggling and Mobile haggling guides for more help.

Only Virgin Mobile customers can cancel penalty-free mid-contract

If you're in contract – meaning you actively signed up to a new tariff within the last year or possibly two – the price rise is part of that contract and, sadly, you won't be able to cancel penalty-free.

The only exception is Virgin Mobile, where customers can leave penalty-free as this is a change to contracts. You'll have 30 days to leave on receiving a letter addressing the changes.

Of course, if you're mid-contract and unhappy with the price rise, you should note when your contract's due to end and start looking for new deals nearer the time.

If you're still within your minimum contract term for Sky broadband, mobile or home phone, you can also cancel penalty-free, as long as you do so within 30 days of receiving official notification of the price rise. See our full Sky price hikes MSE News story for more.