Mobiles

The UK's biggest broadband and mobile providers – BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Three, Virgin Media O2, and Vodafone – have agreed to a set of measures aimed at ensuring customers struggling to pay their bills during the cost of living crisis don't get cut off from essential services.

Mobile and broadband customers should find it easier to cancel penalty-free if their provider makes detrimental mid-contract changes that were not agreed to when they first signed up to the plan. 

Tesco Mobile is to start charging pay-monthly users who joined or upgraded from 16 June to use their mobiles in Europe from 1 January 2023. These customers will have to pay extra to make calls, send texts and use data in 48 European countries and destinations.   

Millions of BT, EE, Plusnet, Shell, TalkTalk and Vodafone customers will be hit with price hikes of up to 9.3% this spring on the back of a sharp increase in the cost of living. For many, this year's hikes are more than double last year's. We've full info and a handy table below on what's happening and who's affected. 

Millions of O2, Three and Virgin Mobile customers will be hit with price hikes of up to 11.7% this spring on the back of a sharp increase in the cost of living. The announcement comes just days after Sky confirmed it would be hiking prices by an average £43 a year (if you're affected, see our Sky-specific help on whether you can beat the hikes).

Tens of thousands of Three mobile users are set to lose a perk that allows them to roam at no extra cost in 71 countries. MoneySavingExpert.com can reveal that the mobile operator is 'forcing' certain customers to sign up to new plans, which means they'll lose their 'free' roaming benefit. It's a U-turn from Three, which had said it would keep inclusive roaming for those on older contracts.

Mobile phone users are likely to be burning through cash if they pay more than £10 a month on their bill, MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis has warned in the latest episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show. You can watch Martin explain it below, plus use our key links - Cheap Sim Finder tool, Cheap Mobiles tool and our Cheap Mobile Phone Insurance guide - to help you cut costs.

Tesco Mobile customers will be charged more than double what they currently pay if they exceed their pay-monthly calls allowance from 9 February. Meanwhile, charges for out-of-bundle services, such as to send picture messages and to make international calls, will also rise for both pay-monthly and pay-as-you-go (PAYG) users.

Newly merged O2 and Virgin Media have launched a new product called Volt, allowing eligible customers to get their mobile data allowances doubled and their broadband speeds boosted to the next level at no extra charge. To get it, you need to have Virgin broadband and an O2 mobile contract. While decent for existing customers, for most it's not worth switching to the firms just for the perks – we've full analysis below. 

Thousands of Three customers were unable to make or receive calls on Thursday morning, although the mobile network provider said the problem had been resolved by lunchtime. The outages took place across England, Scotland and Wales, the telecoms provider said.