Mobile phones are remarkable aren't they? You can listen to music, watch videos, search the Web and even record dramatic events as they happen.
And occasionally you just might want to use it to send a text or make a call.
If you are one of those people, you should know confusion about phone tariffs could mean you are paying up to £130 extra in charges every year!
Moneysupermarket says that you might not know how many minutes or texts are included in your monthly package, or how many you actually use. This leaves you open to incurring extra charges, which can add up to £130 in a typical year.
Put it this way; it means that all of us who use mobiles are wasting nearly £8 billion a year because we don't know the terms of our deals.
According to the information, the typical mobile phone package gives us 166 voice minutes and 133 text messages per month.
However, Moneysupermarket found that on average, we each use an extra 23 minutes and sends 23 texts over and above our monthly allowance.
Mobile phone industry stats suggest there are more than 65 million active mobiles in the UK, so collectively these extra charges are costing us billions.
The biggest problem appears to be a lack of awareness of contract details, and about how we use our phones in practice:
- 1 in 7 of us do not seem to know many free minutes we have
- 1 in 6 of us were unsure how many texts are included in our deal
- 1 in 6 of us can't say what we pay for our monthly line rental
- 20% of us admit to getting bills for more than we expect
Rob Barnes at Moneysupermarket's urged consumers to read through their phone contract and make sure they understand the cost of any extra calls or text messages:
"The reason mobile phone operators can offer such good contract deals is by charging customers for additional services," he said
"If they're using up all their allowance it's worth considering a move to a different tariff with more inclusive minutes and texts - it could save a lot of money in the long run," he added.
So, if you feel you are wasting up to £130 on your mobile then you should pay and go...somewhere else!Why not look at what other mobile phone contracts are on offer and switch?
Mobile phone cashback rip off