Call telcos to account

If your phone plan has been around for a while, you are probably paying too much – and switching is easy writes

LOYAL phone users who stay with the same telco and don’t bother upgrading their plans are likely to be paying too much.

New research released by telco comparison website WhistleOut shows “sticky” phone users are causing themselves more harm than good – 46 per cent have never changed their phone plan unless they upgrade their phone.

The site’s data has revealed some of the best plans released 18 months ago that included 5GB of data cost around $40 per month but today they can cost just $25 per month – a difference of $360 over a twoyear contract.

WhistleOut’s spokesman Kenny McGilvary urged more telco users to review the deals they are on, particularly those that have seen through a contract, because chances are there’s going to be much betterfor-value offers available.

“Phone plans are changing all the time, with carriers consistently bringing bigger and better deals on to the market at good prices,’’ he said.

“So those people who don’t look at what’s available outside of their phone ownership cycle are missing out, sadly – checking what’s available just doesn’t seem to be a consideration for half of us.”

And the perception that changing phone carriers is difficult appears to be nothing more than a myth – once customers have found the new plan or deal they want, they just need to order a new SIM card through their new carrier and when signing up let them know they want to take their existing number with them.

Once the new

SIM arrives it just needs to be activated and the process of transferring the existing number across can begin, usually taking just a couple of hours.

But before ditching your old phone provider, the peak body for consumer representation in communications, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network’s spokesman Luke Sutton, said consumers should try and do it without being slugged by nasty contract exit fees.

“If you’re locked into a contract with a mobile provider it’s likely that you will have to pay an early termination fee to break the contract early,’’ he said. “It might be best to wait until the contract expires to switch providers to avoid paying the early termination fee.”