Do you itch to ditch or switch?

UK households spend £120 a month on average for mobile, broadband and TV services, according to new data – but you can slash your costs. Communications regulator Ofcom has revealed the average cost of broadband and mobile services to be £87 per month, with TV pushing this up to £120 – equating to more than £1,400 per year. Two thirds of adults admit the internet is an essential part of their life, 19% spending more than 40 hours a week online. The changing trends are particularly apparent with smartphone usage, as 78% of people now own one and admit to checking it, on average, every 12 minutes. But despite this, the average monthly data usage is relatively low at 1.9GB, serving as a reminder to only pay for what you need. With the average reported costs of mobile at £46 a month, broadband at £41 and TV at £33, here are three ways you can check to see if you can save hundreds of pounds a year, especially if you are out of your initial contracted period. Switch – Take advantage of short-lived promotions, switching before your price jumps at the end of the contract. The easiest way to do this is via any number of online comparison sites. Haggle – As most deals are reserved for new customers, if you want to stay with your provider, negotiate a better deal. Ditch – Weigh up if it’s still worth paying for the services you’re getting. For broadband, do you really need to pay for fibre or would standard speed suffice? Are you using all of your mobile data allowance and are you actually watching all the channels you pay for? If not, consider ditching the service – and the cost – entirely.