UK consumers can save money on TV, broadband, and mobile packages, according to Which?

The UK consumer group Which? has urged consumers to haggle or switch their TV, broadband, and mobile packages to try to save money. Its advice comes on the back of a survey it did of 5,100 people whose broadband, TV or mobile contracts had recently ended. It found that people who switched away saved £162 per year while those who stayed with their existing provider and haggled saved £90 per year.

Of all those surveyed, a staggering 21% of broadband customers and 16% of TV and broadband customers didn’t bother to switch or haggle so will be paying over the odds for the services they’re using. In the UK, switching these services to another provider has been made very easy by Ofcom to help spur competition in those spaces which encourages lower prices. With that said, some providers, such as Vodafone, say this cut-throat market makes it hard to maintain their networks.

For customers that are interested in switching providers, there are a number of good websites that will help you locate the best prices on the market. Some of these include Money Saving Expert, Uswitch, and a whole host of other Ofcom-accredited services.

According to Money Saving Expert, most people don’t use more than 3 GB of data but could be paying unnecessarily for more. Its highlighted mobile SIM deal right now is from Lebara and it offers 3 GB of 5G data, unlimited calls, and unlimited texts on a one-month rolling contract. For the first six months, the SIM costs just £0.05 and then £4.90 thereafter. That’s £2.48 per month on average for a whole year, much less than most are paying for the same service.

With the unusually high inflation that the UK has been experiencing recently, broadband providers were very quick to reach out to customers to let them know that prices would be going up. If you’d have let your provider know that you were quitting as a result, within 30 days, it would have been possible to exit your contract without incurring an early exit fee.

By switching services, especially if you’re out of contract, it’ll mean you have more money left over to tackle things like higher food prices, higher rent payments, higher mortgage payments, and higher energy bills.