Orange and T-Mobile are bilking customers yet again with a new round of price increases to your monthly bill. The two networks merged under the name EE are hiking prices, but there's no way to get out of your contract in protest.
Orange will charge you 3.3 per cent extra on your contract, unless you joined recently or you have a SIM-only contract because you bought your phone separately.
Customers on business contracts are also unaffected.
It's only contracts that are subject to price hikes. The cost of a call, text and bundle stay the same. There are no changes to EE's 4G prices -- but they're high enough already, amirite?
"Due to inflation, which directly affects the costs of running our business, we've had to re-evaluate our prices and introduce an increase," says Orange.
So if you currently have a Samsung Galaxy S3 and a monthly bill of £36 with Orange, you'll be stung for £37.16 per month from next month. On a £51 deal, the price increase adds an extra £1.64.
If you're on Orange, the price hike takes effect on 10 April. On T-Mobile the increase kicks in on 9 May.
If all this sounds familiar, it's because both Orange and T-Mobile hoiked their prices up last year. They're allowed to jack you up once a year by the same amount as the Retail Price Index, and you can't cancel your contract without paying the remainder -- although Ofcom is considering clamping down on that particular wheeze.
EE does offer a service to fix your bill, but only by paying extra: Fix Your Monthly Plan costs between 50p and £2 more on your monthly bill, depending on your tariff. Cheers guys.
Are Orange and T-Mobile 'avin' a giraffe, or is the service still good value? What's your top tip when it comes to paying for your phone? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
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Comments 31
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anonymous 4 March, 2013 14:34
Save up, Buy a Nexus for £239 and go giffgaff sim.
anonymous 4 March, 2013 14:40
Smoke screen.....2011 inflation high was 5.2%, throughout 2012 it fell to 2.2% low, and admittedly it has slowly increased to 2.7% but we had one price increase back in 2011. Is this a new marketing strategy for 4G sign up? Figures sourced from : http://www.rateinflation.com/inflation-rate/uk-historical-inflation-rate?start-year=2008&end-year=2013
anonymous 4 March, 2013 15:43
move to giffgaff for the best deals you can get, 250mins, unlimited text and 1gb data for £10, earn money from payback by helping in the comunity and also get £5 free credit when you order a sim from this link
http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/piratehooker82
Stuff orange/t-mobile/EE for their stupid high prices!!!
CaptainPicard 4 March, 2013 16:11
What does "unless you joined recently" mean?? And I joined Orange in October and my experience with them has been tumultuous but all major UK networks are the same, O2 and Voda did the same thing late last year. PAYG is the best option, I will never get a phone on contract again.
anonymous 4 March, 2013 16:15
Huwaei Ascend is a perectly good smart phone for about £120. Buy and as others have said move to giffgaff for cheap sim.
anonymous 4 March, 2013 16:18
Just left Orange because of this and other reasons. Gone with Virgin... £12, 1200 minutes, 1gb data and unlimited texts. Yeah I'll get lower network priority, but at that price, I dont care.
anonymous 4 March, 2013 16:20
Forgot to mention the above with Virgin is 30 day contract
Patrick Cantellow 4 March, 2013 16:34
I just joined a contract with them for £10 for unlimited Internet, texts and mins, but we only got that because we threatand to leave. best leave before my 30 days is up
anonymous 4 March, 2013 17:19
Affects the full monty plan?
jayce35 4 March, 2013 17:27
it might be a good deal if i could get reception i just cancelled my t-mobile because of it and orange is worst then t-mobile
jayce35 4 March, 2013 17:32
three has got best payg Pay As You Go. and the reception is fantastic apart from the ipad but thats the ipads fault not 3
+ All-in-One 15 Add-on.
All-you-can-eat data
300 minutes
3000 texts
Lasts for 30 days
> Plan details.
£15
Select.
Steve Taylor 4 March, 2013 17:58
Also the Orange care is going up to £7.99 from £6. Not happy!!!!
anonymous 4 March, 2013 18:56
This was why I left Orange last year. Their service is below average but their prices are the highest. So I've gone onto a sim only deal with 3. £12.90 a month for all you can eat data (currently getting speeds 4 times that of Orange) 5000 texts and 200 minutes. I was paying twice that for 500mb data, 300 texts and 200 mins with Orange.
anonymous 4 March, 2013 19:15
i joined orange with my first mobile phone and have had sod all for being a consumer ...so this is just rubbish ,my next contract or more likely sim only contract will be somehere else....
anonymous 4 March, 2013 20:14
Three uk is the best and that's not my opinion.
anonymous 4 March, 2013 21:23
3 has excellent customer service, unfortunately only Orange has anything like serviceable reception in my area, so I'm stuck
Ryan J Pattinson 5 March, 2013 00:58
i wont leave my deal as you cant get it anywhere now :'] 600 mins unlimited texts and data 20 quids
anonymous 5 March, 2013 07:14
i was paying *3*, £36 p/m ( 14 months ago).once the contract was up.i ask them what can their offer me to stay on : unlimited internet+,5000(3 to 3) mins +3000 min, any time calls+5000 text.
All this was £36 p/m and now i pay £ 12.20 p/m.
i have the Motorola Astrix and when this dies,i just go and buy a slim free phone.
Next summer,my daughter should be off to uni and i will hand her the phone/sim...all this for 12.20 p/m.........The *3* company offers better deals.......The sim deals are best.my is not sim only deal.
anonymous 5 March, 2013 08:27
My wife and I have both been with Orange for 18 years
Their quality of customer service has definitely fallen
Their prices have definitely gone up, up and up further more
Yesterday I received a letter informing me that their monthly insurance was going to be increased from the end of March
Mr Orange - T-Mobile - EE Bye bye, you have lost our cutom.
anonymous 5 March, 2013 10:07
Ive been an Orange customer for years and the price just simply rises again and again. Im due an upgrade soon which used to be 3 months which has now changed. Well guess what orange you have lost a loyal customer. good bye
anonymous 5 March, 2013 16:21
I've been a T-Mobile customer for years but to me when you make an 18month deal then that is the deal for 18months, no upping the price.
So my time with t-mobile is done, they think people will just accept this, NOPE!
Roll on a new provider.
Kieran Sampson 6 March, 2013 11:38
I've had it with T-mobile. When my contract is up I'm going to either Three or Giffgaff.
weirdstuff 6 March, 2013 16:09
Buy a Nexus for £239 and go giffgaff sim.
True, true.
Happy days, unlimited internet,(plus some minutes and texts), £12.50 a month. Laughin'....
weirdstuff 6 March, 2013 16:10
My contract runs out in May and there's no way on Gods green earth that I'm going the renew with T-mobile...
Finis.
anonymous 6 March, 2013 17:25
Had Enough now!!!!
Lost another customer here Orange.
I will also be joining the Giff Gaff family.
anonymous 7 March, 2013 07:42
They increased it once already! Then they tell me we are putting up your care plan by £2 as more people than usual are claiming? Well that's not my problem! And to top it all off they send me another letter about them increasing my bill by £1.16!!! Two increases in a month!
It's like all you guys say a deal is a deal so why keep changing it orange? Such a rubbish company, just a complete joke.
When my contract finishes I will do what some of you guys have mentioned, a sim only deal as they are cheaper and most contract companies are the same when they have your money they don't give a diddly squat.
anonymous 8 March, 2013 19:10
guys best thing to do is join virgin sim only deal £10 1200min unlmt txt 1gb data then call month later and tell them you found better deal with three with cashback deal, they more than likely to offer atleast £3discount,
anonymous 9 March, 2013 07:27
I am on contract with T-mobile. I bought my own Nexus S and was about to change to Giff Gaff but was offered a loyalty monthly tarif reduction by T-mobile. I pay less than £7 per month! This includes Internet, texts and free minutes. In my personal experience T-mobile staff have always been very helpful.
anonymous 10 March, 2013 00:25
It's simple, I'm just going to reduce the length of of my contract by 3.3% which is about a month. Will cancel the last direct debit, plus my Orange broadband is gone, bye bye orange.
anonymous 10 March, 2013 12:19
Ive left Orange broadband, due to shocking customer service, I had 4 contracts with Orange, I have moved 2, my daughters finishes soon, think I will move her contract as well, the customer service is shocking, everytime I ring I seem to get through to a non English speaking call centre.
OK it says in their terms they can increase prices, but if you sign a contract to pay £xxx per month it should stay at that price for the term, I think we are paying for the 4g clanger of theirs, if they increase your monthly charge, you should be allowed to change your contract to a lower monthly cost.
Heres hoping they loose customers,
anonymous 10 March, 2013 12:31
Can anyone think of any other business where they increase your costs mid contract, even the councils and road tax don't do that, a contract should be binding on both sides, but for the companies it seems to be as meaningless as a football contract!