O2 Forcing All Customers onto the New Price Rises

[Enlli]

O2 has confirmed to ISPreview that they’re also emailing existing mobile customers to forcibly move them to the new pricing policy, albeit with a right to exit their contract as a result. This is as opposed to the usual approach, where such changes only occur for new customers or via natural re-contracting at the end of a contract term. We don’t think VMO2 are going to win too many adoring fans with this one

Personally I hope for a mass exodus

[pgn]

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@Enlli wrote:

And Travel Inclusive roaming going from £6 to £7 per day and that has already happened 

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Just "O2 Travel", @Enlli - Travel Inclusive (TI), and TI Ultimate, are tariff-dependent or Volt dependent.

[FrankS]

Hello, just to add a bit more perspective 😁 to the previously mentioned price "hikes" which add £1.80 to the airtime portion of any contract / bill:

Last June I took a deal from O2 for a new Samsung tablet over a 3 year device plan plus the lowest airtime tariff I could get away with which at the time was / is £1 per month for 250Mb of data only plus 100 text messages and no calls.  From April a £1.80 price rise on the airtime part of the plan (confirmed yesterday with O2 customer services) taking the airtime from £1 to £2.80 per month.  IS THIS 180% INCREASE A RECORD FOR ABOVE INFLATION PRICE RISES??

YES it is still a small amount in hard cash terms but 180% increase - we have to smile when the brainboxes in O2 seem to assume that everyone (like them) is on a £30 per month airtime contract (which presumably they get for free / heavily discounted) which with a £1.80 increase would be around 6% - not too bad.  Many customers live in the real world but my 180% has got to give everyone here a smile - which I hope it does.

Frank

[pgn]

It's definitely an eye-opener, @FrankS - you may be able to find a value Airtime Deal after month 24 of your 36 month contract: "After 24 months you can keep your Airtime Plan, upgrade it, or end it without affecting your Device Plan."

So you're out of pocket by £1.80/month extra this coming March/April 2025, and another £1.80/month next March/April (2026), then you can go reset back down to whatever you can find at the Value-end of the O2 Airtime market once more for 12months

Many here on the Forum use the likes of Uswitch to get a reasonable amount of data/calls/texts monthly on a 12-month SIMO contract, which, if timed right, evades the March/April price increase altogether - not sure what Uswitch offers for the Tablet/Data sector, worth a look.

Good luck!

[Enlli]

My present USwitch deal is up 17th March

I shall keep my eyes peeled

[FrankS]

Hello, a little more to add to this tale of woe!!

I have several lines with O2 in the one account - these are family lines.  Yesterday I received an email about 2 of these lines (both SIM only) explaining the upcoming changes in price plan (£1.80 increase).  The email text of both is identical and contained this paragraph:

"However, because of these changes, you have the right to end your airtime plan in the next 30 days. If you decide to cancel your airtime plan, you’ll need to either continue paying your device plan in the agreed monthly instalments or you can pay the remaining balance off in full (you must call us to arrange this). This is because your device plan is a separate loan agreement. "

To me this suggests that I can end my contact early and (as it is a change to contract Ts and Cs) at zero cost i.e. no early termination fee.  This, however, is not how O2 customer services see the situation.  I rang to try to cancel one of the lines and was told repeatedly that the early termination fee is still payable.

Can anyone give a definitive answer to this - under these circumstances, is the early termination fee payable or can I cancel a SIM only contract and simply walk away?

Thanks, Frank

[pgn]

@FrankS - Yesterday, I too received the e-mail from O2 as described above. I too am SIMO, taken out last November, 12 months' duration.  When I text INFO to 85075, the response indicates that my Early Termination Charge will be £0.00.

I assume I can move to a new SIMO within 30 days of the e-mail - but I suspect, as mentioned above, that O2 will keep the £1.80 option in any new SIMO contracts until at least mid- if not very late-March to ensure customers can't just hop from a part-complete SIMO to a new SIMO thereby avoiding the £1.80 increase by renewing every year in Mar-Apr timeframe.

I shall watch with interest. I have 28days left to decide...  I wonder if I can just push through a new SIMO from, say, Uswitch, on 03-Mar, at no cost to me, thereby evading the £1.80, and without having to go through the whole  Guide: Cancelling Your Contract and subsequent number porting palaver?

[madasaf1sh]

@FrankS @pgn 

The £1.80 per month applies for any new contract or sim only deal will incur the new monthly increase and uSwitch et al are now showing the price with his 

My advice either stick or cancel and move to one of the better value MVNO's with no price increases, however be very careful, as some charge for EU roaming, etc 

[Enlli]

My O2 account is in reality a back up. In three years I've never made a call! I do the cheap 12 month for Volt. Manly double broadband speed and then the roaming, of course

[FrankS]

Thanks all for the replies.

I can see that Madasaf1sh uses Spusu SIM cards in his devices.  I have taken a couple of low cost plans with them as 2nd SIMs in dual sim phones and they are really good.  Of particular benefit to us is the 500 minutes included to MAKE calls to EU numbers from the UK - friends and family who live in foreign parts.  The internet access speed is also good using the EE 5G network in my area.

I think I'll just hold fire on the SIMs that I want to cancel / port soon because both contracts end in April.

I am planning to keep another O2 Pay Monthly SIM for a while until I have done the regular (stupid) 18 monthly "dance" with Virgin Media about broadband renewal prices - I am currently paying £24 per month with a likely sign up first offer for a continuation price of £70 from August.  At that point it may be sensible to sever ties with O2 / VM and seek better deals - again, I would recommend Spusu because in their Fair Usage Policy for EU roaming, there is currently no 63 day limit on usage in the EU.  This could change of course but.....

Once again, thanks for the contributions.

Frank

[Enlli]

@FrankS The only thing to watch with Spusu is their SIM cards do not work with Pixel phones.

I found that to my cost.

Pixel is not on their list of approved handsets.