A new study carried out on UK adults by a leading mobile phone comparison website has revealed that the general public are underestimating their phone usage and in particular how much time they spend on the internet, with just 1 in 10 Britons with contract handsets claiming they stuck to their phone bills in an average month, without going over their allowance of minutes, texts or internet usage.
The study was carried out by mobile phone comparison website www.mobilephonechecker.co.uk, as part of its ongoing research into the mobile phone habits and preferences of Britons. Each of the 2,764 UK adults polled had a mobile phone contract for which they received a monthly bill.
Respondents were initially asked how much their mobile phone bill should cost each month, with the average amount equating to £32.50. However, just 11% of those taking part claimed that they successfully managed to stick to this amount without paying more.
Those respondents that failed to stick to their monthly mobile phone contract allowance admitted to having to pay an extra £18.25 each month, or a total of £219 a year, on average for additional costs. When asked which mobile phone features (respondents could select more than one answer) they believed these added expenses came from, the top five answers appeared as follows:
1.Internet usage (59%)
2.Picture/video messages (44%)
3.Roaming charges (38%)
4.Overuse of phone minutes (26%)
5.Overuse of text messages (14%)
Although third on the list of where additional expenditure came from, data roaming charges appeared to be a particular problem during the months of June to September. In fact, 63% of respondents admitted that a summer holiday in a foreign country would more often than not result in around ‘£34.80’ of unexpected costs, due to accessing social media, internet and making phone calls or sending texts whilst abroad.
After discovering these results, the site was keen to address whether the problem of extra costs on top of their monthly phone bills had encouraged mobile phone owners to search for a more economical solution. Whilst 71% of respondents stated that they would like to be able to save money on their monthly phone bill expenses, 56% of these people acknowledged that they ‘couldn’t be bothered’ or ‘didn’t have the time’ to shop around for the right mobile phone deal for them.
Adam Cable, Director of mobilephonechecker.co.uk said the following on the results of the study:
“The findings of the study, whilst shocking, were not particularly surprising for the team here. The simple fact is that many people will agree to one of the first mobile phone contracts they see as a means of necessity. However, if individuals took some time to think carefully about their own specific mobile phone needs and what they personally require from a contract, they could end up saving themselves a small fortune.”
He continued “Here at mobilephonechecker.co.uk, our customers are invited to search for and compare deals based on how many minutes and texts they will require, as well as how much data they are planning on using and exactly how long they require their contract for. In turn, this helps people save hundreds of pounds a year as a result of determining the perfect mobile phone contract for them and no longer overspending.”