A quarter of us have NEVER switched mobile phone provider even though it could save £176 every year
- A third of over 55s have never switched their mobile phone provider
- By switching phone providers you could save an average of £176 every year
- One in 10 people want to switch but are put off by the hassle of doing so
- Online petition calls for more regulation in the mobile phone market
Mobile phone customers are missing out on big savings because it's 'too much hassle' and they don't understand how to switch, new research claims.
A third of those aged 55 or over have never switched their mobile network, falling to a quarter for all mobile phone users.
But by not switching hundreds could be wasted as those who do switch to a different provider could save an average of around £176 annually.
Switching confusion: One in 10 people want to switch but are put off by the hassle of doing so
In the research from comparison site uSwitch, 69 per cent of those asked in a survey of 2,011 people said they hadn't switched in the past three years.
Those people were then asked the reason why and 44 per cent said they were happy with their current provider's service, 39 per cent said they were given a good-enough deal with their current provider to stay, and 33 per cent were happy with their provider's customer service levels.
While 21 per cent said they weren't interested in switching and 11 per cent said they wanted to switch but were put off by the hassle of doing so.
The site says part of the reason people aren't switching is because the system is too confusing.
Just under half of those asked said they did not know what a Porting Authorisation Code was - the code needed if you want to keep the same phone number when you switch providers.
A third of people didn't know how to switch and keep the same number and this figure rose to 39 per cent for those aged 55 and over.
Cutting costs: By switching phone providers you could save an average of £176 every year
The average amount saved when switching by those asked by uSwitch was £176 per year, which over a two-year contract is £352. If the provider being switched to were able to handle the whole process, as happens in the energy market, 42 per cent said they would be more likely to switch providers.
Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com, says: 'No matter how tech-savvy the smartphone generation is becoming, the process of moving to another network can still be baffling and somewhat intimidating.
'As it stands, the responsibility falls to the customer to contact their current provider to request their PAC - and more than likely having to run the retentions gauntlet. Unless you can't get a signal, for many it may feel this is simply not worth the effort - the upshot being they're likely to just stick on their current plan, and miss out on potentially huge monetary savings or a better suited tariff.
'The news that Ofcom is looking to finesse this process can't come soon enough. Of the two options, the numbers clearly suggest that consumers favour changing the switching process so the gaining network drives it.
'That should make providers work that little bit harder to win and proactively keep your business. Plus, this would lift the burden on mobile users so they can reap the benefits of moving to a more suitable package, without any of the associated hassle.'
An online petition is calling for a change to the way 24-month mobile phone contracts are sold
The news from uSwitch follows on from an online petition from Unshackled.com launched at the end of last year calling for a change to the way 24-month mobile phone contracts are advertised and sold.
'The mobile phone market is not working with customers at its heart,' says John Whittle, chief executive officer at Unshackled who is behind the petition.
He says there needs to be more regulation in this area of the market which isn't working for consumers who often pay too much for contracts which aren't suitable for them.
Whittle says he wants phone providers to be completely transparent over charges and to tell consumers if they could be getting a fairer deal elsewhere.
Through the petition Unshackled is calling on mobile phone providers to proactively begin to action this, or at the very least to start detailing the exact costs involved with each contract.
He admits he has a big task on hand to change the way phone providers advertise and sell tariffs. At the moment there are very few websites offering an alternative to the traditional bundled phone tariffs.
Unshackled and Giffgaff are two of those and with these sites consumers are able to buy a phone, through a loan via a peer to peer company, and then buy a contract separately.
However, this model won't work for everyone. For some people bundled phone tariffs remain the best option for now because they can't afford to pay for a phone upfront or they don't want to take on a loan through a peer-to-peer lender.
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