EE Price hikes

[Richard5on]

I'm preparing to leave EE. Stupid increase in prices for their basic mobile packages. I cannot afford this. What are they doing offering 10GB as a basic mobile package? Don't they read? MoneySavingExpert (admittedly 2019 survey) says 69% of people surveyed use <3GB/mo. I seldom use all of my 5GB and I use my phone a lot e.g. satnav, cycle touring; route finding, etc.

EE seems to be forcing people to buy something they do not need -  like your electricity/gas/water company making you buy more of their product than you can use or need. At the same time EE will happily slap on a £2.59/day charge for roaming - when they aren't double charging you - as they recently did with me and thousands of others. Meanwhile they refuse to refund my money to me. Seems that they are just greedy and don't care about customers. Of course, they have us by the proverbials, because of the copper switch off. 

[XRaySpeX]

 Your electricity/gas/water company doesn't make you buy more of their product than you can use or need. You just consume their product as & when you need it. What they do do is set your monthly DD on an average basis to attempt to recover your yearly consumption over the whole year on average. So you end up with a seasonal variation of paying more than you consume in Summer & less in Winter. But all in all you should end up all square.

[Matt_124]

I'm not sure what the "copper switch-off" has to do with your mobile package.

In the 6 years since that poll was published (I am taking your word on it, it is not something I am personally aware of), mobile use has grown within society and data consumption has also grown for general use as phones and applications try to do more. This is evidenced by the 2024 Ofcom Communications Market Report, where they estimate average monthly usage of 9.9GB in 2023 (up 11% from the previous year), which can be read here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/service-quality/communications-market-2024 

EE have taken the decision to move more towards Unlimited Data as opposed to Fixed/limited Data plans as a response, at much more affordable prices than previous years for a comparable tariff. They have also released tariffs which include EU Roaming, also in response to popular consumer demand (Essentials Plus & All Rounder for example, or Full Works for EU + further ROW destinations).

Ultimately there are MVNOs piggybacking off the main networks which will sell these cheaper Fixed Data tariffs, but EE have decided to broadly move in a different direction for Pay Monthly customers.

Pay As You Go is still an option, and can be set up on a recurring basis for a 10% discount off the price of the chosen plan. This may be more suited to your requirements with limited data plans starting from £10p/m, but you do lose access to 5G and all plans have a Speed Cap of 25 Mbps. EE Customer Services can move you to Pay As You Go after receiving 30 days notice to do so. 

https://ee.co.uk/mobile/pay-as-you-go-sim-only 

If changing networks, ensure you conduct your due diligence in terms of coverage and network performance, perhaps by picking up one of their Pay As You Go SIMs to test before purchasing a long-term plan.