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When you take out a contract with a mobile network – be that SIM-only or for a handset – you might expect that the monthly price listed will be what you’ll pay for the life of the contract, but in fact that’s not typically true.
Mid-contract price rises are now a common practice among mobile networks, meaning that your monthly costs can rise after the first year of a contract.
But it’s a complicated business too, as some networks raise prices more than others, and some don’t at all. To simplify things we’ve highlighted which networks don’t have mid-contract price rises, followed by the exact mid-contract price rise terms for each network that does, and then information on what you can do if you’re already in a contract that’s set to get more expensive.
Networks without mid-contract price rises
The following networks don’t raise your prices at the time of writing – either because they don’t actually offer long-term contracts, or because they simply choose not to.
Note that if a network doesn’t have mid-contract price rises though, that doesn’t mean it won’t increase your price once the minimum term of you contract is up. So for example if you’re on a 24-month contract, it could still increase the price after 24 months (though at this point you’re free to change or cancel your plan).
Similarly, if you’re on a 30-day rolling plan your price could still increase annually, but this wouldn’t be ‘mid-contract’, since you’re free to change network at any time. However, many of the networks below have promised not to raise prices at all.
Sky Mobile
Sky Mobile is rare among networks in that it promises that there won’t be any mid-contract price rises on its current plans.
Giffgaff
Most of Giffgaff’s plans are just 30-day rolling plans anyway, and since price rises tend to happen annually, that would automatically exclude them. But the network also sells 18-month plans, and promises not to raise those prices mid-contract either. Though note that at the time of writing this only applies to contracts taken out before the end of 2025.
Honest Mobile
Honest Mobile offers a choice of 30-day or 12-month plans, but in either case your price will actually drop over time rather than increasing. It’s reduced by 5% each year, topping out at a 30% decrease if you stay long enough for that.
Talk Home
Talk Home offers 30-day and 12-month plans, and it promises not to raise prices mid-contract.
Asda Mobile
Asda Mobile doesn’t have price rises built into its contracts but nor does it explicitly rule them out, which means a mid-contract price rise is possible – but if so, you’ll be given at least 30 days’ notice and be able to switch networks without penalty.
Lyca Mobile
Lyca Mobile sells plans of up to 24 months, and it has promised no mid-contract price increases until 2026.
Lebara
Lebara offers plans of up to 12 months, and the network has promised that these won’t be subject to a mid-contract price rise.
iD Mobile
iD Mobile is an oddity, because while it’s currently promising no price rises on SIM Only plans, there will be mid-contract price rises on handset plans – so you’ll also find iD Mobile listed in the section below.
Talkmobile
Talkmobile promises not to raise its prices mid-contract during 2025. However that leaves the possibility that it might still bring in price rises from 2026.
Smarty, Spusu, VOXI, 1pMobile, and ParentShield
These networks all offer short-term, typically 30-day plans, so mid-contract price rises don’t typically apply to them. Though as noted above, your price could still rise annually, you just won’t be tied into a contract.
Note that Spusu specifically promises a price freeze until 2026, though again, as its plans are all just 30-day ones any increases wouldn’t be 'mid-contract' anyway.
Networks with mid-contract price rises
The following networks all have mid-contract price rises of some kind, though how this is calculated can vary depending on when you took out the contract. The good news is that contracts taken out recently keep things simple, with price rises shown in pounds and pence. Networks were required to make this change with contracts taken out on or after January 17th, 2025, but many chose to do so earlier.
However, for many older plans, the rise relates to the CPI (Consumer Price Index) or the RPI (Retail Price Index), both of which are measures of the rate of inflation, so you’ll see both of these mentioned a lot below.
Note also that if you have a plan dating back to before any of those listed below, then in most cases your prices won’t rise mid-contract at all.
These details were correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing, but may later differ – especially if you’ve taken out a contract or upgraded since this article was last updated. However we’ve also included links to the relevant pages for each network, so you can find all the latest details there.
EE
If you have a plan with EE, taken out on or after April 10th, 2024, then your price will increase on March 31st each year. At the time of writing that increase is £1.50 per month for SIM Only plans and connected devices, and £4 per month for handset plans – although in the case of handset plans you’ll pay a lower £1.50 increase if you took the plan out on or before September 9th, 2024.
If you’re on an older plan, then on or after the 31st of March each year you’ll see an increase of 3.9% plus the CPI figure from December (published in January). As this is a measure of the rate of inflation it fluctuates, but the figure EE is using at the time of writing is 2.5% - so that plus the 3.9% is a 6.4% total increase in charges.
You can see EE’s terms in full here
Three
If you joined or upgraded on Three on or after September 8th, 2024, then each April your plan will increase by a certain amount. For plans of 4GB or less there will be a £1 monthly increase, while plans of between 5GB and 99GB will increase by £1.25 per month, and plans of 100GB and over will increase by £1.50 per month.
Note that if you’re a Three Your Way customer then the increase will only apply to your airtime plan, and not to device payments.
For those who joined or upgraded between November 1st, 2022 and September 7th, 2024, their price will increase by the preceding December CPI rate +3.9%.
At the time of writing, the December CPI rate is 2.5%, so in total that means a 6.4% increase.
If you joined or upgraded between October 29th, 2020, and October 31st, 2022, then your monthly charge will increase by 4.5% in April each year – this increase isn’t tied to the RPI or CPI, it’s just a flat 4.5% regardless of how they fluctuate.
And if you started your plan between May 29th, 2015, and October 28th, 2020, then your contract prices will increase each May based on the January RPI figure.
You can see Three’s full current terms here
Vodafone
If you joined or upgraded on Vodafone on or after July 2nd, 2024, then your plan will increase in price on April 1st. The increase will be £1.80 per month on both Pay Monthly and SIM Only.
If you joined or upgraded before then but after December 9th, 2020, then your increase will be tied to the CPI, plus 3.9%. Vodafone uses the CPI figure from January and applies the change in April each year.
And if you joined or upgraded between May 5th, 2016, and December 9th, 2020, then your bill will increase each April in line with the RPI, based on the RPI figure from March of that year.
Check out Vodafone’s full terms here
O2
On O2, regardless of when you took your plan out, it will increase each April by £1.80 per month for voice plans and £0.75 for data-only plans.
Check out O2’s full terms here
BT Mobile
BT owns EE, so unsurprisingly BT Mobile’s terms here are similar. If you took out or upgraded your plan from April 10th, 2024 onwards, it will increase the charge by £1.50 per month each April.
For older plans, it will increase prices by the CPI rate plus 3.9% on the 31st of March each year, based on the December CPI rate published in January of – which for December 2024 was 2.5%.
Note that BT Mobile no longer offers plans to new customers, so this will only apply to existing customers.
You can see BT Mobile’s full terms here
iD Mobile
On iD Mobile, new or upgrading handset customers will see prices increase by £1.50 each April.
If you’re on an older plan taken out on or after 1st November 2022 and before 1st February 2024, then your price will rise in April by the CPI rate published in February plus 3.9%.
If you took out or upgraded a plan with iD Mobile between the 1st of March 2020 and the 1st of November 2022, then your monthly price will increase in line with the RPI each year. The RPI figure will be taken in February and applied to your contract in April of the same year.
Note though that at the time of writing, there’s a price lock for SIM Only customers.
Read iD Mobile's full CPI price rise terms here
Tesco Mobile
Tesco Mobile never used to have mid-contract price rises, but from 2023 onwards it does on some plans.
If you’re still within your minimum contract and joined Tesco Mobile or upgraded before March 27th, 2023, then your price won’t rise. It also won’t rise until after your contract ends if you’re on a Clubcard Price deal taken out after March 27th, 2023.
So in other words, annual price rises only apply to customers who took out a non-Clubcard Price deal on or after March 27th, 2023, and those who are out of contract.
As for how much the price rise will be – if you took out a non-Clubcard Price deal from December 17th, 2024, onwards, then the price will increase in relation to how much it already costs, with pricier contracts getting a greater increase.
For example, at the time of writing, a newly purchased £10 SIM Only deal will increase by 60p per month each April, while a £25 one will increase by £1.50.
If you took a non-Clubcard Price plan out between March 27th, 2023, and December 16th, 2024, your price will instead rise each April by 3.9% plus the CPI rate set in January of that year.
Read Tesco Mobile’s full terms here
What you can do if your price is set to rise
If you’re tied into a contract where a price rise either will happen or has happened and you’d rather not pay it, your options are typically quite limited. You can usually get out of your contract, but unless you’re still in a cooling off period at the very start, it typically requires termination fees, which can mean paying off much or all of the balance.
However, once your contract is up you do have options to avoid price rises in future, and we’ll detail them below.
Alternative options that don’t have mid-contract price rises
If you want to avoid mid-contract price rises, then you have a few options. For one thing, at the time of writing the networks in the top section of this page don’t have mid-contract price rises (with some exceptions, detailed in the text), so you could always sign up with one of these networks.
Alternatively, you could switch to a 30-day plan. Whatever network you’re on, these won’t be affected by mid-contract price rises, as they’re too short term. So even the networks above that have mid-contract price rises won’t do for 30-day plans – which is to say, your price may still rise each year, but you won’t have to stick around to accept the rise if you don’t want to.
Similarly Pay As You Go isn’t subject to these rises, since you’re literally just paying for what you use. However neither Pay As You Go nor 30-day plans will include a phone, so if you need a new handset, you’ll have to buy one outright if going down one of these routes.
It’s worth noting also that contract pricing tends to be lower per month than the same allowances would cost on a 30-day plan, so even with the price rises you’re often getting a better deal on a long-term contract, just as long as you’re happy to stick with that network for a while.
