Sky is one of the most popular and recognisable tech brands in the UK, with millions of TV and broadband customers, but it also sells phones and mobile plans to people through Sky Mobile. As of November 2022 Sky Mobile had three million customers and claimed to be the fastest growing mobile provider in the UK.
But those customers may be in for a bit of bill shock, as Sky is planning to up the bills of out of contract Sky Mobile subscribers.
As spotted by Money Saving Expert, Sky Mobile will up its prices by at least £1 per month and up to £3 per month for all of its out of contract customers from 14 February – if you’re still in contract, you won’t see a price rise.
You will be out of contract if you initially, for example, signed up to Sky Mobile on a 12 month plan, and then decided to continue to pay on a monthly rolling basis from the 13th month onwards. Check your phone contract details using the My Sky app if you’re not sure.
Here’s a summary of the price rises:
- If you are out of contract and your Sky Mobile plan has 20GB monthly data or less, your bill will increase by £1 per month
- If your package gets you more than 25GB data per month, your bill will rise by £2 per month
- Sky said “a small number” of customers (3%) will get a £3 per month price rise but did not specify who this will be.
It means if you are out of contract, your Sky Mobile bill will go up from £12 to £36 over the course of 12 months. If this doesn’t sound like something you want, you can easily switch networks – a big advantage if you are out of contract.
If you are out of contract, it may be because you’ve fully paid off the cost of your handset. This also means you are probably overpaying for your monthly mobile plan. Mobile companies don’t always let you know you could be paying less, and continue to charge you a high monthly price even though you’ve paid the subsidised cost of your smartphone already. This is not illegal, but it is very anti-consumer.
You can switch easily to a monthly rolling SIM plan with a provider such as Giffgaff where you can change your plan month to month or leave at any time, with no contract.
If you’re with Sky Mobile and you want to switch, text PAC to 65075. Take a note of the code you’re sent, which you can give to your new mobile provider if you want to keep your phone number on your new SIM card.
Sky Mobile is also changing its Piggybank data rollover perk – unused data at the end of each month goes in a pot for customers who can then use it at a later date. This store of precious data used to expire after three years, but now as of 1 April 2024 that time is being shortened to 12 months. Despite the date, this is no April Fool’s joke, unfortunately.
