MAJOR broadband and mobile providers are hiking prices in another blow for customers struggling with the cost of living.

BT, EE and Three are among the firms which have confirmed to The Sun they will put up bills by up to 14.4%.

Price rises will come into effect for millions of customers from the end of March.

This means that if you pay your bill on the 15th of every month for example, you'll pay the new price from April 15.

The rise will affect customers even if they are signed up to a contract with a fixed price.

That's because firms have mid-contract price rises written into the terms and conditions.

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Many broadband and mobile phone providers base their annual price increases on the rate of inflation plus an extra 3.9%.

The rate of inflation was announced today as 10.5%, so bills will rise by 14.4%.

The exact amount more you pay will depend on how much your bill is now, but for some could add more than £100 a year to bills.

BT said that "the majority" of its BT, EE and Plusnet customers will see a rise in their monthly bills from March 31.

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However, BT Home Essentials, EE Mobile Basics, Pay-As-You-Go, BT Basic and Home Phone Saver customers will see their prices frozen through 2023.

While Three confirmed that its 14.4% price rise will impact all new and upgrading customers, also from March 31.

The increase will affect all Three customers who have taken out a contract since November 1.

TalkTalk told The Sun it will also hike prices by 14.2% from March 31.

We looked at some of the most popular mobile deals and broadband costs to work out how much more you could be charged.

However, the increase could be less depending on what services and products you're signed up to.

The Sun found the most expensive deal at the time of writing to work out just how much your bills could rise by.

For example, on the EE website, the most expensive phone contract we could see was for the iPhone 13 pro max for £90 a month with unlimited data and storage of 128GB.

If you pay this month then your monthly bill will increase by £12.96 which means you’ll be paying an extra £155.52 for your phone over the course of a year. 

But BT, which owns EE, said that most of its customers will see an average increase of just over £1 a week for most people on broadband or mobile, or £52 a year.

For Three, The Sun found that the most expensive contract deal is for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 with 512GB of storage was for £90 with a £200 upfront cost.

With the price hike, you'd be pay an extra £6.66 a month, or £78.92 a year.

Meanwhile, Virgin will hike prices from April based on next month's inflation figure.

Bills will rise by inflation plus 3.9% but this will only apply to the airtime part of a customer's bill, rather than the whole bill.

How much will my bill increase by?

Your internet provider or mobile network should contact you to let you know how much your bills will increase in April.

If you're an BT, EE, Plusnet or Three customer, there's an easy way to work out how much more you're set to pay from April.

Just find out what 14.4% of your current monthly bill is – you can use an online percentage calculator to work that out.

Then add those two figures together – this will give you your new monthly payment.

To find out your annual cost, times that total figure by 12.

If you're not happy with the rise, then you could try and haggle a cheaper deal

If you think your bills are too high and want to drive them down, the first thing to do is find out what the cheapest deal on the market is.

You can use this rate as a bargaining tool to get a better offer with your provider.

Get in contact with your provider to see if they can match this rate – if not, you might want to switch instead.

If you're mid-contract though and wish to leave, bear in mind that you could face an exit fee so check with your provider for any charges.

Plus, it could be harder haggling with these prices as they come most years from all providers.

For more ways to cut your phone bill, we've got eight tips for slashing costs.

Just this week, Sky confirmed that its mobile phone prices will be rising for out of contract customers.

It means their bills will increase by £1 a month, or an average of 9%.

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Sky will contact all customers affected prior to the change coming in.

The hike will come into effect from February 14 – this means that if you pay your phone bill on the 20th of every month, you'll pay the extra amount from February 20.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected]

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