Nearly three quarters (74 per cent) of the UK's mobile phone users are signed up to the wrong tariff, which is costing them 6 billion a year, research shows.
According to a new report by mobile price comparison site, Billmonitor.com, this figure is 1.1 billion higher than last year.
The reason for this, claims Billmonitor.com, is because end users are rushing to adopt smartphones without making sense of the call and data allowances offered by different providers first.
The site claims, if users took the time to find a deal that matched their actual usage patterns, they could save around 4.32 billion a year.
For instance, it claims 12 million people are signed up to contracts that are far too big for them, and could save over 2 billion by swapping to a tariff that offers a smaller number of calls and a lower data allowance.
Meanwhile, eight million could save 1.14 billion by moving to a plan with a smaller data allowance.
It is also claimed that eight million users are tied to contracts that are insufficient for their mobile needs, and wasting 1.66 billion on penalties when they exceed their allowances.
Dr Stelios Koundouros, founder of billmonitor.com, said: "A tariff diet' could save the UK billionsbut at a personal level, the right solution for you depends on the precise mismatch between your usage and tariff."
