Index adjustments raise mobile phone charges. These are to be increased to 7.8 percent in April. Check your own payment for price and performance and change if necessary.
Spring is fast approaching. But with that comes not only sunshine and warmer temperatures, but also higher prices. The annual index adjustment for mobile phone operators comes in April. A1, Drei and Magenta keep a low profile when it comes to price increases. But they did not refuse to come. Time for spring cleaning and a change in fees or provider? What to take into account.
The index adjustment can be assumed to be less than eight percent. In most cases, such price adjustments are excluded from the exclusive right of termination. Time to take a closer look at his contract.
You can easily check online (via your own customer account) or by phone or in stores whether the minimum contract period is still running. Anyone who buys a cell phone after signing a contract with one of the three major providers usually enters into a 24-month commitment. However, once this expires, only a one-month notice period applies, as with non-cellphone charges.
Time to negotiate
On comparison sites such as tarife.at and durchblicker.at you can search sites for the best and cheapest rates based on your own user behavior (do you make more calls or surf more?). Because: Austria has only three major providers, but a large number of MVNOs. Operators that do not have their own network, but lease one and provide their own mobile phone rates. These include Spouse, Spar Mobil, Lidl and the successful supplier Haut (Hoffer).
Note: It's definitely worth doing a comparison like this before cancelling, as providers usually entice you with special offers and encourage you to stay. It would help here if you know alternatives. So that you don't end up with a nasty surprise if the phone rings and the employee shuts down current offers, you should have questions ready:
- Is the monthly base payment offer limited to a certain time?
- If so, how much will it cost after x months?
- What is included in the fee?
- How will it be after consumption of free minutes and internet volume?
- What additional charges should I expect? Keyword: Service Charge.
In general, Austrians are very willing to change, especially when it comes to price increases. “But the cell phone number is everything to you,” Klaus Steinmärer said in a press release from regulatory authority RTR. 113,731 phone number ports were carried out in the third quarter of 2023; 27 percent more than the previous year. It will be free from 2021. According to Steinmarer, it's usually more than 100,000 per quarter. For the RTR boss, this is a sign that competition is working in Austria.
Hot advantages of conversion option
Haut von Hofer especially benefits from this willingness to change. The provider is currently heading towards the ten percent mark. The provider launched in 2015 with a promise to be “always better or cheaper,” and they've stayed true to that, says Michael Krammer of Hot's operating company Ventocom. Even now index correction will not be performed. Counter suit: From March 14. All package plans get 7.8 percent additional data volume at the same price permanently – up to 3900 MB depending on the plan. And Kramer adds: “HT will never have inflation adjustments, service flat rates or rate change fees.”
