Martin Lewis urges households to make 'no-brainer' broadband check after fan saves £144

Martin Lewis has urged all households to look at their broadband contracts now to potentially save hundreds of pounds a year by switching their provider.

Earlier this year, the money saving expert warned customers at the likes of Sky, Virgin and O2 that they would be hit by price hikes as high as 8.8% from April as the broadband, mobile and TV providers increase their fees to combat the inflation rate and rising business costs. BT, EE and Plusnet were also among the providers that were confirmed to be lifting prices by around eight per cent last month, with millions of customers affected - even those in the middle of their contract.

On a recent episode of his BBC podcast, Martin explained why now is the "perfect" time to evaluate your broadband deal and work out whether you could save money by switching provider, The Express reports. Speaking on The Martin Lewis podcast, he explained: "Because prices have gone up, and because you are unlikely to see your contractual price rise now until next April, if you do a comparison now the prices you're comparing to are also unlikely to rise."

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Martin continued: "There may be new deals, but the one that you switch to will be unlikely to rise. You have a level playing field for comparison, and you can see whether you are going to save or not."

If you're concerned that you could be hit with a penalty fee for leaving your current provider, it's worth knowing that unless you're in your contract period - which typically covers the first 12 to 18 months of your current deal - then you're actually free to move with just 30 days' notice, because you will have dropped to a rolling month-to-month payment once your initial contract period has passed.

This means that you're open to new customer deals from other suppliers using price comparison websites and, once you cancel your current plan to swap, you may even find your current broadband provider offers you a better deal to stay and you don't even have to switch.

One listener of Martin's podcast called in to share that he had saved a whopping £144 a year by making the switch on his broadband and mobile phone. The fan explained: "I managed to get my phone bill down from £52 a month to SIM-only for £9. Plus my fibre broadband from £32 a month to £20."

Martin then went on to explain to his listeners why looking into switching providers is a "no-brainer". He said: "If you sit on your mobile and broadband, you are likely paying far more than you need - and frankly, you are being ripped off, and you will not be getting enough data and you will not be getting fast enough speeds.

"So you will not only be paying too much, but you will be getting sub-service level products. That is something you need to check out," he insisted.

Martin's MoneySavingExpert website recently released a guide on how to find cheap broadband deals, and includes a set of "golden rules" to help you decide whether or not to switch provider. This includes working out what broadband speed you really need in your home, scoping out deals specific to where you live, and seeing whether you can haggle your price down with your current provider - more than 75% of BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media customers had success while haggling, according to a recent MSE survey.