About phoneswitcher: an Independent Information Service

Who we are

phoneswitcher is an independent information and advisory service for people with an O2 mobile account. We are not O2. We have no affiliation with, and are not endorsed by or acting for, Virgin Media O2 or Telefónica UK Limited. O2 is a trade mark of its owner, used on this site only to describe the services we help you understand.

We exist because mobile bills are written in language most people were never taught: airtime plans, device plans, out-of-bundle rates, roaming fair-use limits. Our aim is to translate that language into plain English before you pick up the phone to your network, so the call you make is shorter and better informed.

What we do, and what we do not do

An independent UK adviser working with phoneswitcher talks through your bill or question with you on a call you choose to make to us. We explain what the line items on an O2 bill usually mean. We also explain what a price-rise notice is telling you, and what to ask O2 if you contact them.

We help you prepare for your network call; we do not provide network support ourselves.

We never do any of the following, on any call:

• Ask for your O2 password, PIN, one-time code or payment details.
• Access, change or view your O2 account.
• Issue a refund or credit.
• Fix a signal or network fault.
• Cancel, upgrade or alter your contract.
• Connect or forward your call to O2.

If you still need O2 to act on your account, we tell you what to say and which published O2 channel to use. You then contact O2 yourself.

Editorial independence

Nothing on this site is written or reviewed by O2. The figures we publish come from public, independently produced sources: the regulator Ofcom, consumer bodies such as Which? and Citizens Advice, and reporting from MoneySavingExpert and Uswitch. Every figure on this site carries the publisher's name and the date we last checked it, and you can see the full list on our Sources and Verification Register.

We do not accept payment from O2, and no figure here is chosen to make O2 look better or worse than the data shows. Where independent bodies publish mixed findings about O2's service or network, we show that too.

These figures describe the wider market phoneswitcher operates in. They are background, not a reason to call us: whether to speak to an adviser is your decision, based on your own bill.

Reading your own bill before you call anyone

Most O2 bills separate two charges that are easy to confuse. An airtime plan covers your calls, texts and data allowance. A device plan covers the cost of the handset if you took one out on contract. A price-rise notice almost always applies to the airtime plan only, and usually takes effect from your next bill after it is announced, not immediately.

Out-of-bundle charges are a separate line again: what you are billed once you have used your full data, call or text allowance for that month. These rates change each year, so a bill that looks higher than usual is worth checking against your allowance first, before assuming something has gone wrong.

If you are close to or past the minimum term on your contract, you can usually move to a lower-cost SIM-only plan without an early-exit charge. This is because the device plan and airtime plan are no longer linked once the minimum term ends. A higher bill is usually caused by one of three things: an airtime rise, out-of-bundle usage, or an ending contract term. Knowing which one applies is usually enough to decide what, if anything, to ask O2 for.

How we are paid

You are never charged a fee by phoneswitcher for calling us. Your call is answered by independent UK advisers working with phoneswitcher. phoneswitcher may receive a fee from its advisory partners for the call.

This means the call itself costs you nothing to place through us, and no part of our fee is added to anything O2 charges you. We publish this funding sentence on every page so it is never hidden in small print.

What we publish, and what we leave out

We do not use customer testimonials, call counters or countdown timers anywhere on this site. We also do not claim a rating, ranking or award we cannot point to a named, dated, independent source for. Where we have corrected a figure after publishing it, that correction is logged and dated on the Sources page rather than quietly edited away.

Our promises to you are listed in full on the Transparency Dashboard, alongside how often we recheck each figure against its source.