I have received a letter (yes! snailmail) from Virginmobile advising me that my mobile tariff is increasing by 2.5%. I am on a monthly tariff of £40 which includes a Galaxy S4 and it has another year to run on contract.

My question is.....as part of my monthly payment goes towards the cost of the phone are they not effectively increasing the original price of the phone one year into the 24 month contract?

This is one thing that annoys me. If you sign a 12/18/24 month contract, then the price should remain fixed for the period of the contract. They shouldnt be allowed to put the price up in that period.

However since the contract will no doubt state that they can put the price up, then there isnt much we can do as consumers. This isnt exclusive to virgin, all the phone companies do it, I believe.

Im on the Virgin Unlimited £15 monthly tariff and thats going up £1.50, at leaf thats easy to change though!

Thought you could leave penalty free now?

I can't see them letting me leave with a Galaxy S4 half way through the contract period.

Only if the increase is above the RPI. And that only applies to people signing up after January 23rd 2014.

Here are the T&C's from Virgin Mobile:

5.2 Price changes: We may also change our Charges or introduce new Charges. Unless the change is a significant change as set out in clause 5.3 we will give you 14 days notice of any change to the Charges for the elements of the Services or Additional Services you are using.

5.3 Significant changes: We will notify you at least one month in advance of any change coming into effect that (in our reasonable opinion):
(a) where you joined or renewed your contract on or before 22nd January 2014, will increase the monthly or other periodic Charges for your Contract Allowance by an amount which is more than the percentage increase in the previous twelve month period in the Retail Prices Index (or any future equivalent) published by the Office for National Statistics; or
(b) where you joined or renewed your contract on or after 23rd January 2014, will increase the monthly or other periodic Charges for your Contract Allowance
(c) is a change to your Agreement, the Services or any Additional Services you are using, or to the Charges for any Services or Additional Services you are using, which is likely to be of material detriment to you.

5.4 Non acceptance of changes: If you do not accept a change that falls within clause 5.3 you may cancel this Agreement by writing to us within 1 month of us telling you about any change, to let us know that you want to cancel. However you may not cancel this Agreement if such change: (a) has been imposed on us by any regulator with appropriate authority, for example OFCOM, or as a direct result of new legislation, statutory instrument or government regulation; or (b) relates solely to an Additional Service. If this is the case then you may cancel such Additional Service by giving us a least ten days notice in writing to that effect.

And from thisismoney:

Unfortunately, this only applies to contracts signed since the new rules took effect on January 23, so those already locked into a contract are trapped, even if the costs rise.

Fixed should mean exactly that; I appreciate things have to go up BUT only after you've completed your initial contract (for example.)

Same here. Damn annoying because I just brought a phone the day before, otherwise I'd have looked for good any better contract deals. Oh well.

I'm currently paying £7 a month for 1200 mins, utd texts, utd data.

They haven't emailed me or sent me any mail yet regarding a price rise, I guess I will have to wait and see.