Ever looked at your phone bill and received a nasty shock? Those days are now a thing of the past, thanks to bill capping.
A bill cap lets you set a monthly spend limit to your bill. Add a bill cap to your chosen deal, and you'll never accidentally spend more that each month.
For example, if your monthly bill comes to £20 per month, and you add a £5 bill cap to cover any extra services you may use, you will be prevented from incurring additional charges above £5 of spend, which could be used on things such as international calling, picture messaging, or roaming. Contact your carrier to find out what is included in your monthly tariff, and what would be billed as an additional service.
The bill cap you should choose depends on how much you use your phone, and what you use it for. For example, if you make a lot of international calls, a bill cap would make sure you don't overspend on them.
Answer a few questions below and we can suggest a monthly bill cap that meet your needs.
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You rarely use any services that might cost extra, and almost never spend more than you'd expect on your monthly bill.
We recommend: For added flexibility, a £5 bill cap, may come in handy just in case want to send the odd MMS picture message or two.
Why shouldn't I choose a £0 monthly bill cap? Choosing a £0 bill cap means you will never pay more than the price of your tariff, which is great if you want to be careful about how much you spend. However, some of the services you use sparingly could be unavailable to you.
You only use a few services that might cost extra on top of your monthly bill.
We recommend: With a £5 - £25 bill cap you won't spend too much extra on top of your monthly bill, but you can still use the same additional services that you do at the moment.
You currently use a lot of services that cost extra on top of your monthly bill.
We recommend: With a £25 - £60 bill cap you won't pay more than this amount on top of your monthly bill, and you can still use the services you currently enjoy.
You regularly use services that cost extra on top of your monthly bill.
We recommend: With a monthly bill cap of £60 - £120, you can continue to enjoy all of the services you currently use while staying in control of your bill.
You currently spend a lot of money on services that cost extra on top of your monthly bill. A large bill cap would keep those costs in check.
We recommend: A bill cap of £120 - £200, will give you the freedom to enjoy all of the services you currently use on a monthly basis.
You often use additional services, and you don't want any restrictions on how much you can use them.
By selecting 'No monthly bill cap' there will be no limit to how much your bill could come to each month after using additional services such as calling premium rate numbers and picture messaging (MMS).
However, if you wish to limit your spending each month with less restrictions, we'd still recommend choosing the highest monthly bill cap available to avoid overspending on your monthly bill.
Your network provider will send you a text to let you know if your usage has reached 80%. This will happen before your monthly bill comes around.
Your provider will also let you know once you've reached the limit. Once the limit is reached you won't be able to use any services that carry an additional charge.
Yes, just get in touch with your network provider. They'll let you:
Every network we sell now offers bill capping on Pay Monthly and SIM Only mobile contracts. This means that you’ll never pay more than you expected.
It’s all about giving control back to customers, and so you don’t get a shock when the bill comes in. With a bill cap, there’s a limit on how much you can pay, which should mean no nasty surprises.
No, we can sort that out for you. Here at Carphone Warehouse, we’ll help you arrange a bill cap when you’re getting your new contract.
No, you can opt out of this completely if you like. Or on some networks, you can choose from a range of amounts at which to limit your spending – just choose a level that suits you.
Yes, you can change your bill cap whenever you like. Just get in touch with your network provider
You can get a bill cap whenever you want. If you want to leave it a bit, then set one up, that’s absolutely fine. Or if you didn’t want one at the time, but have changed your mind, that’s fine too. Get in touch with Carphone Warehouse, and we’ll put you in touch with your network to get a bill cap set up for you.
In this case, you'd have to contact your network provider as each network has different guidelines.