What Billmonitor assumes

Calculator Assumptions

  • It assumes you make the same amount of peak and off-peak calls.
  • It assumes 32% of your calls are to landlines, the rest to other mobiles.
  • It assumes mobile calls are made to each network in proportion to their relative customer base.
  • It assumes calls made have a varying length, with an average length that increases as the amount of minutes used per month increases. For example, the average call length is about 5 minutes 30 seconds for 500 minutes per month.
  • It assumes, when you roam, half of calls are made to the country you’re in, the other half back to the UK.
  • When you pick a region for international or roaming, it picks 5 popular countries in that region, and spreads the usage evenly among them. It takes care to pick countries that represent the costs of the region fairly so you won’t get surprised.
  • For roaming usage, it multiplies (the number of trips specified) times (the minutes and texts per trip) to determine an annual usage level, with usage spread evenly through the year.
  • Roaming services might not be available in all countries for all operators.
  • For daily bundles activated by your usage (e.g. roaming voice call) it assumes that the bundle is activated four times per month.

Other Important Information

  • Legacy tariffs are not included in our recommendations
  • Tariffs exclusively for existing customers are not included in our recommendations
  • Pay as you go (PAYG) tariffs are not included in our recommendations
  • Some promotional extras may not be shown on our website
  • All prices shown are inclusive of VAT
  • If you choose to pay via a method other than direct debit, additional charges may apply
  • If you would like itemised or paper billing, additional charges may apply
  • “Unlimited” usage allowances often come with a standard fair usage – you should check with your operator if you’re concerned.
  • The prices we quote are internet-only and might be different if you go to a shop or call. Also you might be charged a delivery cost for a new phone which isn’t included in our calculations.
  • Your supplier may increase the price of your contract during your contract period, but if this increase is excessive then you should be able to leave without penalty. The Ofcom website has information on how to complain about your provider, and also contains information on the complaints handling of each provider.
  • If you buy a contract via the Calculator tool, Billmonitor earns a commission from the contract provider. This commission does not affect the price of the contract, or the order in which we display results. You pay the same price buying through Billmonitor as from buying directly.
  • Billmonitor shows the best 12 deals found for you always ensuring that a minimum number of deals per network are displayed. The cheapest deals are shown first. If two deals have the same cost they are sorted by other desirable attributes.
  • Billmonitor combines all the possible plan and bundle combinations, and prices every single combination according to your usage.