Why is my bill higher than expected?

It can be a shock to see more go out of your bank account than you expected. We know how that feels, so we want to help you understand the potential cause.

There are a few reasons why your bill might be higher than expected. Have a look below. If you still think something's wrong, get in touch.

Your first and last bills
Price increases during your plan
Outside your allowance charges
Calling or texting abroad from the UK
Using your phone abroad
Your data allowance
iCloud Private Relay

You might notice both your first bill and last bill are higher than usual. On your first bill, you'll be charged for the first few days as well as your normal monthly charge. Here's more info about your first bill.

Your final bill may include any additional charges you owe up to the day you cancelled. This is added to the monthly charge for the 30-day notice period.​

Your bill might increase in the middle of your plan for a couple of reasons:

• You've reached the end of a promotional period.
• We've reviewed your Monthly Charge in line with our terms and conditions. Click here for more information. 

When you're in another country, you'll connect to a local network, which is called roaming.

There's good news though. Go Roam lets you roam in over 70 destinations around the world at no extra cost. So you can use your plan as usual without worrying about extra charges.

If you're not in a Go Roam country, or don't have Go Roam, you'll be charged for use abroad. If you’ve been abroad recently, that may be why you’re seeing extra charges on your account. Find out more about roaming and international charges.  

If you've called any international numbers or sent texts to anyone outside the UK, you'll be charged for them. Calls to anywhere outside the UK usually have a 1-minute minimum charge, then they're charged by the second.

Calls to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are also charged at international rates.

Find out more about calling and texting abroad from the UK.

Outside of allowance charges

Calls

You might have been charged for an out of allowance number. Some numbers are always excluded from your plan, so you'll see a charge for them, unless you block them. These numbers include:​

• Numbers starting with 070 or non-standard 07 numbers which aren't owned by any of the main network operators​
• 084 and 087 numbers unless you're in a Go Roam destination with a plan that includes Go Roam. Some exceptions still apply. Find out more about Go Roam​.
• Calls to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, which are charged at international rates​
• Calls to directory enquiries​
• You can avoid these charges by blocking out of allowance numbers with a Spend Cap.

You might also have been charged for an out of allowance text. This could be because you've sent a picture or video message to someone. These cost 55p per message. It may also be due to shortcodes, which are numbers used for services like text alerts, TV show voting and charities.

We'll let you know when you're almost out of data, but you'll still be able to use the internet. If you do, you'll be charged for data use. Find out more about data allowances.

If you live close to the Northern Irish border, you may sometimes roam onto a Republic of Ireland network by without meaning to. This is called inadvertent roaming. Read our inadvertent roaming policy for more info.

Sent a text to an email address, or attached a file to it? Your device will treat it like a video or picture message. This means you'll be charged at our standard rate, because they're not included in text allowances. Find out more about text message charges. 

If you’re using an iOS device and have iCloud Private Relay switched on, you’ll be charged for accessing zero-rate websites.