Several studies report falling prices for the majority of mobile plans in France. But this drop hides a practice that is as discreet as it is problematic on the part of operators…
Since the arrival of Free in France, the price of our mobile plans has fallen drastically. The various operators present on the market now use and abuse promotional offers and price changes to remain attractive and encourage you to go to them rather than the competition. The mobile plan market is now very aggressive with operators often aligning with each other and offering several options and bonuses depending on the offer you select.
But a large number of mobile operators rely on a key criterion to adjust their prices: the number of internet data available with the package. Thus, the least expensive plans on the market are in reality very poor in terms of data, sometimes with only 2 GB per month, which represents very little compared to the average monthly consumption of the French, which is estimated at around 15 GB. Just check a few social networks and online videos to exceed the limit and pay additional fees.
To adapt the package to your consumption, you must sooner or later switch to packages with greater capacities. But very often, operators offer consumers plans that are much more data-rich… or even too much, without providing an alternative or middle ground. The technique is simple: offer a volume of data well above the use we make of it, and then increase the price of the package concerned in proportions that are also exaggerated. This is why we often observe users who are very upset with their operators on social networks because they see the prices of their packages increase over the months.
The main argument given is to stick to market trends or to justify a significant amount of internet data. But at the end of the process, some customers will have too much data for their uses, up to 20 or even 100 GB, which they will never have the opportunity to fully use. The increase is not always detected by the latter in the first months, but this allows the operator to justify a price increase by citing a large number of internet data available in the package.
To combat this, there are two techniques: the first is to choose operators that automatically align with average internet data consumption. Unfortunately, these mainly concern virtual operators like NRJ Mobile, Lyca Mobile or La Poste Mobile. The other technique is to simply change your plan regularly based on price increases to ensure you have the best value for money available.