Orange, SFR and Bouygues have decided to discreetly increase the prices of their mobile and fixed plans, in particular by reducing the duration of reductions on their promotional offers. A trick that can cost more than a hundred euros per year…
To attract new customers, ISPs are used to offering them offers – fixed and mobile, with commitment or not – at very advantageous rates the first year, through promotional prices, before seriously increasing them – sometimes almost by half – once this period has passed. This is how we find ourselves paying for an Internet box at €17.99/month for the first twelve months, before then having to pay €30.99/month. A good way to attract customers, while hoping that they will then stay, whether out of satisfaction or through laziness in carrying out the cancellation procedures and changing equipment (SIM card and Internet box), which also causes expenses. But that doesn’t stop some smart people from changing supplier every year, once the promotional period has expired, in order to always benefit from advantageous rates.
Obviously, operators see this as a shortfall, at a time when the trend is towards an increase in the price of mobile and Internet packages due to increases in electricity prices – and that doesn’t seem to be stopping. (see our article). Also, Orange, closely followed by most other operators, is using a trick to casually significantly increase the prices of its packages. From now on, the famous mention “the first twelve months” that we usually find has transformed into “the first six months”, and this on almost all packages. Thanks to this practice, operators ensure much greater revenue at the end of the first year, while making it less and less advantageous for the user to change plans once the promotional period has passed. Very bad news, at a time when inflation is in full swing and French people’s portfolios are lagging.
Increase in mobile and fixed plans: Orange leads the way
Orange took advantage of the launch of Livebox 7 to discreetly change its pricing policy regarding promotional offers, which now last six months instead of twelve. And suffice to say that this makes a big difference, because the gap between the promotional price and the “definitive” price is significant with the historic operator! We thus go from €2.99/month to €8.99/month for a mobile plan of 2 hours of calls with 100 MB, and from €33.99/month to €51.99 euros/month for the Livebox Up Fiber offer. Result: by smoothing the total amount over a year, this weighs heavily on the customer’s wallet, particularly with offers with commitment!
Thus, on the 200 GB 5G mobile plan with twenty-four months of commitment, the user pays €32.99/month, before increasing to €44.99/month. Over two years, the package initially amounted to a total of €935.76, which now increases to €1,007.76, or €72 more. Same thing for the 100 GB 5G mobile plan without commitment, which costs €16.99/month on promotion, before increasing to €31.99/month. With the new pricing policy, we go from €203.88 per year to €293.88, an increase of €90 per user! Another example with the Livebox Up Fiber package, at €33.99/month then at €51.99/month, with a commitment period of twelve months. This initially amounted to spending €407.88 for one year, compared to €515.88 now, an increase of €108! A difference which is even higher for other Orange Internet packages…
Unfortunately, other operators were quick to follow Orange. Thus, since October 10, SFR has also only offered promotional periods of six months, unlike the initial twelve, which leads to an increase in prices similar to that of the historic operator. For example, the 5G mobile plan with 100 GB now costs its user €15.99/month for the first six months, then €30.99/month once the promotion ends. Previously, the bill would have been €191.88 at the end of the first twelve months. It is now €281.88, or €90 additional. On the Internet side too, the wallet will feel the blow – or rather the cost – pass. The Fiber Starter offer for example, the cheapest at SFR to date, is €20.99/month on sale before increasing to €34.99/month. Here again it previously cost €251.88 per year, compared to €335.88 today, or €84 more.
But we weren’t going to stop there! After Orange and SFR, it is the turn of Bouygues, Sosh and RED by SFR to go from twelve months of promotion on prices to six. At Sosh and Red, the low-cost subsidiaries of Orange and SFR, mobile and ADSL plans are offered without promotion, so nothing changes for them. On the other hand, Fiber offers do offer preferential rates. Thus, the Sosh Fiber Box without commitment is sold at €20.99/month before increasing to €30.99/month. Initially, a year’s subscription therefore cost €251.88, compared to €311.88 today – or €60 more, with a smoothed increase of around €5/month. Same thing for the non-binding Red box fiber, which is sold at €19.99/month then at €29.99/month. Initially, a year’s subscription therefore cost €239.88, compared to now €299.88 – or 60 euros more. Again, we know the song.
At Bouygues, on the other hand, the new pricing policy is more mysterious, because the duration of the promotional rate depends on the offers. So, Fiber offers are still twelve months away – but will this last? –, while certain mobile offers have changed over six months. A logic that escapes us… Free remains the only exception for the moment, the operator having committed not to increase the prices of its offers – except for the Booster option of its €2 mini package – until 2027 We can only hope that this will not change with the upcoming arrival of the Freebox V9.