Mobile phone users are paying for data they do not use and the consumer watchdog wants operators to take action.
Plans offering 'more-for-more' are increasingly offered by Optus, Telstra and Vodafone but the average person is using less and paying more.
A report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found people on a postpaid plan use just 11.8 GB of data of their monthly 35 GB data allowance on average.
People on prepaid plans use an average of 6.3 GB per month compared to a data allowance of 30 GB.
Commissioner Anna Brakey says a decision by operators to reduce prepaid plan expiry from 35 days to 28 days is a price increase "by stealth".
People are recharging more often and over a year are paying up to 25 per cent more for their mobile phone service, the report found.
Broadband services also increased costs in 2021, with people paying up to 11 per cent more - $10 a month - for a higher-speed plan than they did in 2019.
Around 650,000 households trialled higher-speed internet plans at no cost through promotional offers, but 46 per cent reverted to lower-speed plans when the offers ended.
The watchdog said consumers should weigh up their internet needs and choose a broadband plan relevant to them, given the higher prices being charged for some plans.
