I ditched my Virgin broadband and tethered my phone in a bid to save £400 a year as Sky, BT and more hike prices

Prices continue to rise for billpayers across the UK and despite the rate of inflation falling to 10.1%, food, water, petrol and a wave of household bills continue to soar.

Nowadays our phones can do almost anything, so when it comes to streaming series at home, using the internet, playing music and even working we don't just have to rely on broadband packages. As prices increase, I decided to swap broadband for a phone hotspot to see if it would be just as reliable, and it turns out there's a huge saving in it too.

This April, broadband services including the likes of Now TV, Sky and BT raised their rates by 14%, leaving many customers paying an extra £5 a month - or £60 a year. As we reported on the steps customers could do amid the price hikes, one reader shared a money-saving tip that we just had to try for ourselves.

READ MORE: Sky, Virgin Media and BT broadband prices soar - what to do if you can't pay

Explaining in a comment on the MEN, he said: “If you're in a 5G area with an unlimited data deal I don't see why you need a broadband deal. You can tether your laptop and TV to your phone. That's what I do."

It certainly may be an option for customers coming to the end of their current broadband deal, or those who don't have one, raising the point of whether it is an 'essential home service' or if could you still get by on a mobile plan you already have.

To see if this strategy could work for me at home I decided to put it to the test, turning off my wifi during three working-from-home days. It may have been slightly ‘glitchy’ at times but it could save me more than £400 if I kept it up for a whole year.

Obviously, any customer would save money if they decided to pay for a broadband contract; the whole idea