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The study, conducted by Moneysupermarket.com, reveals that customers who do not pay their bills by direct debit are being charged an additional £4.50 per quarter by BT, £3.50 per month by TalkTalk, £5 per month by Virgin Media and £1 per month by Orange.

Alongside this, the study reveals around eight

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million Britons have been overcharged on their bills in the last three months, most of whom never realise because they're paying on direct debit and not checking their bills.

"A lot of this is misinformation, customers are being hit with hidden costs and it looks like they've been overcharged," says Rob Barnes, head of broadband and mobiles at moneysupermarket.com.

"It's things like download caps - a lot of providers are putting the costs in the small print and hoping you don't notice it, so when customers are streaming or using something like the iPlayer their 1GB limit is gone very quickly, and they're being charged anything up to £5 per extra meg without realising.

"Our message is that customers need to be very vigilant on what they sign up to. I think a lot of customers would happily pay an additional £2 a month, if it meant not being hit with hidden charges."