Cutting Costs on Your Cell Phone Bill

If you’re facing some tough times financially like most people today, you may have started to wonder if that cell phone is really worth the huge bill most of us pay every month. The good news is you can cut some corners and save some cash when it comes to your mobile service. Here are some tips.

• Look at Your Usage – Most of us pick a plan and never think about it again. But if you’ve got 1,000 minutes of talk time and are only using one-quarter of those minutes every month on average, you need to switch to a different plan because you’re just throwing money away. That’s particularly true if you have rollover minutes. There’s no reason to have more than you need, especially when you save $10 or $20 a month.
• Add Packages to Save Money – Do you do a lot of texting? If your existing package does not include texting and you are paying 35 cents or more for each of those outgoing and incoming messages, you need to make a change. Most mobile services offer texting packages for only $10 to $20 extra each month. Some of these include unlimited texting. You can always cut down your minutes and switch to texting for most of your mobile communications.
• Avoid Pay as You Go Services – While paying for the minutes you need in advance may sound like a great deal (and may be the only deal available if you have horrible credit), you’re actually going to end up paying a lot more money this way. Stick with a traditional service plan unless you have no other options or unless you really only want your cell phone for emergencies. They can also be a good choice for anyone who is worried about racking up large bills by going over their minutes.
• Go for a Family Plan – Family plans may seem more expensive but if you can split the costs with your roommates, relatives, or friends then you can save a bundle. Of course, you need to make sure everyone on the plan is reliable and trustworthy. Otherwise you could end up holding a large bill for the phone service.
• Negotiate – When your service agreement is up, you’re probably thinking about getting a new phone. But you should also be thinking about ways to lower your costs. Most companies want to keep your business so they will negotiate a lower price. You can also talk to representatives from competing companies who may offer you a good deal to lure you away.
• Pay On Time – The worst thing you can do is be late on your cell phone bills. If you’re too late with the payment and the phone is turned off, you’ll be charged additional fees for lateness and for re-connection. If you’re extremely late, your plan might be canceled and you’ll be stick with a several hundred dollar early cancellation charge. If you’re having trouble making the payments, make changes to your plan.
• Scrap Your Home Phone – If you do most of your calling via your cell phone, why have a home phone at all? Instead, you could save $20 to $40 by eliminating the home phone line.

Remember that if you accept discounts on the purchase of a new phone you are going to be roped into another long contract so make sure you can afford another 12 to 24 months of your service before you say “yes” to that mobile phone.

Tagged as: cancellation charge, Cell phone, cell phone service, home phone, mobile phone, upgrade phone