4 Ways to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill
Your cell phone seems to be a larger and larger monthly expense as time goes on. Luckily, there are many options out there to help you pay the least amount of money for a cell phone plan. You just have to make sure you are researching and taking advantages of all of the possible money saving options at your disposal. Below are many of the options for you to save money on your cell phone. With a little leg work, I am certain you can get your monthly cell phone bill lower.
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Ways to Save Money on Your Cell Phone
- Check For Corporate Discounts.
Many corporations offer a discount on cell phone service. When I worked for an electronics retailer, there was a deal with Verizon Wireless that allowed me to get 10% off. When I switched careers to financial services, my new employer had a discount with AT&T for 20% off of service, so I made the switch.All you have to do is reach out to your human resources department and ask. Just send them a quick email to find out. You might be surprised as to what you find (and in some cases you can learn about many other discounts your company offers as well for other products and services).
- Be Smart With Data.
Data is what costs most people the bulk of their bill. After all, more and more cell phone providers are offering unlimited calling and texts and charging you for data. The key to lowering the amount of data you use it twofold.First, take a look at what apps and services are set to run in the background. I am certain you can find some apps that you can easily turn the refresh feature off. You probably won’t be able to use these apps when using cellular service, but if you never really use them that much anyways, then it’s no big deal.
Added to this, make sure you have your email set to fetch less often. When you open your email app, it will automatically fetch, so there is no need to worry about not getting the latest email.
From there, make sure you are connected to wifi whenever possible. I have Comcast for cable and internet and they offer a lot of free wifi all over town. I signed in once and now I am automatically connected whenever my cell phone finds Comcast internet available.
Just how much can these save you? I have had a grandfathered cell phone plan for a few years now that allowed me 200 MB of data each month. I never went over it. While I am not considered a heavy data user, I do listen to Pandora when at the gym and use apps like Map My Run when out for a run or Strava when on a bike ride.
How did I do this? I did what I am telling you above. I turned off a lot of the games so that they never refresh when I wasn’t on wifi. I never missed playing with them, because in reality, I never really played them that much to begin with.
At the gym, I made sure to connect to their wifi so I could listen to Pandora for my hour-long workouts without using any data.
Just one note on using free wifi, understand that when on free wifi, there is no protection for your sensitive data. This means that when on it or public wifi, you should really avoid logging onto bank accounts or credit card accounts. The same holds true for investment accounts as well. Just wait until you are home to access these sites or apps.
- Switch to a Cheaper Plan.
Make sure you take the time to look over your usage and see how much it costs you. You might find that there is another plan option with your cell phone provider that better meets your needs. And don’t worry about being in the middle of a contract. You can change your plan when in the middle of a contract. -
Switch to a Cheaper Carrier.
If you find that your current provider doesn’t offer you a plan that best meets your needs, you might have to look elsewhere. As I mentioned above, I was on a grandfathered plan with AT&T. Unfortunately for me, none of their newer plans better fit my needs. So I started to search around.I didn’t find anything better with the major cell carriers, so I expanded my search. There were some pre-paid plans that I found, but I didn’t like that they used the towers and network of certain other cell providers as I know they are not reliable in my area. But then I found Cricket, which was recently bought by AT&T.
I signed up for their service and got unlimited calls and texts and 2.5 GB of data for $35 a month, taxes included. (This includes a $5 discount for auto-paying). I’ve had the new service now for about a month and have zero complaints with it.
If you are going to switch carriers in the middle of a contract, factor in early termination fees.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to your cell phone, take the time to do a little research. You might be able to get a discount or even find a better plan that fits your needs and can save you money at the same time. This means that you might have to consider discount carriers as well. Don’t just take the monthly bill you are charged. Be proactive, do some research and ask questions. You never know how easily you might be able to save some money.
How much do you pay for cell service each month?
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