8 Tips For Your Cell Phone Bill
Sunday was the wonderful obligatory day of watching football all day with friends and a few beers and the conversation turned towards our cell phones. The most common feeling is that no one is terribly happy with what they have; there is always something better. One thing that we would all like to see though is to save money.
A cell phone bill is one of those things that we are seemingly always going to have. Its not like a car where you eventually get it paid off and you simply have to keep the registration and insurance current. You always have the $50 (approximately of courser) demand coming to you either by letter or email.
How can we optimize this though? Those savings will definitely build over the time that you have a phone. One thing that I am going to make myself look into is phone insurance. I recently forgot my phone on the train and had to get a new one. I figured since I paid $5 a month that would cover the cost of getting a replacement. Nope. Had to pay $50 to Asurion. I have gone for years without having an issue and then I have to pay another $50?! Ugh. Remind me the advantage again? My phone is nothing fancy so to get a brand new one of the same model for far less then what the total sum of all my “little” insurance payments.
- Do some math. See if the likelyhood of losing/damaging your phone is great enough to warrant getting insurance. Keep in mind that you will still have to pay something if you engage with insurance. I am open to alternatives.
- Eyeball your contract. Be sure of the terms and what times are peak and free. They will sometimes change these times and they might not be in your favor. Don’t get caught off gaurd.
- Track your text messaging. It can get excessive if you go over. For such a simple thing, to move a few bytes of text, it becomes a leap for those servers out there. Go figure.
- Use a family plan. As you get older, your contact list effectively begins to shrink. Your most frequent traffic will be with those closest to you. Get onto a family plan with your spouse and maybe even your friends. I had a few buddies in college do that and they saved some money, and hassle, that way.
- Be wary of 1-800 numbers. These aren’t necessarily free like you might think, not to mention you are more likely to be on hold at some point. Wait until you get to a landline.
- Pre-paid? If you are really looking to save and use your cell very little, consider a pre-paid phone. After digging around you might find deals as low as $20 every three months. Compare that to what you are paying now if you don’t make that many calls.
- Streamline it! Cut off all those bells and whistles that you are never going to use: email, video, ringtones, games, weird other downlaods…honestly. Keep it simple.
- 411. Dial 1-800-FREE-411. It might be cheaper than what your provider charges and the connection is free when you get the number you want. Haven’t tried this but it might hold merit.
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Comments
Hey , here’s a way I’ve been cutting down on bills and getting rid of your phone bill all together …check this thing out .. I saw it on ctv news … you can make UNLIMITED FREE LONG DISTANCE CALLS to Canada and the US .. it’s a little usb device with a phone jack and you talk over your internet connection … I bought it actually works… I cancelled my phone service with shaw .. which was around $100 or so a month … this only cost $39 CAD and it’s good for a whole year .. after that it’s only $19 … You also get your own telephone number too …… I got mine at http://www.InterestingMedia.com …Enjoy 
I noticed on my bill recently that my cell phone bill went up - the raised the price on my warranty without letting me know. I got irritated enough I just canceled the warranty all together. As you say, it is worth looking over your bill regularly.