Tips to minimize your cellphone bill

Thanks to today's technology, cellphone plans can be very expensive.

We've compiled some cellular-savings thanks to ABCNews.com, and About.com. Here are some ways to lower your monthly bill:

1) Check your monthly balance

Most people think they are in their monthly allowance, only to find out at the end of the month they have gone $300 over. Sign up with OverMyMinutes.com for free alerts, or follow these steps according to your carrier:

AT&T

• MIN# (*646#) for minutes used
• DATA# (*3282#) for text usage
• BAL# (*225#) for account balance
• PAY (*729) to make a payment
  

Sprint

• 4 for billing information
• 3 to make a payment

T-Mobile

• MIN# (#646#) for minutes used
• MSG# (#674#) for text usage
• BAL# (#225#) for account balance

Verizon

• MIN (#646) for minutes used
• DATA (#3282) for text usage
• BAL (#225) for account balance
• PMT (#768) to make a payment

2) Send texts by email

If you aren't enrolled in unlimited messaging, texts can be very expensive. Dena Christofferson, a 13-year-old from Wyoming, sent and received over 20,000 texts in 30 days. Her bill? $5000. Luckily, Predicto.com, a text messaging service will cover her bill in order to reduce the stress put on Christofferson's parents.

Want to send texts for no cost? Open an email, and enter the 10-digit number in the To: field, followed by your cell phone company's domain name:

• AT&T: @txt.att.net
• Sprint: @messaging.sprintpcs.com
• T-Mobile: @tmomail.net
• Verizon: @vtext.com

3) Skip voice mail greetings

Why waste your minutes listening to voice mail greetings? This is easy to skip. When the greeting begins, enter your carrier's code:

• AT&T: #
• Sprint: 1
• T-Mobile: #
• Verizon: *