Wireless service providers make their money when customers decide to sign a long-term contract for far more minutes and services than you are likely to need.You can often only get out of this agreement by paying an expensive cancellation fee. If you're shopping around for a new service or considering re-signing your contract, think about switching to a prepaid plan. By avoiding the commitment of a two-year plan, you have the option of signing up for a more limited plan then expanding your services if you find you need to do so. You can ignore the high-pressure sales tactics that cost customers a lot when they know they're making a decision that could follow them for two years.
Don't be afraid to buy a bundle of what you actually use, however, because a la carte minutes, messages, and megabytes can be very costly. Most carriers charge only $3-$5 for a few hundred extra text messages that could cost as much as $0.20 each if you had to buy them individually. If you think you need to purchase add-ons for more than one service, you may want to consider upgrading your plan. Some unlimited prepaid plans offered by Boost or MetroPCS have the potential to save seriously talkers a significant amount of money each month.
Another easy way to cut your monthly bill is to find out whether you're paying for costly handset or other insurance. Customers sometimes agree to pay for this insurance when they first sign their contracts and it seems like a good idea to protect the phone they have just purchased. After a few months, previously owned versions of the very same phones tend to be available at a low cost. If you save your old phone as a backup, cancel the insurance and save the difference, you should be well prepared in the event of an accident.
--Bridget O'Sullivan
1 comment:
Bridget, great tips for cutting down on cell bills. I wanted to briefly add that there are ways to use the internet to soften the monthly blow of the cell bill that you might want to check out if you haven't already. One blog called http://www.fixmycellbill.blogspot.com/ constantly tracks new ways to cut wireless costs and exposes shady billing practices utilized by the cell phone companies. Also, take a look at the consumer advocacy website where I (admittedly) work, http://www.fixmycellbill.com , that slashes the average cell bill by 22 percent. Through the site, which is powered by a company called Validas, we have currently audited over 26,000 cell lines and have saved consumers over $5 million off their wireless bills. You can see Validas in the national news media, most recently on Good Morning America at http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6887412&page=1.
Good luck to everyone reading on lowering your expenses in this tough economy.
Dylan
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