Five Easy Ways to Cut Down on your Cell Phone Costs
Peter Pham, CEO of BillShrink.com, went on a local news channel recently to talk about how to reduce your cell phone bill. Pham said that about 80% of cell phone users are overpaying on their cellular service, oftentimes in the range of $300 a year. With that in mind, here are a few simple ways to trim your cell phone bill:
Consider Pay-as-You-Go
If you use your phone for calls and only calls, then you may be able to get a better deal on prepaid phones, which often start as low as 5 cents per minute. Contract cell phone plans are best for those who plan to use text messaging, data and email. If you don’t use these services regularly, you are essentially throwing money away.
Get a Free Phone
Most cell phone carriers give away smartphones for free in order to get you to sign up for a data and text messaging plan. If you were planning on getting these services anyway, it may not be a bad move to take them up on their offer. For example, you can easily get a free BlackBerry or a free Palm Pixi Plus. But still, you should avoid getting more phone than you need. Doing so is a bit like driving a Hummer to the grocery store – wasteful, and expensive.
Skip Insurance
Many cell phone plans come with insurance by default. You can opt out and save around $5 a month and simply keep an old cell phone handy in case you lose or damage your main cell phone.
Shop Around
There are few smartphones that are exclusive to one carrier. If you’re deadset on a certain handset, see if any of the other cell phone providers have teh same phone or a comparable phone for a lower price. Don’t just take into account upfront costs – also take a look at overall costs of the contract.
Crunch Your Cell Phone Bill
Websites like myvalidas.com and billshrink.com let you upload your cell phone bill and have it analyzed for opportunities to save money. These services can easily pay for themselves by optimizing your cell phone bill.
Have any other great tips for paring down your cell phone bill? Share them in the comments.
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