Interesting subject today about our beloved Cell phone. How in the world i could save money on my next cell phone bill and even lower my yearly cost by a chunk!
Why not have some extra money for Christmas or Black Friday to buy my next gadget. Put more money toward some debts and even put aside money for a major purchase.
20 Years ago almost no one had a cell phone! Only the rich and famous had enough money to have a cell phone as a luxury item. Today it is different and most of the adult population and even teenagers have their own cell phones. It is amazing to see the major changes around this little device that we call cell phone. There is no question , this gadget is part of our lives and we cannot leave without it but some don’t have a cell phone and are ok with it.
My point is: We spend so much on our phone bill that we forget , before we didn’t have any of this and had no problem. Why not at least find ways to lower our cost and save money in the process so we could adjust our finances.
Let’s see how to save the right way.
Cell Phone Plans.
This is indeed the biggest of them all, take a look at your cell phone bill. Don’t just look at the numbers and the total amount of your invoice but all the details around your “parchemin” report!
You should see:
- Mobile Usage
- Shared Data
- Unlimited Voice
- Nation Wide member talking
- Unlimited text
- All usage details
- Usage notification
- and more…
There should be more or less details in your report but as a general figure this is what should be included.
How to save on this one?
Look for any errors compare to the previous months. Put more energy to look at your Data cost and roaming charges if any. This is where most of the time your bill cost will explode and ask yourself why in the world my bill is so high.
Also if you are on a shared plan with a member of your family , you will have to do the same exercise to make sure you are not doing the work for nothing. We leave in a era where especially teenagers are becoming the heart of the cell phone consuming business.
If you feel your cellphone bill is still to high even after cutting most of the option ,why not go shopping for a new cell phone company.More on that later…
Hint: Make sure to look at the breakup fees regarding your cell phone contract. Once you are comfortable go for it.
Call and Text = WIFI
Second option to save significantly is to use WIFI to make your phone calls and sending your text messages.
If you look around you , there is more and more free Wifi antennas available than a restaurant franchise! Some will say “yeah already knew about this one, what else you have to offer?!”
How to have the text option to switch to wifi automatically so you don’t have to think about it? Just to clarify, when sending a text message from your cell , it will connect to the wifi and send the message without you using your text plan.
As a example: I’m using my iphone (Android should almost be setup the same way as a iphone) to perform this task or i must say it is already automated.
It is setup in a way called: ” i-message”, this is a build in option that will let you send a message from your pihone through wifi , without using your text plan.
When sending a message you should see :
- Sending a text without wifi should be showned in green.
- Sending a text message with wifi will be showned in blue.
This is a excellent way to save on your cost or to avoid exploding your bill one more time. I’m talking for me on this one!
Data Usage.
Important indeed to talk about the usage of the data on our cell phone bill. It is considered the biggest expense around our invoice and most of the time, peoples will just pay the bill and not deal with it.
- Why are we not interested in this particular segment of our cellphone?
- We don’t understand maybe the usage?
- Avoid calling Customer Service and be like ” what are they talking about ?”
- Give us those weird explanation on how our bill was so high.
- Customer Service to propose another plan not always in our advantage
- and more…
The main thing to know before going in circle with this problem on, why my cell phone is so expensive!
- Know how to track the usage of your data from your cell phone.
- Could we use a software to do it
- Track the information online
- Call Customer Service Once a week
- Understand in details our Data usage
The best option to my knowledge is to develop some habits that will allow you (us) to control all aspect around your cellphone and here are the best ways to control your data usage.
- Negociate to have 2-3 GB Max of available Data on your cellphone plan (Don’t need more)
- Avoid any streaming videos, downloading pictures when connected on the wifi
- Look in the settings and block any programs using to much data (select use Wifi only)
- Avoid doing any software update when not connected on the wifi
- Verify your settings on knowing wich softwares is using the data (especially banks, emails and browser apps)
- Install a software alerting you when exceeding your data usage (My Data Manager or any other softwares)
- And more…
As you see there is more to look for than we think but following those simple steps , should be abble to help you save on your data usage.
Options.
You could also look to have a prepaid option for a cell phone or to cut drastically your bill by removing the data option. Major actions for major results but again this is not for everyone.
What i could say is: Take the time to understand your cell phone bill,download a copy or have the paper version.Read the information closely and see if there is any false information and something out of the ordinaire.
Follow with your cell phone company and adjust accordingly the information, correct, negociate and as a last resort.Shop for another cell phone company and look at review or ask a friend or family member for their experiences with their phone company.
This will give you all the chances to reduce finaly your cell phone bill and if you don’t have any issue with your bill, why not help someone that may have a issue.
Enjoy your day and be safe.
Stanley
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