Marc Serafino
The basic premise of this article is to only pay for the services you will be actually using and drop those that you don’t need. Also, to see whether there is room for tweaks that could further slash a few dollars off your monthly bill.
Here are five easy ways to lighten your mobile phone bill…
1. Get the plan for your unique needs
Start by determining your needs, beginning with mobile data requirements. These days, most plans include sufficient amount of minutes and texts, some even offer them in unlimited quantities, but when it comes to data — the situation is different.
You should try to find a plan with just right amount of data. One option is to visit your carrier’s local office and ask about it; they can easily see your data consumption in the past 6 six months (or more), and recommend the plan that best suits your needs. Ask a representative for recommendation if they don’t say a word about it.
Another thing you could do is to check data consumption on your phone, with many of the newer devices coming with this capability out of box. Or, if that’s not the case with the phone you have, to install a data tracking app on your phone, like My DataManager, which will do the same thing, taking notes of all the megabytes you consume in the background.
By knowing how much mobile data you need per month, you will be able to select the plan that works best for you. This will also let you save money as no longer will you be buying add-on megabytes, or paying more for the plan that goes beyond your needs.
2. Pay only for the services you use
Mobile operators are notorious for the upsells and cross-sells, trying to get you to sign-up for additional services that cost real money (typically after a few months of free trial). Some of the add-on services offered include cloud storage, roadside assistance, parental controls and technical support. And guess what — you can live without all of them. What’s more, some of those services may already come included with other services you may be paying like Amazon Prime, Google Drive and AAA.
Parental controls is somewhat different, though — the basic service comes included with most newer mobile devices, but what the carrier is offering is typically more advanced. However, you may be able to get the same kind of service from a third-party vendor for less.
If you want to save on your cellphone bill, you’ll want to thoroughly check which third-party services you’re using, which you must-have and which you can perfectly live without.
3. Drop that phone insurance
Speaking of third-party services, phone insurance is one of the latest gimmicks carriers want us to buy. And in some cases, they even demand that you agree to it — like when you’re buying a new phone from them.
Generally speaking, phone insurance adds another 10 bucks (or so) to your monthly phone bill, and is it really worth it? Yes, it will get you a new device if you lose yours, but still…
Unfortunately, I can’t recommend you to drop your phone insurance that easily, cause if something happens I don’t want to feel guilty; but I do want you to give it a second thought. Perhaps you could insure your phone under the home insurance policy?
For what it matters, I don’t have a phone insurance.
4. Use VoIP instead of international minutes
Mobile operators charge a lot for calling international destinations, and there is no good reason why would you agree to pay them for the service you can essentially get for free.
These days, you can choose between a number of free options — including Skype, WhatsApp and Viber — which only require that a person on the other end of the line also runs the same app. Or, if that’s not the case, they can sell you minutes and texts for less than what carrier charges.
5. Switch to paperless auto-pay
If you still haven’t, switch to paperless service and get your monthly bills delivered via email, rather than the post office. Also, consider setting up an auto-pay option that will make sure you never miss a payment.
Some carriers will offer incentives for going paperless and opting for auto-pay, usually $5 per line of service. We find this to be one of those win-win situations, where you get to lighten your eco-footprint and wallet at the same time…
