How to Lower Your Cell Phone Bill
Posted by jefferson on Aug 3, 2012 in Saving Money | 37 comments
Part 3 in the “Our Bills” Series: Cell Phone
It is amazing how quickly cell phones have become an indispensable part of our lives. Today, 91% of Americans own a wireless device and over 51% of cell phone users have a smart phone with a data plan. Considering the growing popularity of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android devices, these high numbers are only surprising because of how much these smart phones actually cost.
As the technology and mobile networks continue to grow and evolve, our phones are playing a bigger and bigger role in our lives. Today’s phones serve as an address book, a camera, a portable gaming device, a GPS, a music player, and even a virtual secretary. In addition, many people (myself included) work in technology for a living and require ready access to email at all times. Smart phones are here to stay, and signs point to them playing an even bigger role in our lives in the future (virtual wallets, etc). As such, we need to find a way to fit the high costs of these phones and their data plans into our monthly budgets.
My wife and I recently decided to take a deeper look at our wireless bill and found multiple opportunities for savings. In fact, we were able to quickly and easily shave $35 off of our monthly bill! Of course, the easiest way to save on wireless costs would be to switch to a very basic phone and to drop the data plan. However, this isn’t a realistic option for everyone, which is why you might want to consider the suggestions below to see if they can help you save a bundle on your own wireless bills.
Check Your Usage and Lower Your Minutes
If you haven’t taken the time to check the minutes that you are currently using, go log into your wireless provider’s website and do this TODAY! You may be paying for a lot more minutes than you are actually using! For the last several years, we were paying for a plan that had 1400 shared minutes for my wife and I to share. When I finally checked our usage, we were averaging only *300-400 minutes used per month! I switched us to a scaled-down plan that only gives us 700 minutes a month, which should be plenty for our needs.
If you are using a lot of minutes, there are things that you can do to keep your usage down. Most cell phone providers offer a version of “Friends and Family” where you can register a subset of phone numbers that won’t count against your minutes. If you list the numbers that you call most often, this should go a long way to significantly reduce your usage (*this is how our minutes stay so low). On top of that, if you need to call someone outside of the your list, try to do it on evenings or weekends, which are often grace periods.
Employee Discounts
A friend of mine who works in the wireless industry told me that employee discounts are a huge potential savings that very few actually utilize. If you work for a large corporation, chances are good that you will be eligible for a discount with one (if not all) of the major wireless companies. If you work for a smaller company or are self-employed, this may not apply to you, but it is certainly worth looking into. When I examined my own company’s corporate partner offerings, I discovered that they offered employees a discount of 8% for my wireless provider.
The Latest and Greatest
If you find yourself drooling at the newest cell phone technology, you should stop and consider that the latest and greatest today won’t be the latest and greatest for long. Instead, look at phones that have been out for at least six months, because you should be able to get them for under a hundred dollars, and sometimes even for free if your timing is right (and you are willing to renew your contract). Purchasing phones at full retail, or even used off of eBay, can often cost you between $400-$700, and is not recommended. Check with your carrier and also with Amazon Wireless to see who currently has the best offer.
Evaluate Your Phone Insurance
If something happens to your phone, it can be very expensive to replace it– which is what makes purchasing cell phone insurance such a popular option. However, if your “eligible for upgrade” date is fast approaching (within the next six months), you might want to think about dropping the insurance. At this point, your phone is several years old, and the deductible on the insurance (generally $50) is not a whole lot cheaper than the cost to replace the phone. We recently cancelled insurance on my wife’s 2-year old phone, but still maintain it on mine (which I purchased in December).
The Numbers: Here’s a look at our monthly bill before and after making the above changes. This is for two smart phones w/ data plans:
| BEFORE | BEFORE COST | AFTER | AFTER COST |
| Shared Minutes – 1400 | $79.95 | Shared Minutes – 700 | $59.95 |
| Unlim Data w/ Unlim Text, 2 Phones | $59.98 | Unlim Data w/ Unlim Text, 2 Phones | $59.98 |
| Insurance – 2 Phones | $12.17 | Insurance – 1 Phone | $6.99 |
| Fees, Taxes, and Charges | $13.25 | Fees, Taxes, and Charges | $13.25 |
| Employee Discount – 8% | ($11.21) | ||
| Total | $165.35 | Total | $128.96 |
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In this series, we take a detailed look at the monthly expenses that a typical family has to deal with, and look for opportunities for savings. In part one of our series, I wondered if our cable bill was too high?. In part two, we discussed energy costs, examining how much it costs to heat and cool a home.
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My cellphone bill is astronomical – I desperately need to lower it. Canadians do tend to spend a lot more on our phones than Americans, because prices are just a lot more expensive. Frustrating!
Daisy recently posted..July Recap and August Goals
That is frustrating, Daisy, because my bill feels pretty high already.
Well I’ve been really tempted to get a smart phone, but there’s no way I’d be willing to pay $100/month for my phone. So this may be tough to justify still. Once my birthday gets closer I’ll have to shop around a bit to see just how much I’d be paying. It’s obviously going to be a lot more than the $30/month I pay for my crappy phone.
Modest Money recently posted..Beginning of August 2012 Blog Update
You can certainly get a single plan for well under $100.. Our plan is for 2 phone lines and 2 data phones. Once you get one data phone, you start to get used to having the full power of the internet at your fingertips.. It is awfully hard to go back to not having that, once you’ve had it.
I would never get smart phone either. I really cannot pay that cost, that’s too big for me.
But anyway, thanks for these helpful tips!
Marnie Byod recently posted..Property Stamp Duty – New Regulations and Rates
The company my husband works for, used to offer a discount if you used a particular cell phone provider. Then after 2 years, they decided to drop the program. Frustrating! That discount really helped us out.
Mackenzie recently posted..Happy Moments…
Oh that *is* frustrating…
If we had another cell company than the one that we do, we could actually save a LOT more.. But our current provider is the only one that works well at our house.
I’m lucky — my parents have this great family plan that they very generously added me to — it only costs them an extra $20 a month for me to be on their plan!
Kathleen @ Frugal Portland recently posted..A MUCH Better Metric — Net Worth!
I know *lots* of folks who are still on their parents plan, and there is nothing wrong with that if you can pull it off..
Brian and I are each on our parents’ plans. My mom still has an ex-boyfriend on our plan because it was only $10 a month to add him and he pays for 1 year at a time up front. I know everyone hates Sprint but I’ve honestly never had any trouble with them, even in the middle of nowhere.
My cell phone bill was pretty high but I improved it slightly by putting my and my parents’ bill together on a family plan. It does make a bit of a difference!
Shannon-ReadyForZero recently posted..Help People and Expect Nothing in Return
Great job.. I love how everyone I know in the PF community is always scrambling to find ways to save money..
Depending on your provider you may or may not be able to do this. Verizon and ATT are going to make it much more difficult to lower your bill with their share everything style plans (won’t be shocked if Sprint and T-Mobile follow their lead). In some cases the cheapest line of service will go up significantly. This is just a reminder to try to lock in a better rate as soon before you won’t be able too!
We actually have one of the two providers that you mention and got a great response from them, but I do understand that the plans are changing and changing fast. We are still grandfathered into the unlimited data, for example, and I know that most providers force customers into a tiered plan at this point.
Luckily, our work pays for our cell phones. It is one of the many great benefits that our employer provides. I have to be “on-call” a lot, so that is the reason that we get the phone service. The downside is that work is ALWAYS able to reach us. However, if we had to purchase our own usage, we’d probably look into a much cheaper option – possibly pay as you go.
Great tips Jefferson! Have a great weekend!
Greg@ClubThrifty recently posted..What My Parents Never Taught Me About Money
That is a very nice perk, to be sure. My work would actually pay for a (basic) cell phone for me, but I wouldn’t be allowed to use it for personal calls. That would mean that I would be carrying around two phones all the time, which I don’t want to do, so I just use my personal for both.
really great tips on lowering your cell phone bill. I pay less than $100 on my cell phone bill. I have to say Sprint does have the best plans, in my opinion
Ornella @ Moneylicious recently posted..Uninvited to a Wedding After Plane Ticket & Hotel was paid. Should She Still Go?
Thanks for compliment!.. You are correct about Sprint.. They often have sweet deals and have a nice assortment of phones.. But unfortunately, we don’t get good reception at our house on the sprint network.
Good job! We as comers really need to have a good handle on what we are paying for. They bank on us not paying attention. I have to admit I haven’t looked into what my usage per month is although I have been talking about doing it. I ope this posts iChat’s that fire under my butt to go do it!!
Thanks
Not iChat’s, lights…
It is certainly worth a phone call to at least see if there are savings to be had!
My hope is that phones can replace some other expenses as a way to save money. It would be great to replace the cable bill or the internet bill. Perhaps some day.
If I wasn’t using my phone for business purposes. I’d definitely go with a pre-paid. I barely use personal minutes.
JP @ My Family Finances recently posted..How to Make Your Recipes Cheaper and Healthier Too
I think that we may get there sooner than you think… One thing I use my phone for heavily is texting back and forth with my wife throughout the work day.. I work in a “project room” where personal conversations are not possible, but we are able to communicate and keep up with each other through texting.
Great tips! Mine’s high too — I should check the minutes! To my credit, however, I do wait until new phones have been out for a few months before I buy them, and I also wait until I’m eligible for an upgrade.
Nell @ Housewife Empire recently posted..Shakin’ Off Haters – One Jerk at a Time
Good for you, Nell.. Honestly, pretty much EVERYONE i know in my life (work, friends, etc) currently has a data phone, and as such is facing similar charges to you and i..
Wow, you really slashed your bill without compromising on services. Ours is already at a minimum because we have the smallest plan and use my husband’s discount through his work; plus we haven’t bought smartphones, so we don’t have a data plan at all!
Elizabeth @ Simple Finance recently posted..My Dirty Mortgage Qualification Secret
That is awesome that you have been able to make it this far without making the smartphone jump.. It really saves money. I was very pleased to be able to reduce our bill without compromising on services.
There was a point where my cell phone bill was astronomical as well! I remember getting consecutive $100+ bills and feeling very frustrated. When I finally called up my cell phone company, they were actually very helpful and found me a plan that was better suited to my calling habits. It dropped the bill down to ~$60 a month. Go figure…
CF recently posted..Updates: July 29 – August 4
I wonder how many people out there are getting ripped on their cell phone (or other) bills, but never bother to call and see if there are options to reduce them… My guess would be .. alot.
My dad gets a 25% discount with Verizon so I stayed on my family’s plan and we added Dave when I got married. We write a check to my parents for 3 months in advance. We pay $66/month for unlimited talk/text. I Could probably widdle down the minutes though since I don’t use that many.
Jessica @ Budget for Health recently posted..Homemade Taco Seasoning
That is a really great way to do it, if you can pull it off. $66 monthly is a great deal for two phones..
I love the new layout! Looks so great! I’ve got almost everything as low as I can get it including the use of ancient phones. I just have to convince bf to get rid of his insurance….
femmefrugality recently posted..Q: How Does Your Garden Grow?
Thanks for the comment on the layout!! Good luck with your bf!
Nice tips for lower phone bill. My company pays the bills, but anyway I don’t have more than 20$ a month ( internet + voice calls). For my private phones ( 2 different companies) I pay around 50$ a month. So in my case I have to reduce phones not the bills
Gekko recently posted..Daily news – August 6th 2012
Cell phone bill is way too high, even after employee discounts. I feel there isn’t much you can do these days since T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T all seem to have about the same rates.
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted..Should You Ask Friends to Help You Move?
I receive a great employee discount of 24%. The funny thing is, I don’t even work for the company anymore and have not for 9 years. That’s the only reason I’ve stayed with my below average service provider.
JW @ AllThingsFinance recently posted..Generate Income Through Peer-to-Peer Lending
Taking too much time on a cell phone could cost you high bills and not only that taking calls more than an hour a day could ruin your health too. I advice that you should also take some time to rest and avoid taking calls or having calls to avoid your cell phone bills increase.