Financial Fellow

Written by J.P. Wicklein

     I’ve spent my entire career working in the telecommunications industry for cell phone service providers.  Over the years I’ve learned many ways to keep your cell phone bill at a minimum.  So whether you get cell phone service through Verizon, Sprint, Alltel, T-Mobile, AT&T, or U.S. Cellular the below tips should help you keep your bill as low as possible. 

1.   Signup around the holidays:   Cell phone service providers are like most other retailers – their best sales period is around the holidays.  Like other retailers, cell phone service providers will usually offer their best deals between Thanksgiving and Christmas.    

2.   Avoid prepay service:  In the majority of cases the per minute cost of prepay service is higher than that of postpay service. 

3.   Threaten to cancel your service:  The cell phone market is almost completely saturated.  Today, any customer that a service provider adds almost always comes from a competitor.  Five to ten years ago providers focused most of their energy on adding new cell phone users as fast as possible.  Now, much of their focus has shifted to retaining the customers they have.  As a result, service providers have designed special incentives to keep customers from cancelling their service.  Each provider has its own rules on when to offer customers these special incentives.  One way to find out if you meet their criteria is to call customer service and inform them that you are considering cancelling your service.  At which point, they may offer you an incentive to stay.  Depending upon your concerns they may offer you free minutes or some money off your upcoming monthly bills.    

4.   Company discounts:  When a cell phone service provider signs up a large business they will often offer the company’s employees a discount off retail plans.  Generally, the more lines the service provider sells the company, the bigger the discount they will offer to the company’s employees.  Check with your employer to see if you are eligible for a discount through any service provider.

5.   Unadvertised price plans:  In the past, some service providers would offer an unadvertised price plan at a lower monthly service charge than their advertised plans.  The unadvertised plan would contain a smaller minute allotment and only be offered to potential customers that expressed interest in a cheaper option than what was advertised.  Although they are not as common anymore some service providers may still offer them.  If you’re interested, stop by a service provider’s store to see if they offer anything.    

6.   Consider dropping some features:  Are you paying several dollars a month for a text messaging package but never send a single text message?  If so, you may want to remove the text messaging package from your monthly bill.  The same goes for any other feature you may be paying for, such as, picture messaging or internet access.

7.   Text messaging pay per use charges:  Some service providers now charge you as much as 20 cents for every text message you send or receive.  If you find your monthly bill swollen with these charges consider paying a few bucks a month for a text messaging package.  If you’re tired of paying for any text messages and want to prevent yourself from sending or receiving them contact your service provider.  They have the ability to disable text messaging functionality on your phone. 

8.   Send text messages through the web:  Most cell phone service providers will allow you to send text messages to their customers through their website.  So, if you are at a computer and want to avoid being charged for sending a text message just send it through the service provider’s website. 

9.   Examine your footprint:  Your footprint refers to where you can place calls from without incurring any roaming charges.  Most cell phone service providers offer either a national or local footprint with their price plans.  Generally, price plans with national footprints are more expensive.  Take a look at your bill to determine where most of your calls are being made from.  If you have a plan with a national footprint but, the vast majority of your calls are made within your cell phone provider’s local footprint, consider switching to a price plan with a local footprint.  On the flip side, if you are on a local footprint but are getting pummeled with roaming charges consider switching to a price plan with a national footprint.   

10. Push to talk:  If your price plan has a push to talk component that you could live without consider dropping it or changing to a regular price plan – assuming your service provider will allow it. 

11. Don’t be overly afraid of overage charges:  Many people are afraid of exceeding their monthly minute allotment and incurring overage charges.  Understandably so, overage charges can really add up.  When choosing your monthly minute allotment, though, try to avoid picking a rate plan that offers more minutes than you will ever use.  The extra amount of money you pay each month to avoid overage charges could exceed the amount of charges you would have incurred at the lower rate plan anyway.   

12. Change your rate plan:  If you find that you aren’t using anywhere near your monthly minute allotment or would like to cut back on your cell phone bill and are willing to use it less consider moving to a cheaper rate plan.  Many service providers will allow you to move up and down rate plans whether or not you are out of contract.  

13. Take advantage of mobile to mobile, incoming minutes, or nights and weekends:  Almost all service providers will offer you free mobile to mobile, free incoming calls, or free nights and weekends when you sign up.  These promotions will help prevent you from draining your monthly minute allotment.  If you find yourself racking up overage charges try to adjust your calling patterns to take advantage of your promotion. 

14. Ask your service provider how you can save money:  Examining a cell phone bill and figuring out the best way to save yourself some money isn’t always easy.  So, why not have your service provider do it for you?  If you stop by a store or call your provider’s customer service department they will almost always be willing to examine your bill and help you find a way to save some money.