How To Save Money On Your Cell Phone Bill

Do you cringe every time your cell phone statement comes in the mail? Chances are, you are paying more than absolutely necessary for your cell phone bill. With the following tips, you can reduce your phone bill whether you’re currently shopping for a new cell contract or looking to stick with your current provider and plan.

Analyze Actual Use of Minutes

Look over your last six months of cell phone use to see how many of your monthly minutes you’re actually using compared to how many you have available to you each month. If you’ve consistently got minutes left over at the end of the billing cycle, you may benefit from choosing a lower priced plan with less minutes included. Keep in mind if you reduce your plan to one with less minutes, you may also change your free talk-time hours or benefits – so look into this before making the switch.

Alternatively, if you find you’re constantly going over your phone plan’s included minutes, chances are you’re paying hefty per-minute fees on the time you spend talking outside of your included monthly minutes. It is probably more cost effective to select a higher priced monthly plan that includes more minutes than to pay per-minute on a less expensive monthly plan.

Analyze Your Text Messaging

If you rarely use your text messaging feature on your cell phone, it doesn’t make sense to pay an additional monthly fee for it. It makes more sense for people who send one or two texts a month to pay per text message (between 10 and 30 cents each) . On the other hand, if you find yourself sending texts as often or more often as you talk on the phone, you’ll be much better off to purchase a plan that includes text messaging. Most cell phone providers offer varying levels of text message packages – from 200 texts per month to unlimited texts per month – with prices ranging from $5 to $20 additional each month.

Family Plans and In-Network Calling

Depending on your cell phone provider, you may have the option of including certain phone numbers on your list of family and friends. Once added to this list of numbers, calls made to or from them are not billable. It makes sense to add your most frequently called numbers to this list and use your regular monthly minute allowance for all your other calls. If most of the people you call use a certain cell provider, it may be worthwhile to look at using the same cell phone provider to take advantage of free in-networking calling that some cell phone providers allow.