Keeping Your Cell Phone Bill Under Control
If you have a cell phone, I'm pretty sure that it has happened to you at least once. I'm referring to the monthly bill shock. Granted, sometimes you know that you've been talking a lot and have had the opportunity to brace yourself, but most times you're caught totally off-guard. In this post, I'll try and share with you a few tips to keep your bill as low as possible. Read on.
1. Going over your allotted quota. This is the major culprit. If you get your bill and it's uncharacteristically high, most of the time it's because you went over your limit whether in minutes, text messages, or Internet use or a combination of those. The problem with going over your limit is that the charges are ridiculously high compared to what your rate is for the services within your limit. Fortunately, you bill will not bundle everything together: you will get the detail what you went over on and you will be able to see exactly what your overage charges are.
How to take control of this: move to a higher tier minutes plan and/or sign up for unlimited text/Internet. At first this piece of advice might sound counter-intuitive, but there's no doubt that, unless you move to a plan that's considerably higher than what you currently have, going over will cost you more than the new plan. If you don't want to (or can't afford to) move to a more expensive plan, then track how much you're using your included cell phone services. If you realize there's a risk of you going over, exercise some self-control and stop using that service. It's not easy, but it's not complicated.
2. Third Party Subscriptions. There seems to be no way of getting rid of the companies that sell those subscriptions, no matter how many complaints and lawsuits are filed against them. Their subscriptions services offer anything from a "free ringtone of the month" to a "horoscope of the day" to a "sexy wallpaper picture of the day". In theory, the only ways to subscribe to those services is to send them a text to a number they give you, or to log on to their website and enter your cell phone number there. Of course, if it were always like that, things would be simple; the problem is that they have a tendency to appear out of nowhere on customers' bills. In the end, pay close attention to the "direct bill" portion of your bill because that's where you'll be able to eventually spot them.
AT&T settled a class action suit involving those mysterious subscriptions. They are now under the obligation of notifying their customers by text message to ask if they want to have the subscription added to their account. If the customer doesn't reply, then the subscription can't be added. Other carriers should take this as an example.
3. One-time fees. Lastly, one-time fees might be the culprit for your higher cell phone bill. These are typically non-recurring fees, and include activation fees, re-activation fees, upgrade fees, or non-payment fees. Companies will usually not rescind the fees stemming from an account suspension for an unpaid bill. Rarely ever do these fees get waived or credited, although you can definitely ask if there are any discounts you might be eligible for, such as an employee discount. Alternatively, you can attempt sweet-talking customer service into waiving the fee. How accommodating they are will depend largely on how long you've been a customer and by your bill-paying record.
Strategy. Your cell phone habits will go a long way towards determining which strategy you use to keep your cell phone bill to a manageable level. If you do most of your talking in the early evening, paying a little bit extra for early night and weekend minutes might be economical. If you're home a lot, look into the various Voice Over IP phone service providers such as you cable company, your phone company, Skype, Vonage, T-Mobile @ Home, and so on. This can save you a lot of minutes. And never be afraid to ask for a discount: employee discount, student discount, senior discount, and so on. If you own a business, you can even ask for a business discount.
If you're unable to pay your bill in one payment, try calling your carrier's customer service department to try and arrange a payment scheme so that your service doesn't get disconnected. Of course, if you haven't been paying on time, they will be less lenient with you: a good bill-paying record never hurt anyone. In any case, as you can see, keeping your cell phone bill under control is possible with a little discipline and creativity.
1. Going over your allotted quota. This is the major culprit. If you get your bill and it's uncharacteristically high, most of the time it's because you went over your limit whether in minutes, text messages, or Internet use or a combination of those. The problem with going over your limit is that the charges are ridiculously high compared to what your rate is for the services within your limit. Fortunately, you bill will not bundle everything together: you will get the detail what you went over on and you will be able to see exactly what your overage charges are.
How to take control of this: move to a higher tier minutes plan and/or sign up for unlimited text/Internet. At first this piece of advice might sound counter-intuitive, but there's no doubt that, unless you move to a plan that's considerably higher than what you currently have, going over will cost you more than the new plan. If you don't want to (or can't afford to) move to a more expensive plan, then track how much you're using your included cell phone services. If you realize there's a risk of you going over, exercise some self-control and stop using that service. It's not easy, but it's not complicated.
2. Third Party Subscriptions. There seems to be no way of getting rid of the companies that sell those subscriptions, no matter how many complaints and lawsuits are filed against them. Their subscriptions services offer anything from a "free ringtone of the month" to a "horoscope of the day" to a "sexy wallpaper picture of the day". In theory, the only ways to subscribe to those services is to send them a text to a number they give you, or to log on to their website and enter your cell phone number there. Of course, if it were always like that, things would be simple; the problem is that they have a tendency to appear out of nowhere on customers' bills. In the end, pay close attention to the "direct bill" portion of your bill because that's where you'll be able to eventually spot them.
AT&T settled a class action suit involving those mysterious subscriptions. They are now under the obligation of notifying their customers by text message to ask if they want to have the subscription added to their account. If the customer doesn't reply, then the subscription can't be added. Other carriers should take this as an example.
3. One-time fees. Lastly, one-time fees might be the culprit for your higher cell phone bill. These are typically non-recurring fees, and include activation fees, re-activation fees, upgrade fees, or non-payment fees. Companies will usually not rescind the fees stemming from an account suspension for an unpaid bill. Rarely ever do these fees get waived or credited, although you can definitely ask if there are any discounts you might be eligible for, such as an employee discount. Alternatively, you can attempt sweet-talking customer service into waiving the fee. How accommodating they are will depend largely on how long you've been a customer and by your bill-paying record.
Strategy. Your cell phone habits will go a long way towards determining which strategy you use to keep your cell phone bill to a manageable level. If you do most of your talking in the early evening, paying a little bit extra for early night and weekend minutes might be economical. If you're home a lot, look into the various Voice Over IP phone service providers such as you cable company, your phone company, Skype, Vonage, T-Mobile @ Home, and so on. This can save you a lot of minutes. And never be afraid to ask for a discount: employee discount, student discount, senior discount, and so on. If you own a business, you can even ask for a business discount.
If you're unable to pay your bill in one payment, try calling your carrier's customer service department to try and arrange a payment scheme so that your service doesn't get disconnected. Of course, if you haven't been paying on time, they will be less lenient with you: a good bill-paying record never hurt anyone. In any case, as you can see, keeping your cell phone bill under control is possible with a little discipline and creativity.
About the Author:
There are plenty of ways to keep both your home phone bill and your mobile phone bill under control. Learn more about how to reduce your phone bill by visiting Reduce Phone Bill.
posted by Credit Counseling at
10:33 AM
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