Paying Too Much for Cellphone Service? 5 Ways to Save Money

If soaring costs are getting you down, finding ways to reduce expenses will help keep your head above water and your spirits high. This post offers five ways to save money on your cell phone bill. Using these tips you may be able to cut your monthly bill in half! 

1. Change Companies

Verizon and AT&T’s unlimited plans are the most expensive, with T-Mobile coming in a close third. These service providers are popular among customers because they’re familiar brands and offer good network coverage.

But here’s what most people don’t realize: The leading mobile carriers (Verizon, AT & T, and T-Mobile) own and operate discount brands that use the same towers and charge lower monthly rates.

• AT&T owns Cricket Wireless
• Wireless
Verizon owns Visible
• T-Mobile owns Metro by T-Mobile

These discount companies are known as mobile virtual network operators or MVNOs. Cricket, Visible, Metro by T-Mobile—many more MVNOs out there—don’t own cell phone towers. Still, they partner with major carriers to offer affordable wireless service for their customers. Some MVNOs offer plans as cheap as $10 per month.

Call a couple of MVNOs to find out how much you could save. But before you jump ship with your current provider, make sure you are not legally obligated to a contract that would be expensive to terminate.

2. Change Plans with Your Existing Provider

Not interested in switching cell phone providers? You may be able to save money by changing plans with the company you have now. Call customer service and ask them to review your current plan. You may be paying for services you are not using, such as an unlimited data plan. But do you really use or even need that much data? If you’re often connecting to Wi-Fi at home and work, you could be using a lot less data than you realize—data you’re paying for whether you use it or not.

If that’s the case, ask to downgrade to a cheaper plan, which won’t affect your current usage. It won’t cost a penny to find out. Make the call.

3. Join a Family Plan

Typically, family plans are cheaper per phone line than each person buying service as an individual. For instance, discount carrier Metro by T-Mobile often offers four lines of unlimited cell phone service for $25 per line—just $100 a month.

Or take a look at Visible, which offers Party Pay, a service that lets you put multiple people on one plan with each person having a separate account and bill.

4. You May Qualify for a Special Discount

Some major wireless providers offer discounts or special deals for teachers, members of the military, and seniors.
For example, by signing up for T-Mobile’s Magenta Unlimited 55 Plan, customers 55 and older can get two lines with unlimited talk, text, and smartphone data for a flat rate of $70 a month—no annual service contract required. That’s a big saving.

5. Agree to Auto-Pay

Put your monthly cell phone bill on auto-pay, and you are likely to get a small discount each month. That might not sound like much, but even if it’s a measly $5 a month, that adds up to $60 a year. That is not a bad payoff for such a simple move.

 

Updated and Republished: 3-25-23

---

 

 

 

More from Everyday Cheapskate

Please keep your comments positive, encouraging, helpful, brief,
and on-topic in keeping with EC Commenting Guidelines

Caught yourself reading all the way 'til the end? Why not share with a friend.