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 by far the biggest reason people end up with a larger bill than they should. Going over your minutes, or your text messages, or your Internet usage limit carries a prohibitive cost because cell phone service carriers charge exorbitant fees for this. But don't worry, you won't have to guess what caused the bill to go up, it will be prominently displayed, separately from your "regular" bill.
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. You've probably seen their commercials on TV. These subscription providers are known for their shady business practices, but they never seem to go away no matter how many complaints and lawsuits are filed against them. Their offerings can range from a "free ringtone of the month" club to "horoscope of the day", to a "naughty picture of the day". Theoretically, you can only subscribe by sending a text message to an advertised number or by visiting their website and entering your information there. Yet, they seem to have this knack for appearing on people's bills out of nowhere, which is made easier by the fact that they're not always required to inform you of the new subscription. So be sure to analyze the "direct bill" portion of your bill, because that's where their charges will be listed.
Not too long ago, AT&T settled a class action suit about this business practice. From then on, they've agreed to notify their customers (by text message) every time there's a new subscription that's being added to their account. Actually, technically it's not a notification, but more of a call to action: if the customer doesn't reply to the text, the mentioned subscription can't be added to his/her account. The other carriers should definitely follow suit.
3. One-time fees. The final cause for a higher than usual bill is those fees that typically are a one-time affair. such as activation (or re-activation) fees, upgrade fees, or non-payment fees. Cell phone companies (and utilities companies for that matter) do not miss the opportunity to charge a hefty re-activation fee in order to get service turned back on after the account has been suspended because of a past due bill that the customer failed to pay for. Those fees will rarely ever get waived or credited back to your account, but you can ask for discounts. Ask about discounts or waived fees for employees of the company you work for. You can also wing it and try and ask nicely to have the fee waived/credited back. This will be a lot easier if you've been a customer for a few years and have a good record of paying your bill on time.
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. - 21511
1. Going over your allotted quota. This is by far the biggest reason people end up with a larger bill than they should. Going over your minutes, or your text messages, or your Internet usage limit carries a prohibitive cost because cell phone service carriers charge exorbitant fees for this. But don't worry, you won't have to guess what caused the bill to go up, it will be prominently displayed, separately from your "regular" bill.
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. You've probably seen their commercials on TV. These subscription providers are known for their shady business practices, but they never seem to go away no matter how many complaints and lawsuits are filed against them. Their offerings can range from a "free ringtone of the month" club to "horoscope of the day", to a "naughty picture of the day". Theoretically, you can only subscribe by sending a text message to an advertised number or by visiting their website and entering your information there. Yet, they seem to have this knack for appearing on people's bills out of nowhere, which is made easier by the fact that they're not always required to inform you of the new subscription. So be sure to analyze the "direct bill" portion of your bill, because that's where their charges will be listed.
Not too long ago, AT&T settled a class action suit about this business practice. From then on, they've agreed to notify their customers (by text message) every time there's a new subscription that's being added to their account. Actually, technically it's not a notification, but more of a call to action: if the customer doesn't reply to the text, the mentioned subscription can't be added to his/her account. The other carriers should definitely follow suit.
3. One-time fees. The final cause for a higher than usual bill is those fees that typically are a one-time affair. such as activation (or re-activation) fees, upgrade fees, or non-payment fees. Cell phone companies (and utilities companies for that matter) do not miss the opportunity to charge a hefty re-activation fee in order to get service turned back on after the account has been suspended because of a past due bill that the customer failed to pay for. Those fees will rarely ever get waived or credited back to your account, but you can ask for discounts. Ask about discounts or waived fees for employees of the company you work for. You can also wing it and try and ask nicely to have the fee waived/credited back. This will be a lot easier if you've been a customer for a few years and have a good record of paying your bill on time.
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. - 21511
About the Author:
You can find several ways you can keep both your residentialphone bill and your mobile phone bill under control. Learn more about ways to reduce your phone bill by visiting Reduce Phone Bill.
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