When you read stories about how the cost of everything is not keeping pace with the money people earn, the facts that health care costs are rising and college tuition is completely out of whack with reality typically get mentioned. For good reason, of course. But it’s also important to acknowledge that families are spending money on budget items that were not found in our parents’ checkbooks.
Think: Big TVs and the big service contracts that come with them. Computers and the monthly Internet service they require.
And: cell phones.
We’re just about to make the switch to one provider for TV/Internet/phone service for our house to save some money. But the fact is what we’re paying for phone service alone as a family is pretty alarming. We still have a land line, which, even though we have a pretty basic package, easily costs about $60 a month with taxes and fees. And, now that four out of five of us have cell phones and a family cell phone plan with text messaging, we’re paying close to $100 a month for that bill. No small change.
So this fairly new expense for families deserves some attention to make sure you are not paying any more than you need to pay. Consumer Reports’ ShopSmart has a few good tips to help us do just that, starting with the important task of studying your bill, your usage, and your calling and texting habits to make sure you have the right plan for your family. Here are ShopSmart’s 8 tips:
ShopSmart, March 2010
1. Check your minutes. Take a look at your bills over the past six months to see how many minutes you actually use and if you have minutes left over every month. (Or, of course, if you go over the minutes allotment.) As this New York Times story notes, unlimited calling plans may not be the best deals for most families, even as major providers like AT&T and Verizon have cut their monthly unlimited calls option from $100 to $70. An analysis by Validas LLC found that unlimited calling plans are the most cost-effective for only 7 percent of mobile phone users. Most teens rarely make calls on their phones–to friends at least; they text.
2. Make good use of the family cell plan. If you’ve got a multi-line family plan, use it. Don’t call your spouse or kids using the home phone. Stick to your cell phones because your calls are included in your monthly bill.
3. Use freebies well. If your carrier offers unlimited free minutes to designated phone numbers, register your most-called numbers but be sure to make the most of this money-saving feature by limiting your list to land lines and cell numbers outside your network.
4. Choose the right text package. Paying for individual text messages quickly becomes ridiculously expensive, and if you’ve got a teen in your plan, you probably wouldn’t even think of trying an a la carte approach. Unless you plan to block all texting, take an honest look at your (and family members’) texting habits so you choose the right bundle of text messages (or unlimited) so there are no surprises when your bill arrives.
5. Pick up the phone. If you happen to get one of those shockingly high bills because habits are out of line with your payment plan, call your carrier, discuss the changes, and be a squeaky wheel to get a break on that month’s bill while you change your plan to accommodate your family’s true habits.
6. Think about a data plan. If you end up emailing and surfing the Web more than you anticipated, consider adding a data plan to your monthly bill so you don’t incur expensive per-use charges that add up to more than a monthly data plan. Or: save your Web-surfing for your computer and use your phone to call and text only.
7. Shop around. Spend some time comparing plans on the Web sites of the major cell phone carriers. You can also use a service like billshrink.com for free or pay for one, such as myvalidas.com (starting at $5) to sort through the major plans based on your usage and needs to recommend phones and plans to go with them.
8. Avoid termination fees. Make an informed decision and stick to the contract time limit to avoid paying up to $350 per line if you switch carriers mid-contract. A few months before your contract is up is a good time to do some serious soul-searching and shopping to find the best phone and service plan to fit your budget.
We’ve all stared at our cell phone bills in disbelief at one time or another. How have you managed to cut yours to a manageable size to fit your needs and budget?
according to yahoo.com
