Mar 04 2009
Save Money On Your Cell Phone
Many people, especially singles, are cutting out their home 
phones and going solely with just a cell phone. That can be a great way to save money, as well as to cut out another bill.
However, if you are not careful, you may end up spending more by going to just a cell phone. You need to watch out for some of the hidden money dangers in your cell phone bill.
1. Danger: Going over your minutes!
Solutions:
a) Call your provider - If you are consistently going over your minutes, call your cell provider and ask them to suggest a plan which would work better for your actual usage. Even if the plan costs $10 - 15 more a month than your current plan, it could be a lot cheaper than going over your allowed minutes each month.
b) Keep track of your minutes -
* Most cell phone providers provide fairly up to date usage logs on their website. Sign up to access your account online and save a tree by going paperless billing too!
* Check your minutes usage directly from your phone.
* Sign up with the free OverMyMinutes service which will alert you via text or email when you’ve reached a preset limit
2. Danger: Text messaging!
If you are someone who thinks there is nothing better than communicating with everyone under the sun via text messages, then you probably already have an unlimited plan. For the rest of us however, who may only have ever received a text message from someone else, then later found a $.20 charge on their cell bill ….
Solution: You can call your cell phone provider and ask them to block any messages using bandwidth, i.e. sending pictures or video. You can then take it a step further, and have ALL text messages blocked - incoming and outgoing. If you change your mind later, all you have to do is call again and ask to have it reversed. They’ll even lift it for just a few days at a time - you just have to ask!
3. Danger: Phone Insurance
Solution: Cancel it! Unless you have really bad luck with your phones, this really is not a necessary expense.
4. Danger: Not taking advantage of possible discounts.
Solution: Check with your employer. Many companies offer employee discounts for certain cell phone providers.
5. Danger: Signing up for ‘free ringtones’ and suddenly finding a new monthly charge on your bill.
Solution: Stay away from the free ringtone sites! If you really can’t live with the available choices on your phone, go to a reputable site and buy a few ringtones. Unless you are wanting to change your ringtones every month, this is much less expensive than getting stuck in a subscription service!
6. Danger: Getting too much phone!
Yes, I know. Those Iphones and Gphones and various PDA type phones out there look really spiffy and have tons of features on them. I like technology, but really, unless you are a CEO or a high-level manager, do you really *need* all that functionality? Couldn’t you make do with just a -gasp!- phone?
Related Post: How To Save Money On Your Home Phone
It’s certainly true that you can manage without a house phone. Since we moved to Australia, we haven’t had one. We have certainly not missed it and have saved money too.
That’s a great blog post with lots of useful advice. Thanks!
Great tips! DH has one of those fancy Blackberry Storms and while it does make his life easier I still am not sold on the extra cost per month!!
This is a very thorough list. Being married to a frugal man, we are using every one of the suggestions listed. Sometimes I look at these fancy phones that many of my friends have and think about it…for about 5 minutes…then happily go back to my old fashioned Motorollo Razor which has a camera, many nice features that I do not use, and smile at the realization my unlimited plan through my husband’s employer is only $69 a month and covers both of our phones.
@slcolman - Your DH is a mayor right? (I apologize if I’m mixing you up with someone else.) There are some professions where the more beefed up phones do actually make sense. For the average person (who’s not running a huge department or a town) then I think it’s much more questionable if something more than a phone which is just a phone is really necessary.
@lynnrd - That is a good rate for two phones! I sometimes am tempted by the fancy phones, but like you, there are many features on my simple phone that I don’t use - so it would be a waste of money to get something fancier - for my current needs at least.