Everything seems more expensive these days. More Americans than ever are trying to save money, and your cell phone bill is no exception. While almost everyone uses a cell phone, nobody likes thinking about cell phone bills.
The average cell phone bill for American users last year was $127.37, which will almost certainly go up this year. Most Americans cannot simply stop using a phone — finding ways to save is the best option.
However, there are countless cell phone carriers with countless cell phone plans and deals. How can you find the cheapest provider and deal with the best service and offerings?
Read on to find out.
These nine simple steps will lower your phone bill, showing you how to save money, time, and the agony of sifting through deal after deal. For the latest on Cell Phone and Cell Phone carrier deals, visit yournavi.com.
1. Sign Up for a Family Plan or Group Plan
A family plan gives discounted rates to people sharing one plan. This does not have to be your literal family members; you can get a group of friends together too. Each plan must have one primary user responsible for paying the bill.
Usually, the more you all will save for each person added to the group. Family or group phone plans are a great way to save money. As if that wasn’t enough, many family plans offer cool perks like subscriptions to streaming services. All big phone carriers, including T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T, offer family plans.
What Family Plans Should I Use?
If you want to bundle up to three phone lines,T-Mobile is your best option. Their Magenta plan, around $35 per person for a family of four, is the same price as AT&T’s basic offering but includes many more features, like 100 GB of premium data, a subscription to Netflix Basic, and 5GB of mobile hotspot data.
Overwhelmed by the sheer amount of family plans out there? Try using Navi’s Phone Plan Navigator, which allows you to choose the number of lines you hope to bundle to find the best family plan for you.
2. Audit Your Bill
Another great way to lower your phone bill is to perform an audit of your monthly payment. Most of us pay our phone bills month after month without thinking about them.
Many of us use autopay, meaning the money gets automatically removed from our accounts. Do you know exactly what you are being charged for each month, and if all these charges are fair? This is where auditing comes in.
Auditing your phone bill means reviewing your bill online and ensuring your charges are fair and accurate. Your monthly bill should be about the same month to month. If, while auditing, you notice a change, you can make sure this is not a mistake or something worse like phone bill cramming.
Cramming is an illegal practice of making confusing phone bills to charge consumers in ways they have not authorized — basically, tricking them into paying for nothing. By auditing, you can make sure your bill is fair.
You can also look at your bill's breakdown and consider if you need everything you are being charged for. For example, if you are not a texter, cutting out a more-expensive unlimited text feature would lower your bill.
3. Check Your Data Usage
You use cell phone data when you log onto the internet without Wifi. Even if you haven’t realized it, you use cellular data to find maps, make restaurant reservations (or read restaurant reviews), scroll social media, and use any apps that require the internet without a wifi connection on your phone.
Your data use can build up. If you do not have an unlimited data plan, your plan will have a cap or the maximum amount of data you can use each month before being charged overages. Check your data usage to ensure you are not over your cap. Almost all providers have a way to monitor your data usage.
If you have an iPhone, go to “Settings,” choose “Cellular,” and then select “Mobile Data.” If you are using an Android device, go to “Settings,” choose “Network and Internet,” and then select “Data Usage.”
A great way to use less data is to make sure to use wifi when you are using the internet on your phone. By using wifi more, you will decrease the data usage on your phone, making it less likely that you will go over your data cap.
If you notice that you regularly go over your data cap, you can either use less data or shift to an unlimited data plan, saving you money.
How Can You Find the Best Unlimited Data Plan?
Most major cell phone providers have Unlimited Data plans. Don’t feel like comparing providers to find the best deal? Let Navi do it for you. We compare providers to find you the best deals.
To start, check out these comparisons between AT&T and T-Mobile, T-Mobile and Verizon, and Verizon and AT&T, all of which include the best unlimited data options. You can also use our Plan Navigator feature to find the best unlimited data offer for you in seconds.
4. Change Your Cell Phone Insurance Coverage
Most cell phone companies offer insurance plans that protect you if your cell phone is lost or broken. While potentially useful, insurance increases your monthly cell phone bill. Reducing or forgoing cell phone insurance will lower your bill, saving you money.
Additionally, you could use our Plan Navigator to find a plan with cheaper insurance or an included warranty to protect your phone.
5. Use Autopay
Autopay is a paperless billing service where the monthly amount a user owes cell phone companies is automatically taken from their bank account or charged to their credit card on a specific date every month.
Having automatic payments removes the anxiety of manually paying one’s bill every month. It gets even better, though. Most service providers offer discounts to those who use autopay.
Autopay does not only make the billing process easier, but it also saves you money.
6. Use a No Contract Phone Plan
A no-contract phone plan is a plan where users pay upfront, usually once a month or month to month, and do not have to commit to any long-term deal which would require them to be with the carrier for a specific amount of time.
What Are the Benefits of a No Contract Phone Plan?
With a no-contract phone plan, you only pay for what you need because you can decide how much talk, text, and data is best for you. This means no overage costs.
Also, at the end of every month, you can switch to a carrier offering a better deal, meaning you are not trapped in a plan that is more expensive than other, similar plans with other carriers. You can also upgrade or downgrade at any time.
What Are the Best No Contract Phone Plans?
The most cost-effective no-contract phone plan is Tello’s Economy Plan. For $10 a month, users receive 1GB of data and unlimited talk and text. Tello runs off T-Mobile’s network, meaning you won’t have to worry about speed and coverage.
Another great option with 5G is the Visible Unlimited Data Plan, which would give you unlimited 5G for $40 a month.
Finally, if you are looking for a no-contract family plan, Boost Mobile offers a plan for first-time users with unlimited data, talk, and text at $30 per line after your first payment of $100.
7. Use a Company Outside of the “Big Three.”
The “Big Three” cell phone services are T-Mobile, which recently merged with Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon. Using a smaller company is a great way to save more.
Budget carriers or MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) use the Big Three’s networks while offering cheaper plans. With MVNOs, you can get the same service as the major carriers while saving money.
Examples of MVNOs are Cricket Wireless, Republic Wireless, Ting, Straight Talk, Mint Mobile, and Tello.
The Mint Mobile Unlimited Plan is excellent for individuals using only one phone line. For $30 a month, customers get unlimited nationwide talk and text, unlimited data (though speeds decrease after 35GB), free calls to Mexico and Canada, and a 5G Mobile Hotspot.
Tello’s Economy Plan is even cheaper; at $10 a month, you will get unlimited talk and text and can upgrade anytime.
This is an excellent choice for anyone only using their phone to talk and text because the basic economy plan only provides users with 1GB of data, a small percentage of the data most people use.
8. Switch Carriers
Most major carriers offer deals for those looking to switch from their current plan. The biggest deals here can be found with the big three carriers from postpaid plans.
Unfortunately, with so many deals, finding the right one almost seems impossible — the major carriers have thousands of deals. That’s where we come in.
You will discover the best possible deals in seconds using Navi’s resources, such as the phone and plan navigators. Additionally, check out our guide to finding a suitable wireless carrier for you.
Conclusion
This economy has all of us looking at our personal finances. Fortunately, you can lower your cell phone bill using one or all of the tips above.
To make life easier, use Navi to compare hundreds of options, such as no-contract or prepaid plans. Whether you’re in the market for a new mobile carrier, a new phone, or both, Navi is here to help.
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