How to Save on Cell Phone Plans
If you send or receive more than one text a day: Sign up for a texting plan (prices start at around $5 a month; most companies have comparable plans) and you’ll avoid the average 20-cents-per-text charge. Have a teenager who texts at least six times a day? Enroll her in an unlimited-messaging plan.
If your phone usage spikes after dinner: Ask about extended calling hours. For an additional $5 to $9 a month, some carriers, such as Sprint and AT&T, offer packages that allow you unlimited calls after 6 P.M. or 7 P.M., compared with 9 P.M. for most typical plans.
If you talk for fewer than 200 minutes monthly: A prepaid plan is for you. “Thirty percent of mobile users who are not on one should be,” says Allen Hepner, executive director of the New Millennium Research Council, a telecommunications think tank in Washington, D.C. Big savings come with T-Mobile’s Pay As You Go plan (130 minutes for $25) and Virgin Mobile per-minute packs (200 “anytime” minutes cost $20).
If you signed up for phone insurance: Slash this cost immediately, even if you’re clumsy. That $5 to $8 monthly charge adds up, and you’ll still have to pay a $50 deductible if you need to replace a broken phone. The replacement, which is often just a refurbished used phone, will cost about the same as a new one.
via Real Simple
