Keeping Your Cell Phone Costs Down
The shock of opening your cell phone bill expecting a $49 charge only to find it doubled, has sent many a cell phone owner over the edge. Here are some ways to keep the costs down and in budget.
Make sure you understand your cell phone plan and the charges on your bill.
- What is the basic fee.
- Where can you safely make a call and when are you "roaming"
- When are your peak time minutes (the highest charge, usually from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm)
- How far did you exceed your allotment of minutes
- What extras did you incur, including directory assistance (generally $1.25 plus airtime), text messaging and sharing photos ($.25 per snapshot).
- Know how many minutes you have left on your plan when it comes to the end of the month.
Look into a family plan if two or more of your family have cell phones. Each phone in the plan adds $10 to $20 dollars to the plan but allows all of you to share your fund of minutes and cut down the overall cost. Problems arise when members don't keep an account of their used minutes, and overages occur. With some phone companies like Sprint and Verizon you can see how many minutes are left on your account via their customer service line, web, or a special code on your phone.
Stick with your current carrier if you are satisfied with the reception and service but change the plan to better reflect your actual phone use.
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