12 Tips to Cut Your Cell Phone Bill

See that cell phone at once to you? Unfortunately, you're paying too much money for it--every month. If overpaying for what you need sounds like a bad idea to you, stop doing it. We've assembled 12 simple actions that you can take to reduce your cell phone bill, so that some of the cash you now spend for service--perhaps even half of it--remains in your possession. So check out our tips, and use one or more of them to save big bucks on your bill.

1. Find the right plan for you: Carefully review how often and in what ways you use your phone. Ideally, you should do this earlier signing a cell phone contract, however of course it can be difficult to know specifically how you'll use your phone until you spend time with it every day.

If you're already using your phone, take a close look at your plan, examining the calling, messaging, and data options you've chosen. At the time scrutinize your usage pattern. Check several months of phone bills to see whether you pay for more minutes and megabytes than you use, or whether you regularly exceed your usage limits.

2. Trim the fat: Examine your cell phone to see what services you're paying for above and beyond your voice and data plans. Are you paying your carrier for mobile insurance? A GPS service? Roadside assistance? Visual voicemail? At the time think about whether you need these extras. In the case of voicemail, for instance, your call log shows you the name and number of incoming callers, definitely--and that's free.

3. Go data-free: Kick it old-school style by dropping your data plan altogether. This option may not be available if you've purchased a smartphone that requires a data plan; nevertheless for some consumers it's a sensible move.

And it is possible: When my iPhone 4 suffered a fatal fall recently, I went back to my elderly flip phone and relied on an iPod Touch for apps and Internet services. When I wanted to check email or browse the Web, it was Wi-Fi only.

5. Compress, compress: Having trouble reducing your data usage? Check out Onavo's free iPhone and Android app, called Onavo Extend, which claims to make your data usage up to five times more efficient.

The background on your phone

It runs in the background on your phone, compressing your data by routing it through Onavo's servers and stripping out the extras. Yes, that means the company knows what data you're accessing; however that's the price you pay in exposure for the monetary savings you'll see on your cell phone bill.

6. Switch carriers: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless are the big four in cell phone service, however they're hardly your only options.

How much can I save?

How much can I save? Boost Mobile offers an unlimited Android Plan for $55 per month, and an unlimited BlackBerry Plan for $60.

7. Go contract free: It may seem counterintuitive, nevertheless one way to lower your monthly cell phone bill is to go contract-free. This isn't the same as buying a prepaid cell phone; here, you all in all pay your carrier month-to-month for cellular service, yet you pay less. The trade-off is that you pay more for the phone itself up-front. However depending on the phone you choose, you could save big in the end with this strategy.

How much can I save?

How much can I save? You'll pay T-Mobile $350 for its MyTouch Android phone, however you won't sign a contract. A monthly service plan from T-Mobile with unlimited talk, text, and data costs $59.99 per month, so the cost of buying and using this phone is about $1790.

That may sound like a lot, however consider this: It's as a matter of fact a savings of $180 over buying the phone with a two-year contract. In the latter case, T-Mobile subsidizes the cost of the phone, so the same myTouch device will cost you just $50, yet the monthly service charge rises to $79.99. So over two years, the total cost of the same phone and service comes to $1970--and you're locked into a 24-month service contract.

8. Go prepaid: Paying for your phone service ahead of time is a sure-fire way to save money. All things considered, it guarantees that you pay only for minutes that you'll use. And prepaid phones have come a long way in recent years, with carriers offering various cell phones and smartphones with prepaid plans.

How much can I save?

How much can I save? With one of Virgin Mobile's prepaid "PayLo" plans, you can spend as little as $20 per month for cell phone service. The lowest-cost plan includes 400 voice minutes.

Virgin Mobile charges messages and data on this plan against your $20 balance, and your credits are valid for 30 days. In one month, a light user could save as much as $40 off the price of a standard cell phone plan with messaging and data from a major carrier.

9. Dump the smartphone: Sure, your smartphone is cool. And you may think that you can't live without it...nevertheless giving it up can be surprisingly easy. If you can't bear to surrender access to the Web, email, and apps, try using a Wi-Fi-device, just as an iPod Touch, instead.

10. Go VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) only: If you're paying for a data plan on that smartphone, why not put it--and your phone's Wi-Fi access--to good use?

Dump your voice plan and use a voice-over-IP service, just as Fring, Google Voice, or Skype, to make calls. A PCWorld writer took the plunge, and lived to tell the tale. Voice quality may not be perfect, nevertheless when was the last time your cell phone offered perfect voice quality?

Third alternative

But you have a third alternative, and it's free: Use an app to text at no charge. Free texting apps--which include Nimbuzz, WhatsApp, GroupMe, among many others--let you text and IM for free, using popular messaging networks just as Facebook and AIM.

12. Get outside help: Not sure which path will save you the most money? Get help at BillShrink.com. This very cool site analyzes your cell phone usage, and points out plans that will save you money during meeting your needs.

And when I requested to keep using an iPhone, it alerted me to a $70-per-month plan on Sprint, which would save me $10 per month or more.