our cell phone. You use it every day. It is your right companion to make a phone call, check the weather, surf the Internet to find a quick information, or play your favorite games on your mobile.
Just because you use your cell phone regularly does not mean you have to pay a hefty price every month to use the service.
Check out these 5 ways to lower your monthly cell phone bill.
1. Do not update immediately
According to Ting Mobile, most people keep their cell phone for 3 or more years before buying a new device. 47% of survey respondents said they had their cell phone for 3to 5 years before upgrading to a new device. 10% of respondents said they only upgrade to get the hottest new phone model.
Expediency is the new norm beyond owning a cell phone with all the bells and whistles. People are choosing to keep their phones longer if they do not have a contract to save the cost of regular upgrades.
Upgrading too soon can cost you money. If you are on a contract, you’ll need to extend it for a few years to fully pay off your new upgrade.
If you find that your phone is slow even with a quality network connection and/or gets too hot when you use it for too long, then it’s definitely time to upgrade.
2. Get a prepaid phone service
Consider signing up for one of the no-contract plans with your current provider. If there are not any, consider switching providers. Not only will you not have to deal with those pesky two-year contracts, but you can take almost any phone you choose to the prepaid provider.
When you switch to a prepaid phone provider, you get to decide how long you want to stay with that company. Prepaid phone providers like TracFone, Boost Mobile, and Cricket Wireless charge a monthly amount based on a data package. If you know you will not be using a lot of data, you can opt for the cheapest GB plan. If you are going to use a lot of data, you should sign up for an unlimited data plan.
Unlimited phone plans at Boost Mobile cost between $50 and $60 per month. If you want 15 GB of data, it will cost $45 per month. If you pay on time for 6 months, you’ll only pay $35 per month for this service package. This plan also includes mobile hotspot.
Monthly fees decrease as the data package gets smaller. The cheapest Boost Mobile package costs $10 per month for 1 GB of data. If you are doing research on your computer at home, this plan can cut your phone bill by almost 60% to 90%.
3. Sign up for your provider’s rewards program
If you sign up for your carrier’s rewards program (if applicable), you can lower your monthly bill by redeeming the points you earn for free top-ups for your prepaid phone.
For example, with the TracFone rewards program, you can earn double points for automatically recharging your prepaid phone. You can also earn points by watching videos, taking surveys, and playing games listed in your Rewards Program account.
Once you reach the threshold, you can redeem the points for free service plans and high-speed data cards.
4. Sign up for your carrier’s referral program
Check with your wireless carrier to see if they have a referral program. You can usually get a month of free service or a discount on your monthly bill if you refer friends to the wireless carrier.
For each friend you refer to TracFone, you and the friend you refer will receive one month of free TracFone service on your no-contract plans. So if you refer 12 friends to the company and they all successfully sign up for prepaid phone service using your one-time referral code, you’ll get a full year of free phone service!
AT&T ran a refer-a-friend promotion in November 2020 where you received a $25 account credit for each friend you referred to their AT &T monthly prepaid service. Each of your friends would have received a $75 account credit.
Boost Mobile ran a refer-a-friend promotion in November 2019 where you could have received $150 per friend (up to $500 total). Your referred friend would have received a $25 account credit when they switched to Boost Mobile.
So while some refer-a-friend promotions are ongoing, like TracFone, there are other refer-a-friend promotions that are time-limited.
Before you switch to another wireless carrier, be sure to check out the promotions so you can take advantage of big savings or even free months of service once you sign up.
5. Autopay – your way to savings
If you enable auto-billing, you can save a lot of money! Check with your provider to see how you can save on your bill by enabling auto-pay.
AT&T’s unlimited cellular data plans cost $65 per month. If you turn on automatic payment, you’ll get a $15 discount on each of your monthly bills. That means unlimited data service for only $50 per month!
If you pay a certain number of months in advance, you can save even more money off your monthly bill. AT &T has a 3-month plan for $33 per month with an 8GB data package if you pay $99 upfront. You can get the same 8GB data package for $25 per month for 12 months if you pay $300 upfront.
How can you lower your monthly bill?
As long as you do the proper research to figure out how to save with your cell phone provider, you will eventually find the savings in which you are looking.
Have you lowered your cell phone rates in a different way than the one we discussed? Start a discussion in the comments and let us know what you have done to lower the cost of your cell phone service.
