Saving money on my phone bill?

[toasterwater]

I think I pay WAY too much for my cell phone. I have a blackberry with the minimum talk plan, and unlimited data/texts (pretty much a requirement if you use the internet... which is kinda the point of having a blackberry). I don't actually talk on the phone all that much, and when I do, it's usually with other AT&T customers, so it doesn't go toward my minutes anyway... I have rollover minutes that expire every billing cycle now because I never even come close to using all of my minutes (which is only 450).

I love my phone, and I do actually use the internet on it quite often, I also text enough to keep the unlimited texts. HOWEVER, I think 110 bucks a month (now that I no longer pay for the phone insurance or navigation feature) is pretty steep.

Anyone have advice on how to pay less for my phone bill? I'm still under contract with AT&T for at least another year, and it doesn't look like there are any features I can remove from my plan.

I may just have to switch companies after my contract ends (not sure if anyone else is a lot better).

[themaster]

I'm the official cell phone expert of the forum

I think of AT&T as AT$$$T

The only reason to be on there crappy network (*cough* I've never tried it (disclaimer) but I've read it's crappy) is to have the hotly wanted *iphone*

Another gizmo that I'm not too hot about..

If you have to have your iphone and can remove your contract then I think you could run it on t-mobile and save $$$ that way.. I'm not saying much but I'd wager as low as $70 a month..

If you don't care what phone/network.. then honestly break your contract and buy a sprint SERO from someone it's $36 a month w/ taxes (maybe $37) (sero 2 year contract = 500 minutes, unlimited text and data, nights at 7 p.m. and weekends)

Or you can get a really good deal on verizon pre-paid reseller.. that will cost you like $30 a month or $40 a month.. (no taxes )

$29.95 1200 anytime minutes / 1200 texts / 50mb Data on Verizon Wireless Network! NO CONTRACT! - SlickDeals.net Forums

If you want to do your own research or talk to real experts.. I recommend this forum.. it's where I get a lot of my information from

HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource

(also for the record there may be ways to end your contract without a ETF or Early Termination Fee and these people will know how..)

Does that help? If you want to know more ask..

[mainstreetcm]

I don't know if AT&T is like Verizon, but your ETF should drop each month by $5-$15 of your contract. I know when I dumped Verizon my ETF was like $100 (down from the 275) and I wasn't even with them a full year.

Also I know that Unlimited Texting is not usually a requirement with most carriers, but unlimited data is. Lastly, if you are looking to grossly reduce your bill and do it quickly find a used voice/text phone somewhere. Yeah you won't have a blackberry, but your phone bill will absolutely go down.

[toasterwater]

**first of all, thank you both for your advice, it's very helpful**

Wow... Okay. So thinking about the text plan thing, I remembered why I never changed my plan. Long story short, it is a very tedious process to find out how many texts you use per month online... you have to comb through previous bills and such, and last time I thought about it I either got frustrated, distracted, or bored and never remembered to figure it out.

My goal is not cut down on a service that I actually use, just to not pay for things I don't have to, or to pay as little as possible for those things... So I called up AT&T and had quite the conversation. I discovered that

-I only average about 700 texts per month (over the past year)

-The only text plans available are for 200 min ($5), 1500 min ($15) or unlimited ($20)

-They Early Termination Fee is reduced by $5 per month every month until the contract end date.

-I have been paying for "detailed billing" for about 10 months @ $2 per month
**while that's not a lot of money, I also determined that I don't receive paper bills (I have paper bills turned off whenever possible), so I have literally been paying for a service I haven't been receiving (and you can ALWAYS look at that same exact information online for free...)**

-I recently discovered that I had been paying for "voice Dialing" ($5/mo) and had that turned off, but in this conversation I learned that it is a phone service that does the same thing as the software feature built into the phone... COMPLETELY USELESS. Turns out I had been paying for it also for about 10 months without even knowing what it is.

-Last year I got out of the military... while i was in, I had been told several times that I would have a military discount applied to my bill... and there is no record of any discount ever having been applied to my account

-And this little guy I found most distasteful... Asking about discounts I found that there are various reasons you may get a discount on your phone bill (most commonly based on occupation, but also possibly other things, maybe student, etc..) "They" recently took the list of discounts away from the customer service representatives. So in order to determine if you qualify for a discount you have to:

--talk to your employer (or if not an employer discount... find the magical at&t representative for the... discount reason??... etc???)<--- BS FLAG [when using student discount as an example she told me to talk to someone at my school... ... ... yeah... that makes sense]
--get some number from them
--go to a special website that is not linked to from the main AT&T website, or your account page... effectively hidden
--enter your code to see if you qualify for a discount (do they give out codes for associations who don't qualify for discounts???)
--wait 30 days for them to decide if they actually feel like applying said discount.

Okay... so they don't want you to get your discounts.

Anyway, the lady credited me for 6 months worth of the services that I didn't know I was paying for, and never asked to have in the first place (turns out it was most likely the salesman who started me on free trials of these services without letting me know about it, and as we all know, when the 30 days is up, they start billing you without warning). I also had her reduce my text plan to the 1500 texts- Although 1000 would be much better, of course, that's not offered.

All in all, my current bill was reduced by $42, and my future bill will be reduced to about $103/mo. $7 per month is better than nothing, but $103 for a blackberry with 450 minutes and 1500 texts... still feels a little like rape.

In summary: themaster correctly spelled AT$$$T
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next issue of business: Find a new carrier!

In order to break even on the move, if I break my contract now I must recoup the $125 ETF in the form of a cheaper bill over the next 14 months...

$125 / 14mo = $8.93/mo

$103/mo - $9/mo = $94/mo

So...

-can I find a plan (with sufficiently comparable features) for under $94/month?
-is their service/coverage as-good-as or better-than at&t's blackberry network (non 3G)?
-can I use my blackberry with them?
-do I really like my blackberry that much??? (more on this later)

and lastly, I would like to mention that I am just looking for ways to save money... for the sake of saving money. It's not out of necessity, so while dumping the phone and getting a pager (do they still make those?) may save me lots of money, I'm not looking to reduce my standard of living (for lack of a better term).

[James81]

In the time it took you to write that post, you could've called all the cell phone providers in your area and gotten an estimate for service through them with the features you wanted.

Sit down and write down the features you use. (Texting, internet, number of minutes, etc.)

Call each provider and get an estimate of the plan that best suits your need.

Possible providers:

AT&T (which you already have)
Sprint
T-mobile
US Cellular
Verizon Wireless

Those are the majore ones that i can think of (although I'm not entirely sure that US Cellular is out in CA yet)

Call each one and tell them what you want. Or hell, go to their websites. There'll be plans there that you can look through.

It really is that simple, dude.

[Nemosyne]

*hate* AT&T. They overcharged me like crazy. T-Mobile's working great for me now.

[mainstreetcm]

T-Mo is going to be far the cheapest carrier of all. Keep in mind you get what you pay for though. I had T-Mo in Victorville CA, green coverage for miles and I had so many dropped calls it was ridiculous. When I moved to Colorado kept T-Mo and my coverage got worse but I had fewer dropped calls...

Verzion used to be the best carrier call-wise, but after 9 months of being with them (and far too many dropped calls) I pulled the plug on my grossly expensive Storm and moved to Alltel (which conveniently is being bought by AT&T in my area -- which sucks because there is not much GSM coverage here).

Anywhosers, Verizon is going to rape you if you want to keep a blackberry with their service. T-Mo is currently advertising an everything unlimited plan for $79.99 which comes to $948 per year plus taxes/fees.

With Verizon your going to pay $79.99 a month for 450 minutes, 500 out of network texts (unlimited in-network) and unlimited data. $948 per year plus taxes/fees.

But what about having just a regular ol cell phone? Your bill will drop dramatically, sometimes to as low as $39.99 a month for voice and txt messaging. That translates to $468 a year.

If you want the features you got to pay for them. If you want to text, call and surf the net be prepared for high costs for reliable service. Now you can try T-Mo, but you have been forwarned.

[themaster]

I'm going to repeat again.. go to this forum read.. and ask questions.. AT&T is not my forte.. I know ver$zon and sprint better..

(this forum has 100's of people that use AT$T and they will know better then I..)

HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource

What you should really do is ask these questions..

- Can I get out of my ETF?
- Can I move my *iphone* to t-mobile? (I believe you can but double check)

and if you want..

- How can I get my military discount applied?

(pending that I see 0 options for you to let go of the costs involved.. because AT&T charges a lot cause they pay Apple a lot etc.)

If you were to keep your *iphone* then I believe the only GSM network in town.. t-mobile would be your only option and (would save you some money).. if not if you really want to save money I believe sprint is the cheapest carrier of them all right now.. and between them reselling BOOST cheap the other link I provided you above is one of the best deals.. to keep your bill a reasonable $30-40 a month between sprint (or the verizon reseller above)

[BitterFlower]

I'm on AT&T because we (hubby and I) decided we wanted iphones, but we were on T-mobile with our blackberries. I agree with the PP that t-mo is the cheapest one and verizon will rape you.

I had to do a similar process for a t-mobile discount from my old job. You just have to go through the process (get the forms, sign up, wait), and you will get your discount. But only go through the process if you are planning on sticking with AT&T.

My AT&T actual service is comparable to my t-mo service, but I'm not in a major metropolitan area (like LA or NY). I've heard service problems with T-mobile elsewhere. I also had sprint for years before switching to t-mo but the service sucked in my old area (dropped calls, ugh). I would never go back to Sprint again, although, admittedly, their phones are cheaper and they may still have some decent plans.

There also may be some local GSM carriers in your area, but you will have to see what the limitations are. We have Cincinnati Bell, but they have a limited coverage area.

At the very least, you can reduce your voice plan (if it's not at the minimum) if you have lots of rollover minutes. And you can possibly reduce your texts to 200 if you redirect your text traffic. For example, those that already have blackberry can get on BB messenger, others can use other instant messengers, social networks (facebook), email, etc. Or they can even call. If that's totally not possible, then I guess you are stuck with the 1500 texts.

Hope to help

[toasterwater]

Originally Posted by themaster

- Can I move my *iphone* to t-mobile? (I believe you can but double check)

If you were to keep your *iphone*

Hmm... I'm not sure what gave you the idea that I have an iphone, but I do not. As mentioned above, and in the OP, it's a blackberry.

but thanx for the input anyway

[themaster]

Originally Posted by toasterwater

Hmm... I'm not sure what gave you the idea that I have an iphone, but I do not. As mentioned above, and in the OP, it's a blackberry.

but thanx for the input anyway

Nope, I missed it.. and when I posted that was just guessing

BitterFlower seems to have some good advice.. but if that doesn't work.. take your post to howardforums cause there's at least a 1,000+ people there to give you advice vs. here less so

[desertrat]

I give cricket about $80 a month for a cel phone and internet for my pc . desert rat

[themaster]

Originally Posted by desertrat

I give cricket about $80 a month for a cel phone and internet for my pc . desert rat

Ouch! as I stated here.. I pay $36 for both of those..

Nice 333rd post desertrat!

(using my phone for internet right now.. it has wifi capability I recently learned.. ahh!)