Saving Money on a Cellphone

By

TXBetty

ATT/Cingular doesn't report to credit reporting agencies. I've had that carrier for several years and I've always paid on time. I check my credit report every year and they have never reported it.

By

hearts1

When it comes to cellphones and getting a break (especially with the new California ruling about having to use a hands free phone) we all are hosed!!!!!!

By

cookwie

Many years ago we had a prepaid plan that had very short lived mins. Although I only wanted it for emergencies and very short conversations, I found that the bill was running me $20/ month and it was a 'use it or lose it' proposition for the mins.
If you do get a prepaid plan, see how long those mins. last before you buy the plan.
This was over 10 years ago and those mins., I recall, were some 60 cents each.

By Clarice (Guest Post)

First off, chose a cell phone company that most of your family and friends have, so that you don't waste any minutes talking to them. You should try out one of their phones to make sure it works in your house before signing a contract. My old apartment, we couldn't get any service inside.
My husband and I share a plan. I don't remember how much it is, but we definately arent using all those minutes. I talk to my mom and dad who have the same service (att/cingular) and we don't waste any minutes talking to each other. We are going to lower our minutes.
No minutes are used at all when talking to my family, husband and some of my friends. Which is a good and frugal thing.
If your husband needs a cellphone to be in touch with work, see if his work can pay for that. If they won't then, don't give his work his number because then they'll be wasting your minutes talking to him on his cell phone and it isn't right.

By

maggiemay

We have had several different phones and plans but we now use the prepaid type of phone exclusively after my husband lost his phone and didnt realize it for a couple of days. But that was long enough for someone to find it and run up a bill over $400 that we had to pay for. Ouch! This way if it should get lost again, they only have the minutes that are still available and the phone is no good to them because it is on record that it is ours and they don't know how to get more minutes added on.

after years of using cell phones, using almost every provider out there and almost fainting when the bill came every month, my husband and I went a year without a cell phone. A couple of months ago he went out of state to pick up an antique car and we felt he needed a phone just in case. We decided not to go into another contract type service. I saw a commercial for Trac phone, researched it on the internet and chose it. No contracts, no fees, nothing but choosing which phone to use (and there are many types) and buying air time. We buy our air time online and it's the best way to go for us.

By

Madelynnsmama

I switched to a regular plan after finding out how much more per minute the prepaid plans are. It was almost 3 cents per minute more in my area for "anytime" minutes. Not to mention the free nights and weekends that I didn't have with prepaid. I like not worrying about my minutes now, my carrier has online service where you can see what you've used so far that month. I, too, recommend the family or shared plans. My husband and I have had one for a few years now and pay about $65 a month, including insurance for the phones (he works in construction and it's worth the $5, he's been through3 phones already). I would also ask about discounts. We got one because I worked at the hospitial and another because of being credit union members. My sister gets a discount for being a student as well. And we both get discounts for refering others as well, which works great because we have free calls between others on the same carrier. Plus the month to month plans report to credit agencies, so paying on time each month helps to boost your credit.
Wait to upgrade your phones until it's time to renew your contract, you usually get whatever the current deal on phones is, where as if you do it in the middle of your contract you end up paying full price.

By

Sunshine06

With some prepay services, you can also find promo codes that increase your units (minutes) when you refill your phone. Tracfone is one that you can find codes for.

By

thriftyboo

Sign up for a family plan. I know some husbands and wives that each have their own cell phone plans that cost $100 or more combined each month. Because my husband and I share a plan we only pay $50 a month. Most of the time we call each other which doesn't even use any of our minutes. We also didn't pay extra to get fanicer phones.

By

smcarney

Try using a prepay service. You always know what kind of minutes you have used because some even have the airtime balance on the phone face. Others offer a call in number specifically to find out your balance.