Contrary to popular belief, owning a cell phone has never been cheaper than at any other time in history. You can now buy a powerful and well-built device for under $200. The same thing can be said for cell plans. Due to the amount of competition, carriers now offer many ways to make your phone bill even cheaper.
But those tricks are often hidden, or the carrier does not make it obvious. Since we use more cellular data now than in the previous decades, carriers like AT&T and Verizon are milking us through data plans.
If you feel like your carrier is overcharging you or your phone bill is more expensive than it should be, here are a few tricks you can use to lower your bill.
Ways to reduce phone bill:
1. Check employee discount programs
Many jobs, corporations, and organizations have an agreement with cell phone carriers to give discounts to their employees. For example, if you work at – let’s say, Google – then if you put your Google work email address on your carrier’s employee discount portal, you will receive a discount for being a Google employee on your AT&T bill.
These are the employee discount programs from the top three major carriers:
Additionally, these carriers will give you a discount or a cheaper plan if you’re a:
- Active military member
- First responder
- Nurse
- Teacher
- College student
- Union member (AT&T only)
2. Change to a pre-paid or MVNO carrier
Small and not-so-popular carriers are usually the ones with the cheapest plans. These carriers, mostly mobile virtual network operators (NVNO), use the same network infrastructure as the big three carriers. This means you will get the same coverage as an AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon customer.
For example, one of the best MVNO carriers right now is Straight Talk. Straight Talk leases bandwidth from bigger operators like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. This MVNO offers a plan with unlimited minutes, text, and data for $45 with 10 GB of hotspot data.
Let’s see how much a plan like this would cost us with each of the three major carriers:
| Carrier | Plan | Cost |
| AT&T | Unlimited Starter SL (5GB hotspot) | $65.99/month |
| T-Mobile | Essentials Saver (3G speeds hotspot) | $50/month |
| Verizon | Unlimited Welcome (100GB hotspot) | $75/month |
| Straight Talk | Silver Unlimited (10GB hotspot) | $45/month |
As you can see, the same Straight Talk plan would cost us much more money on a bigger carrier. Additionally, you get less from plans while paying more. For example, the Straight Talk Silver Unlimited plan gives 10GB of personal hotspot. Verizon charges $10 for 100GB of personal hotspot, while AT&T only gives 5GB on their cheapest unlimited data plan. T-Mobile gives you unlimited mobile hotspot but at 3G speeds, which is nearly useless.
Straight Talk is not the only MVNO network. Other MVNO operators like Straight Talk offer similar deals. Here are some additional MVNO companies you should check out:
- Visible by Verizon
- Xfinity Mobile
- Mint Mobile
- Net10
- US Mobile
- H2O
- Google Fi Wireless
4. Use a family plan instead of a single-line
Ironically, being alone is not just sadder but also more expensive. Getting an account with multiple lines is the biggest method to reduce your phone bill. Cell phone companies structure their plan to give you the most savings as you add more lines.
For example, in the chart below, you will notice how each Verizon plan significantly decreases its cost per line as more lines are added.
So, if you have a friend or relative, you should consider sharing a single carrier account to save some big bucks.
4. Make use of unlimited data (if you have it)
Data is expensive, but it’s also essential. Without a data plan we cannot go on Facebook, watch YouTube videos, search the web or use certain apps, unless we find an unsecured WiFi network.
If your carrier offers unlimited data like Sprint, select the least amount of text messaging and minutes within the unlimited data plan. We can do all that through our unlimited data without raising the bill by adding extra minutes or text messages to the plan.
There are many apps that allow you to text and call using your phone data.
For example, with an unlimited data plan, you don’t need a text message plan. All you need is an app like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp.