Managing Your Cell Phone Bill

Making Cents
Cell phones. Most of us have them. The purpose of them varies from emergency phone only to essential productivity tool for home and office. There are smart phones with apps, email, and Internet and even “dumb” phones that just make calls and not much else. Regardless of the type of phone you may own, smart or dumb, they all come with monthly bills.

Have you ever looked at that bill? I mean really dove in to see the types of charges and your actual usage of things like data? I take inventory of our cell phone plan every 6 months. As a reference point, we are AT&T customers. While I will discuss AT&T specifically, the same methodology applies to all cell phone carriers. While I will state specifics to our plan, your rate may vary depending upon your carrier and type of plan you are on.

After reviewing our bill in detail this month, I will offer suggestions for potential monthly savings over the next two articles.

Type of Plan

The type of plan you have depends on how you use your phone and the type of phone you own. Dumb phones have one type of plan that is completely different from their smarter cousins. Additionally, the number of people in your household or sphere of influence that have phones may require a different plan altogether.

We have five phones on our plan and one teenage son. Not only do we need the right amount of minutes on our plan, but we also need unlimited texting. For those of you with teenagers, you know this to be true. This is the one time I will advocate for spending an extra $10 a month. You do not want to be the family that shows up on Yahoo! or CNN because you got a $10,000 cell phone bill due to texting.

Take a close look at your bill to see whom you call most often. Odds are you are calling the same people. Does your carrier have a “Friends & Family” plan? Are your mobile-to-mobile minutes “free”? When reviewing your bill, remember that the first phone itemization seems crazy. It’s always the one with the higher initial charges. If you have multiple phones on your bill, each subsequent line is discounted as an add-on for $9.99.

We are on the Family Plan. This means we can have up to five lines on our account. At the time we reviewed our bill, it was just our two smart phones and a basic phone with texting for our son. Most of our calls were to my mother-in-law. We noticed that we were speaking with her a lot. While the minutes were free, she was on her own account and paying roughly $65 a month for her phone. Seeing the opportunity to save her money, we added her to our account, and she moved up from a regular cell phone with text only to one with data so she can stay in touch through her email as well. Now my mother-in-law saves $35 a month because she is on our Family Plan. Do you have any relatives who could take advantage of plans like this one?

Next month I will offer even more information. Stay tuned. In the meantime, visit the 4 Walls Financial web site for additional tips regarding some lesser-known cell phone options.


Kate is a financial expert of what to do and not do with money as well as owner of 4 Walls Financial, A Coaching Focused Company. She has attended and completed Dave Ramsey’s Counselor Training. Follow Kate on Twitter 4WFCoach, reach out to her via email at kate@4wallsfinancial.com or visit www.4wallsfinancial.com. Feel free to share ideas or questions for future articles.

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