2013 is here. We hope you are all having a great start to the New Year. If you are like most folks you have great plans for a successful and prosperous 2013. Lose the bad karma, gain positive energy. Spend more time with friends and family and less time wasting money away. Use more resources to your advantage, while not being taken advantage of. Get it? Hopefully we can help. We want to start by helping you keep your money in perspective.
The TechGuys have always strived to help save you the headache, time and money when it comes to making smart buys. Do you remember our cord cutting write up to help save you money on your television service? If you followed what we said you should have had some nice Christmas cash to spend last year. Well this year we will not start doing anything different. Let’s take a look at some big cutbacks, like the deficit, that need to be made; starting with your cell phone bill.
We want you to completely understand what will and can happen before you perform any actions. Remember the goal is to save you time, money and frustration.
Consider what is necessary for you and your plan, whether it is a family plan, shared plan, or individual plan. Carriers are now offering shared data packages also. Carefully consider these options when you are looking to purchase new devices that are not phones, such as tablets, USB modems and even docking stations. Most carriers allow up to 5 shared devices on a shared data plan, other carriers allow up to 10. We will get into that later.
Additional Services
Let’s go to the simple items on your bill. Did you keep ringback tones or other services that you no longer use? How often are you using services like call forwarding or 411 Call Assistance? If it is a shared plan check that other users are no longer using these services also, and if not cut them from your plan. Make sure to drop those unnecessary services to start cutting back. When setting out to do this drop the services that are truly unnecessary not the ones that you feel you will never use, such as insurance.
Insurance is the one service that is needed for anyone that has a phone especially a smartphone, and does not have hundreds of dollars to spend each time they lose or damage their device. Trust me if you constantly use your phone, you will miss it when it is gone. You may have to pony up anywhere from $75 – $200 for a deductible, but it is nothing compared to an uninsured purchase. Remember most carriers often have the phones they sell at discounted prices. These phones could cost up to $700 out of contract and out of pocket (uninsured). The price tag in the store is for a new customer usually, or someone who no longer is under a contract and are looking to sign on for 2 years with the carrier. Plain english if you paid $99 for your phone when you first signed up, don’t expect that price for a replacement device without insurance. You have options such as eBay or Craigslist but you are taking your chances on those sites.
Carriers offer insurance for their phones that can be put right on your monthly bill. The price is anywhere from $5.99 to $9.99 depending on your device and also depending on the carrier. Their are some outside companies (outside of the carriers) that offer insurance on specific phones such as AppleCare for iPhones and other services such as GoCare, SquareTrade, Ensquared, and the very popular Asurion (used by most carriers already). Most of these companies will also insure mobile devices such as iPads, Tablets, and even cameras. These outside insurance providers offer a one time cost for their services to cover you for the year or up to 3 years. Although they require purchase of their services within 30 days of your initial purchase date, some may allow 90 days. Devices today cost a lot to make but the carriers eat a portion of that cost up front to get new customers or to keep customers after their contracts are up. I could explain how the carriers regain that initial cost but that will be a topic for another day. Besides it isn’t based on fact, just theory.
Insurance companies and carriers alike have set in place restrictions for usage of their insurance program to prevent abuse and fraud. Make sure you read their fine print and ask your questions when considering signing up with any of these companies. There are great deals but what they cover may not be the same as a more expensive company. Most times it is safer to go through the carrier, but research can save you a few bucks also. Some policies cover theft, water damage, even defective batteries. Others will only extend the manufactures warranty, so you need to ask questions to get the most from your coverage and protection. In most cases after a claim is filed you can receive a replacement device with 1 to 3 business days. If your insurance is with the carrier, they may offer a temporary replacement device right in the store until you actually receive yours. Remember only use this if truly necessary.
“…changing your plan will lock you into another two year agreement..”
Calling Plan
This next step is very important. Before going any further check that you have truly minimized your bill of any and all additional and unnecessary services. Now that you have done that you need to know that once you change your plan to accommodate your goal of saving on your bill, the carrier may lock you into another two year agreement because of these changes. Although you may not get an upgraded phone or device, just changing your plan will lock you into a new two year agreement with the carrier.
Take the time to see how many minutes are you actually using compared to what you are actually paying for. Check and see how frequent you are using the phone. Are you making more calls on nights and weekends, peak or off peak hours. Also do you call within your service provider? Most carriers allow unlimited calls within the same carrier at no charge, this isn’t true for all but most.
Data Plan
Finally, we are making some head way. Now we want to take a look at at what you are using your phone for. Other than phone calls let’s see how often you are surfing the web, changing your status on FaceBook or Twitter, watching movies on NetFlix and Hulu or just checking email. You need to now consider how much data is being used. If you have a smartphone (iPhone, Blackberry, Windows 8, most Androids) more than likely you have a required data plan. This means there is an additional required price of $19.99 or $29.99 added to you voice plan. This is required because of the phone. You can get another phone that is not considered a smartphone and then you will have the option to drop the required data package otherwise this is your only option. This is why you need to decide if a smartphone more of a need for you, or is it really just a want of yours? If you need a smartphone then you obviously need the data. If you want a smartphone do you want to pay the additional monthly cost that comes with having it?
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| AT&T Data Plans |
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| Verizon Share Everything (Phones and Data devices) |
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| Verizon Data Device Only Plan |
There are still other options outside of your smartphone and ways to get mobile data access to the “world wide web” and all the apps that it encompass. You can buy mobile data plans that are separate from your phone or shared with your phone. Verizon has plans that may get a bit confusing but ask those important questions: “Does my phone need data?”
“How does the data break down for multiple users?”
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| T-Mobile Data Calculator |
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| Verizon Data Calculator |
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| AT&T Data Calculator
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All carriers should have a data calculator within the site, to help you determine your usage. To prevent making any changes accidentally, Do Not sign in or log in to your account. Simply go to the site as if you do not have service and look at the data plans. Towards the bottom of the data plan screen there should be some indication of a data calculator. Try to be as realistic and cost efficient as possible. With that said please be smart about your tech buys and always thank your Tech Guys! We would like to know how helpful this was. Please comment and spread the word.
