Cell phone service rates vary by provider greatly depending on how much data you use, which carrier you like, and whether you are attached to a family plan or not. On top of this, if you’re buying a new phone, that can add to your monthly expenses if you can’t afford to buy the phone in full. With how expensive smartphones can be, it’s almost impossible for the average person to afford the newest iPhone without saving out or using a payment plan. Luckily, there are some tips that just about anyone can use to lower his or her monthly phone bill.
Apply for the Federal Affordable Connectivity Program
There’s nothing cheaper than a free mobile service plan. While it might sound too good to be true, this is a federal program to help people in low-income living situations get access to cell phone plans. If you qualify for this plan, you can free unlimited talk and text and text and up to 7G in free data. Better yet, if you do not already have a smartphone, you may qualify for a free one from Gen Mobile!
Anyone can apply for this service on the website linked above. The application itself only takes about five minutes. After you submit your application, you will need to wait for confirmation on whether or not you qualify. If you do, you will receive an email with instructions on how to set up your free phone plan and receive your new smartphone.
Use Lesser-known Cell Phone Services
As with just about anything else a person can buy, big name cell phone service brands can charge more simply because they have a recognizable brand name. People know the brand and can trust it. Not knowing a brand is also part of the reason why many people don’t try out lesser-known phone companies. However, many smaller phone companies are owned by big name brands and share the same cell towers. This means they will have all of the same service coverage but often cost less. For example, Boost Mobile also owns Gen Mobile, Ting Mobile, and Republic Wireless. All of these companies will have different plans and service available, but are still all technically part of the same company.
Even if a smaller cell phone service company isn’t owned by a larger company, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is bad. If you are unsure if a cell phone service group is reliable or not, one of the best things you can do to find out is to check online customer reviews. Internet reviewers can be brutally honest, which means they can usually be trusted.
Choose Phone Plans Based on Data Usage
Not all, but a lot of cell phone plans base their prices around how much data you want per month. Sure, you can always buy an unlimited data plan so that you don’t need to worry about being charged extra when you go over your data limit. Of course, you need to ask yourself if you need unlimited data in the first place. The best way to answer this question is to look at the data.
You can check your data usage in a couple of different ways depending on which type of phone ou have. If you have an iPhone, all you need to do is tap “Settings,” and then “Cellular.” From there, you need to scroll down to see how much data you have used during the current billing period. You can also check how much data you have used on each individual app during the billing cycle. This should be able to work no matter which cell phone service provider you are using.
If you have an Android, the instructions are a little different. First, go to “Settings.” Next, click “Data.” This will allow you to see how much data you are currently using. However, this will not show you how much data each app uses. Unlike with iPhones, you can set a data limit while you are on this screen. This puts a sort of cap on your data. If you use this function, then you can make sure you do not go over your data limit. If you want to check how much data each app uses, then you can go to “Settings” then “Connections,” and then “Data.” Once you know how much data you use, you can choose a phone plan that matches your needs.
Remeber, just because phone plans can be expensive doesn’t mean they have to be expensive. Keep these tips in mind the next time you are thinking about switching phone providers or plans.
