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Chances
are you're wasting gobs of money on wireless phone
service because you chose the wrong plan.
The
problem likely will become more widespread with the
introduction of unlimited calling plans, which are
appropriate for very few customers, according to Validas,
a wireless-bill analysis firm.
In a
study of 10,000 wireless bills, Validas found 80 percent
of wireless customers pay too much because they're on
the wrong plan, and unlimited plans are appropriate for
just 7 percent of customers. This echoes other studies
that show customers waste money by purchasing too many
minutes that go unused each month.
Fortunately,
you can right-size your wireless spending. Here's how:
Analyze
your bill. Two of the best Web sites for analyzing your
cell bill are MyValidas.com by Validas and
BillShrink.com. It's worthwhile to use both.
Figuring
out on your own which plan is right for you can be
daunting, especially when taking into account free
mobile-to-mobile minutes, nights and weekend calling
times, texting, and free calls to a few favorite numbers
that many plans now allow. And sometimes your own bill
doesn't give you enough information.
"It's
very difficult, almost impossible, to understand your
call detail and apply it to what's available in the
marketplace," said
Tom Pepe
, Validas chairman and co-founder. "You have a
smart phone and a dumb bill."
MyValidas.com
analyzes your wireless phone bill, which you upload in
PDF format or import using your online sign-in for your
carrier's Web site. It will tell you your potential
savings for free, but a complete report costs
$5
.
The
advantage of BillShrink.com is it's free. It makes money
if you decide to switch carriers using its site. It,
too, can automatically pull information from your online
bill, or you can manually answer a few questions about
your wireless use.
The
downside of both sites is they consider only the major
wireless carriers and neither considers prepaid service.
Also,
consider call quality in your area. For example,
BillShrink.com will often recommend T-Mobile, which is
generally the least expensive. But cheaper is not better
if you don't have a wireless signal. Sites such as
Mobiledia (cellreception.com) can help determine whether
you'll have good coverage.
Try
prepaid. Far more people should not have a monthly
contract at all. Using a prepaid phone is often cheaper.
That used to be true only for low-volume users, of 400
minutes or less. But now, even high-volume users might
save, according to Consumer Reports. With prepaid, you
buy the phone, which is usually
$10 to $60
, and you buy minutes to load onto the phone. No monthly
bill, taxes or tack-on fees.
The
downside of prepaid is you won't get the latest phones,
and they're mostly good for voice calls and texting, not
Web surfing, e-mail and other advanced functions.
Minutes also expire. The more you buy at a time, the
longer they last.
National
prepaid carriers typically rated highest include
TracFone and sister company Net10, T-Mobile and
Virgin Mobile
. Net10 has the easiest pricing to understand. Each
minute costs
10 cents
regardless of how many you buy.
Avoid
"don't worry" syndrome. A common reason people
give for choosing a large bucket of minutes or an
unlimited plan is so "I don't have to worry about
it." Peace of mind is valuable, but what's wrong
with going over your allotted minutes once in a while?
It's often cheaper to pay the high per-minute rate for a
few overage minutes than bump up to a monthly plan with
more minutes you'll hardly ever use but have to pay for
every month. For example, if you have an unusual month
and go over by 100 minutes at
45 cents
each, that's an extra
$45
you must pay. But over a year, that's just
$3.75
per month if that's the only time you exceed your
minutes. You're not doing anything wrong or violating
your contract by using overage minutes.
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