Early Start to the Evening
If you use a lot of anytime minutes, ask your provider if they offer an early start with early evenings. Providers charge around $0.45 a minute to those that exceed the allowable anytime minutes. For many, evening minutes are from 9:01 p.m. until 5:59 a.m. This arbitrary definition of evening has created a premium charge for “anytime minutes,” or what I call daytime or peak time, that is generally what you’re billed for. (Is it easier for cell phone towers to work at night?!) AT&T charges around $8.99 per phone to push unlimited or evening minutes to 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. and that can save you a few dollars if you find yourself consistently exceeding the allotted anytime minutes during a specific period of time.
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Text Messaging
You’re generally billed to receive and send a text message. Based on the volume of messages, minimize your payments by choosing the text plan that suits you. At Verizon there is an unlimited plan that is offered for $20.00 and a pay-per-message plan that costs $0.20 per message. That means: If you receive and send a total of 300 messages a month than unlimited plan is $40 less than the $60 bill you would receive to pay as you go for text messages.
Make Customer Service Your Friend
You might not believe this but talking to a customer service representative in a polite manner can save you hundreds of dollars. After all the hysterics about sitting through a conversation with a sales provider, by explaining my desire to get a plan that worked for my family and informing the representative I was upset about my over usage charges in a calm and polite manner, the $150 charges were removed from my account as a surprisingly nice courtesy. Place yourself in the shoes of a customer service agent who are you likely to help: The person that shrieks or the person that is warm and friendly. Tip: When I call any customer service center, I always reply to an agent by their government name to reach them on a more personal level.
