The average American spent $1,218 on cell phone service in 2019. That comes out to just over $100 per month. However, I am only paying less than $35 for an unlimited plan from Verizon. In this article, I will help you reduce your cell phone bills in the U.S.
I want to stay with three major carriers.
The simplest and easiest way is to join or start an unlimited plan with your friends and families. For Verizon, if you have five or more lines, you are only paying $30 per line for an unlimited plan plus taxes and fees. Similar price with AT&T and T-Mobile.
With the shared unlimited plan, here are a few things you need to accept:
- Your talk and message activity will be visible to the people who have access to your phone bill each month, aka account owner and manager.
- You might not have hotspot access.
- If you want an upgrade, you need to work with your account owner or manager to get the account pin.
Here are more ways to save.
1. Use student/company discounts
Many schools and companies have different degrees of discounts on many operators’ post-paid family/individual plans. Purdue University, for example, has a 20% discount for ATT users.
The link is here https://www.itap.purdue.edu/shopping/att/
2. Use the right credit card
Many credit cards have additional rewards for paying mobile phone/network fees. For example, Amex also often offers a variety of Amex offers in a fancy way. Remember to pay attention to it.
3. USAA/First Responders
2020 is a challenging year for many of us, especially for the first responders, Military, and Veterans. All three major carriers have discounts for first responders, Military, and Veterans.
I am open to change carrier.
If you decide to change the carrier, congratulations, you opened the first door to the new world. There are over 200 cell phone plans on the market ranging from $5 to $90. I am only giving a brief introduction to a few of them.
1. Visible
Visible is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). MVNOs are smaller, prepaid cellular providers that use more prominent companies’ existing cell towers. In this case, the company is Verizon Wireless.
$40/month/line for unlimited data, messages, and minutes in the U.S.
With party pay, you could pay as little as $25 / month!
2. Cricket Wireless
Cricket Wireless has been an Internet celebrity in recent years. Cricket Wireless uses AT&T’s network, which should provide a reliable service.
Quick price chart:
3. Mint Mobile
Mint Mobile is also a popular MVNO provider that uses T-mobile’s network. It is worth mentioning that their plan duration is three months.
In October 2019, Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile officially split. A month later, actor Ryan Reynolds bought Mint Mobile.
There are over 200 cell phone plans in the United States as of today. Here is a chart that gives you a brief comparison of them.
I hope you learned something from this article. There are many ways to save money before you make decisions, do your research.
