As much as we love our smart phones and how they keep us connected with the world and our families through tweets and likes, all these technological advantages can be quite taxing on our wallets. But much like anything else in 2017, there are certain hacks you can employ to whittle away at ever growing costs of data plans. You just have to be a little bit crafty and a little bit discipline.
Conduct Usage Experiments
One approach to finding the right plan for you is knowing what how much data you need. Seems pretty self-explanatory, but with the variety of plans out there to choose form, it may hard to know exactly which one will fit your lifestyle’s usage.
Look at your last three or so months bills and see how much data and minutes you are using during that cycle. If your usage falls below the maximum your plan allows, it may be time to switch your plan with less data. For instance, if you are noticing you are constantly on Wi-Fi rather than your network, you probably do not need to have an unlimited plan.
Wi-Fi When You Can
Speaking of Wi-Fi, it’s hands down the biggest contributor to achieving a slimmer bill. Whenever you are connected to Wi-Fi, you are not using the data that is prescribed from your cellular plan. The less data you use, the cheaper data plan you can get.
So, whenever you are at home switch your device over to the Wi-Fi network. This practice holds true when you are at work, at the library or out to eat. If a Wi-Fi network is available, be sure to use it. Just be mindful when you are using apps that utilize location services like Google Maps or Lyft. These types of apps can burn through your data, so be careful.
Strength in Numbers
Another good way to save on your cell phone bills is taking advantage of family plans offered by network providers, especially when some have a very loose definition of constitutes as a family (meaning you do not have to be related to other people in the plan, or live at same address for that matter). For some companies, the more people you have on your plan, the cheaper the monthly bill will come out to be. You just need to find responsible people.
Going Green
As companies are making a concerted effort to become more environmentally friendly, they are offering incentives for their customers who decide to go paperless for their billing. Depending on the company you can get $5 to $10 taken off your bill for going paperless and signing up for autopay.
Apps That Help Save
Thankfully we live in a day and age where the distance between us and loved ones is irrelevant and long distance charges do not have to be applied to stay in touch. With the rise of free services like WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger, you do not have to continue paying steeper prices for calling people far away. Be sure to use apps like these to cut those archaic charges.
