How To Lose Debt

Cellular phones are one area ripe for an expense reduction, which would explain why there are 44,600,000 web pages with the term “Cheap Cell Phones”.

Now you could do away with a cell phone altogether, no?

But we are going to assume that there is an important reason to keep it other than a status thing. I can remember when having a cell phone was a status thing, do you?!!

Anyway, do you really need the 700 free minutes you get each month? How about the web? How often do you really text or pix message someone?

Some cellular providers even have unlimited mobile to mobile on the same network and I have even seen one recently that will allow you to pick your free circle, even if they are on different carriers. How about special ring tones, do you really need those? How about the games you downloaded?

I still can’t get over that they charge you a monthly fee to use a different ring tone. Is that insane? Why would anyone pay a monthly fee to have his or her phone ring a Led Zeppelin song? I absolutely love Led Zeppelin, but I own all of their CD’s, why would I pay extra to use a ringtone?

Anyway, go through your options and discuss them with your cellular provider, or simply shop for a new provider. You will be amazed how much money you can save, and if you change providers, you may even be able to get the physical phone for free.

Cell phone companies often have discount agreements with large companies. So if you happen to work for a large company, ask your cell phone provider if they discount for employees of your company. Some are discounted 20% or more of the monthly charges. Can you believe that?

One special note on cellular phones. Check your bill!!

Cellular phones have many different options these days, many of which you do not need or would not ever want. However, a cell phone is a piece of hardware, so if you find yourself playing around with the options on your phone, with one click you could find yourself entering an area, like the web, that your cellular company will charge you for immediately.

Now there is something that particularly irks me. My provider charges $5 if you connect to the web, and charges it from the very first second you hit the button. So even if you realize the mistake immediately, and immediately get out, you will see a $5 charge on your bill. You just can’t make this stuff up!!

What I want to know is, what company would treat its customers that way and stay in business that is? No wonder why we have so many laws. Do you think there should be a law to say they can’t charge you for the first 10 seconds? Come on legislators!!

Now if you call them, they will remove the errant charge. But, it’s ripe for a class action lawsuit.

So what I say is, call them, ask for your money back, and then reduce the service functionality to save money. If you get really upset, change service providers, recognizing that your current provider will charge you up to $200 for you to leave before the end of the contract. Is that crazy?

If you can, give up the cell phone altogether.  The alternative?  Grab one of those pay as you go plans that are available now:

See:  http://bit.ly/PiZJF