How to save on your cell phone bill.

=========================================================== -- Inflation Fighter --Optimize Your Cell Phone Billby Ramit SethiTwo ways to cut your cell phone bill Many of us (including me) pick a cell phone plan, then nevercheck to see if it's the right one for us based on our usage.Because the average cellphone bill is about $50, that's $600 per year of moneyyou can optimize. Perfect. Today, I'm going to show you two ways to cut your cell phonebill: one easy, one hard. And remember, this tip doesn't justapply to cell phones. You can optimize your spending on nearlyany other subscription you've got. Optimizing your cell phone bill - the easy way If you still have a landline, the easiest tip is to call yourwireless company and bundle it all into one plan or get rid ofyour landline altogether. Anyway, when I went to buy a new cell phone a couple monthsago, I picked the unlimited everything plan with unlimitedvoice, unlimited data, and unlimited text. I also set a three-month check-in on my calendar to go back and analyze myspending patterns so I could cut back on my plan if needed.This is a technique I use a lot. With any usage-based services(e.g. web apps or cell plans), I'll pay a little more up frontso I can monitor my usage, then downgrade to the appropriateplan after three months. Analyzing your usage can be a pretty laborious task, but I usea site called Billshrink at http://www.billshrink.com to do itfor me automatically. You should also know that, according toa recent survey by J.D. Power and Associates, "people who text message, e-mail, anddownload files on mobile phones spend $14 a month more thanpeople who don't." Do you really need all that stuff? Couldyou try going a couple months without it? It pays to look at your actual usage and switch to a plan thatbetter fits your needs. If you're only using 150 textmessages, you can probably downgrade to the "200 textmessages/month" plan. As you get used to the new limit, add acalendar reminder to check in on the 15th of each month andmake sure you're not wildly over for the first few months. Optimizing your cell phone - the harder (but more rewarding)way Cell phone companies have this wildly curious business modelof acquiring tons of customers through very expensive means(e.g., national advertising), then churning through them bytreating them horribly. Yet even they know that it's cheaperto retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one. Youcan use this "customer acquisition cost" in your favor. Here'show: 1. Find comparable plans for your usage on other cell phonenetworks. For example, I'm with AT&T, so I'll investigateVerizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint by going to their websites.Write down how much they each cost, how many minutes you get,and any other benefits. 2. Call your current cell phone company. To make it easy, hereare the phone numbers: AT&T : 1-800-331-0500 Verizon : 1-800-922-0204 TMobile : 1-800-T-MOBILE Sprint : 1-866-866-7509 3. First, be nice. Ask them what better plans they have tooffer you. You: "Hi, I was looking at my plan and it's getting prettyexpensive. Could you tell me what other plans you have thatwould save me money?" Them: Blah blah same plans as on the website blah blah You: "What about any plans not listed on the website?" Them: "No, what we have is listed on the website. Plus, you'reon a contract and have an early cancellation fee." You: "Well, I understand that, but I'd be saving money evenwith that cancellation fee. Look, you know times are tough soI'm thinking of switching unless there are any other plans youhave. No? Ok, can you switch me to your cancellationdepartment, please?" Note: What you really want is to be switched to their"customer retention" department, which is the group that hasthe ability to retain you by giving you a bunch of free deals.You can either ask to be switched directly to the customerretention department, or play a game and hope that by askingfor "cancellation," you're actually transferred to retention.Play around with a few phone calls and see what works best. When you get to the customer-retention department, ask for thesame thing. This is when you pull out your competitive intelon the other services being offered. If Verizon is offeringsomething for $10 less, tell them that. That's $120 savingsper year right there. But you can do more. You: "Listen, you know times are tough and I need to get abetter deal to stick with you guys. You know and I know thatyour customer acquisition cost is hundreds of dollars. It justmakes sense to keep me as a customer, so what can you do tooffer me this plan for less money?" Notice that you didn't say, "Can you give me a cheaper plan?"because yes/no questions always get a "no" answer whenspeaking to wireless customer-service reps. Ask leadingquestions. You also invoked the customer-acquisition cost,which is meaningful to retention reps. Finally, it reallyhelps if you're a valued customer who's stuck around for along time and actually deserves to be treated well. If youjump around from carrier to carrier, you're not a worthwhilecustomer to carriers. One final thing: People get scared that if they go to thecancellation department and try to negotiate, they'll gettheir account cancelled without really wanting to do that.There are two things to remember about negotiating yourwireless bill: (1) You have a much stronger position if you'reactually willing to walk away and switch to another plan, and(2) your account will never get cancelled until you say thefinal word. You can negotiate for three hours and walk away ifyou want. Use this technique on virtually any subscriptionyou're paying. Businesses want to keep customers and arewilling to negotiate, but since most people don't, they'releaving money on the table.http://www.busy-mom.com