How Did My $29 Cellular Plan Become $49!?

Many cell phone users find themselves dissatisfied with their wireless plans because of such factors as dropped calls, and spotty coverage. By far the most dissatisfaction came in billing and rates. Does that surprise you?

Study That Contract

Studying the fine print on contracts can be hard on the eyes, and too often assumed to be "standard" procedures. Never assume that all cell plans are similar. Read each word before you sign. Here's why:

Those Minutes...

Choosing a plan wisely, and using all of your minutes at the right time - you could pay less than a penny a minute to make long distance calls from your cell phone.

What's wrong with that you say? The problem with minutes is that most of them are limited to a narrow time frame of peak and off peak hours. For example we had a cell plan once that gave us 300 minutes - as long as they were between the hours of 7pm and 7am on the weekends!

So, those bargain minutes plans work quite nicely if you know what their limits (or lack of) are and what your calling needs are. If you make all your long distance calls between 7pm and 7am on the weekends, the "this one's for you".

Another concern - what happens if you go over your "anytime" minutes and call during peak hours? Watch out for what is called an "overage" rate of somewhere above 30 cents a minute. To put that in perspective - 30 cents (min) a minute times 30 minute talk time is $9 for a 30 minute call you thought was included in your plan! OUCH!

The "Minutes Solution"?

Be realistic about when, where and how much you will use your cell phone. Not how much you SHOULD use your phone, but how much you WILL use it. Remember, you aren't just paying for the calls you make, but also the ones you receive.

It's better to start with to much and adjust if you find you are consistently using less than your allotted minutes. You can always add or subtract minutes included in your wireless plan.

Those Sneaky Fees...

Carriers have to collect enough money to stay in business, so some fees are designed to collect the money given out to consumers in all those freebies. Such fees as voicemail charges, handset insurance, etc. are add-on charges to your bill. Not included although could be considered standard.

Regulatory Fee

These fees are not optional, not add-ons and can increase your bill considerably. A couple of examples include Cingular who charges a $1.25 a month charge for "regulatory cost recovery fee". AT&T charges for E911 at a $1.20 a month per line, while Sprint charges $1.75 for the same! Then there is Nextel who combines all fees together and suggests that their $1.55 a month fee is for "one or more of the following: E911, number pooling and wireless portability."

No one is arguing the point that carriers need to recover the costs of new mandated services, and make a profit to stay in business. The FCC does regulate these mandated services and sets a limit to the amount a carrier can charge to "recover" related costs.

Those Cancellation Fees...

The average termination fee for cancelling you cellular plan before the signed contract is up is between $150 and $200. Carriers claim that the initial expense of gaining a customer is so that any early termination results in a big loss to the carrier. So, consider your long term plans before signing up for a cell contract.

And those Phones...

Last but no means least - carriers still haven't gotten the idea that phones should not be carrier specific! Cellular phones can be programmed in the event that a consumer would change to another wireless carrier, but business interests don't think so. Thus, the general consensus is dispose of a phone when you change carriers. Until they learn the errors of their greedy ways :) keep in mind that the phone you order will probably be carrier specific, meaning if you leave their service, your phone is probably useless.