How To Save Money On Cell Phone Bill

Whenever I hear about people spending $70, $80 or even $100+ on their cell phone bill every month, I have to admit that I'm usually a little shocked.

I can't imagine a scenario where I would ever pay that much, especially given that there are so many options out there to get cheaper cell service through a myriad of providers.

I will admit that at one time I gave in and paid for a premium phone and a premium monthly phone bill. At the time, about 8-9 years ago, that meant spending more than $40/month for our cell phones. While that may not sound like much now, to us back then it was a decent chunk of change.

One month after paying our bill, I decided that I was tired of paying for expensive service when we hardly even used our cell phones. I decided to look into cheaper options for cell service.

Pre-Paid Cell Service Is Often Cheaper

Far too often people who don't use their phones very much end up paying for a premium voice and data plan with all the bells and whistles, despite not needing them. These bills can often easily exceed $100/month.

save hundreds on your cell phone bill

There is a cheaper way, however. It works especially well for people who don't use as many voice minutes or use as much data.

For example, I only use my phone to call my wife and a few other friends and family members, and usually only use a few minutes every month. I also for the longest time didn't have a smartphone.

For me spending money on an expensive plan was a waste. I found that there were pre-paid phone options out there that fit my needs, and would mean that I would consistently spend around $10/month or even less.

So what pre-paid phone plans are out there?

List Of Cheap Prepaid Cell Phone Options

There are a variety of pre-paid, and even free, phone services out there that you can use. The frugality and savings you'll see will vary from provider to provider. Here's a list of ones that I've found that have some decent and extremely affordable plans. (I personally use and love Tello - so listed them at the top, but have had great experiences with Republic Wireless, Ting, Twigby and Unreal Mobile as well).

Lowest Cost Plan	Mobile Network	Review
$5/month	Sprint	Review
$5/month	Sprint	Review
$9/month	Sprint, Verizon	Review
$9/month	Sprint, T-Mobile	Review
$10/month	Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint
$15/month	Sprint, T-Mobile	Review
$15/month	T-Mobile	Review
$15/month	Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, U.S. Cellular	Cell
$20/month	T-Mobile, Sprint, U.S. Cellular	Cell
$23.70/month	Verizon	Cell
$25/month	AT&T	Cell
$35/month	Sprint	Cell
$35/month	AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon	Cell
$40/month	Verizon	Review

Pricing on the plans with the various companies tends to fluctuate a bit, so i won't list that here. But what I can tell you is that for my family's plan we get 2 no-frills pre-paid phones with phone service, texting and mobile data for anywhere from $10-$20/month. If we wanted to we could upgrade and get more data under one of their other plans starting at around $20-30/month. Still a pretty decent deal.

How Much Can You Save With No-Contract Phones?

So the question is, just how much can you save by using a no-contract and/or pre-paid phone? Hundreds of dollars a year!

Let's look at the average cell phone bill. JD Power reports in CNN Money, that

The average annual wireless phone bill is now $1,152.

That's somewhere around $96/month for a cell phone bill. Let's say that instead of getting one of those high cost plans with voice/text/data, you got a cheaper no-contract version from Tello Mobile. You could expect to pay around $10/month with Tello for 100 minutes of talk/text and 1GB of mobile data. That's a savings of $86/month or $1032/year! Even if you got 4GB of data and unlimited talk/text, the most you'd pay is $29/month – and you'd still save over $804/year.

I'm sure you could find a use for that extra money, right?

At our house we ended up switching to pre-paid service and saving around $500/year by making the switch. Not bad!

Cons of Pre-Paid Plans

There are a few downsides to pre-paid plans.

You pay full price for many phones: With a lot of the pre-paid services you'll end up paying full price for the high end smartphones, and not the subsidized contract cost. A lot of people don't like that up front cost for the phone. Even with the extra cost for the phone, however, you'll pay for it after only a few months of service and still save hundreds. Do yourself a favor and sell your old phone and buy a new one for the new service cheap - used.
Less phones to choose from: Not all the latest and hottest phones are available on a lot of plans, so if you want the latest iPhone, you may be out of luck. This is changing for the better in recent years, however.
Pre-paid minutes can expire: Depending on what plan you choose, sometimes your minutes don't transfer one month to the next, so be careful about what plan you choose. Personally I like Tello's plan because talk/text is cheap, and easy to add more if you need to every month.
Extras sometimes cost more: You have to be careful about what plan you choose. Figure out what features you use (voice/data/text), and how much and choose a plan accordingly. Otherwise, extras like data can cost quite a bit more than you realized.

When you're researching plans, just make sure to know what you're looking for, what kind of a user you are and sign up for a plan that fits your needs.

No Contract Pre-Paid Plans Will Save You Money

For me moving to a pre-paid no contract plan was a no brainer when I realized how many hundreds of dollars we'd save every year.

We've been with Tello for a short while now, and we love it! The service (on the Sprint wireless network) is great in our area, and we've never had any problems with their customer service.

We now get 2 phones for less than it used to cost us for 1 phone. If we want to at some point we can upgrade to higher plans at a fraction of the monthly cost. It's a win-win!

While a pre-paid or no contract mobile phone service may not be for everyone (especially for heavy users), there are ways to save, even with a contract phone.

Pay only for what service you use, buy a lesser phone, or get your employer to pay.

Are you using a pre-paid or no contract cell phone service? What has your experience been? Tell us about it in the comments!

Lowest Cost Plan	Mobile Network	Review
$5/month	Sprint	Review
$5/month	Sprint	Review
$9/month	Sprint, Verizon	Review
$9/month	Sprint, T-Mobile	Review
$10/month	Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint	Cell
$15/month	Sprint, T-Mobile	Review
$15/month	T-Mobile	Review
$15/month	Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, U.S. Cellular	Cell
$20/month	T-Mobile, Sprint, U.S. Cellular	Cell
$23.70/month	Verizon	Cell
$25/month	AT&T	Cell
$35/month	Sprint	Cell
$35/month	AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon	Cell
$40/month	Verizon	Review