How to Lower Your Cell Phone Bill

You don’t have to read the news to know that life has gotten more expensive recently. While housing, food, utilities, and insurance are more or less set costs, you have some power to lower your cell phone bill.

Here are nine tips that can keep more of your hard-earned money in your wallet.

1. Switch to an MVNO/prepaid carrier  

If you’re not already on a prepaid phone plan (offered by carriers called MVNOs), it’s the first step you should take toward lowering your cell phone bill. When comparing prepaid vs. postpaid phone plans, you'll find prepaid plans are much cheaper on average – up to 50% cheaper, in fact. And while you may not get perks like complimentary subscriptions or prioritized data during peak times, you can still enjoy fully unlimited service on the same network for half the price by choosing an MVNO phone plan.  

Some cheap prepaid phone plans include:  

• TextNow. Phone service starts at $0/month, which includes free data for essential apps like email, finance, maps, and rideshare. You can add more data when needed at affordable rates by the day, week, or month. 
• Mint Mobile. The frequent new customer promotions mean you likely can get an unlimited data plan for $15/month price when you prepay for the first 3 months. Beware, though, that after the promotional period, the ongoing price goes up. To see how Mint stacks up against TextNow, read our full Mint Mobile vs. TextNow review.
• Visible. Visible offers premium (prioritized) unlimited data at affordable prices when compared to traditional postpaid carriers. To see how it stacks up against TextNow, read our full Visible vs. TextNow review.
• Tello. Tello’s plans are simple, affordable, and extremely customizable to your particular data needs.  

2. Skip the phone payments and bring your own phone 

A lot of carriers will try to get new customers with sneaky “free phone” promotions that are just another way to lock you into a commitment of one to three years. If you pay attention, those promotions require a minimum monthly phone plan commitment, often $50-$60 or more, which inflates the cost.

If you use a phone bill calculator, you can easily see how much you’d save by buying a phone outright (especially if you take advantage of an unlocked phone deal) and pairing it with a cheaper monthly plan. Most of the time, bringing your own phone to a cheaper phone plan saves you hundreds over the length of the contract you'd enter for that "free" phone offer.  

3. Skip the phone upgrade

Go one step further and avoid the phone upgrade. For the most part, even hardware fixes like a battery replacement or a screen replacement cost significantly less than a new phone and can keep your phone going for another year or two – time enough to plan, save up, and watch for a great deal.  

4. Audit your data usage  

Along with switching to a cheaper phone plan, you can further reduce your monthly phone bill by opting for a lower data limit plan (usually the cheaper option). But to see if that will work, you should first confirm how much data you’re actually using on a monthly basis to see if that unlimited data plan is worth it. With Wi-Fi access at home (and maybe at work too), it’s more than likely that you’re using somewhere between 5GB and 20GB a month. In that case, finding a cheaper phone plan with an appropriate data limit could work for you. If you confirm you’re using more data than that but want to start reducing your usage so you can switch to a cheaper plan, here are some ways to do that:  

• Set apps and updates to download over Wi-Fi only. This is a sneaky setting that can use up data quickly – make sure you set any app updates over Wi-Fi only (you can do this through the settings of your phone’s app store). Additionally, if you have apps like Netflix or Spotify on your phone, you can set any downloads (like if you want to download an episode or playlist) to Wi-Fi only as well.  

• Reduce streaming and download content ahead of time. Reduce your data usage on streaming apps by listening to or watching the content you downloaded on Wi-Fi ahead of time (on “offline mode”).  

• Change your streaming quality on data mode. If you must stream in real-time, though, try changing the quality of the video or audio file to “low” when streaming over mobile data. Streaming a 4K video, for example, can use up to 16GB/hour, whereas streaming in 720 (HD) uses up to 2.5GB/hour – a 540% reduction in data usage. You'll save even more if you stream in SD.  

• Turn off background data. Social media apps especially love to refresh their background data all.the.time. Kill that in settings to save on precious data.   

5. Consider a different type of plan

Multiline plans often run cheaper than the same number of individual lines. You may be able to save if you can join a family plan, or pair up with a friend or roommate on an unlimited data plan for two lines.

6. Check for employer discounts or reimbursements 

It may be buried in some never-actually-read employee guide or handbook, but your employer or union may offer a phone service discount through select carriers, or it may cover part of the bill if you need to use your phone for work.  

7. Check if you qualify for other discounts  

Look into any other discounts you may qualify for, such as a student, military, senior, or first-responder discount. And many carriers offer a billing discount if you sign up for AutoPay and paperless billing.

You can go even further by looking into government discounts, such as Lifeline, where if you qualify, you can take almost $10 off your monthly phone plan, or even better – get free phone service altogether. Compare options beforehand to determine which is right for you.

8. Use international eSIMs when traveling  

If you’re planning on traveling abroad, don’t run the risk of expensive data roaming charges or pay a lot for an international pass from your carrier. You can install an international eSIM instead and spend a fraction of the cost to stay online and connected when abroad.  

9. Switch to a free texting and/or calling app  

If you’re looking to cut your phone bill altogether, you'll find plenty of alternatives to keep you connected without costing anything.

You can sign up for a free calling or free texting app to stay connected over Wi-Fi (some will even provide you with your own phone number), and do everything else over Wi-Fi as well, so you can save on that monthly bill and put that money where it’s better spent.