<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  Maximize your cell phone savings with just a little homework and a call (or even an e-mail) to customer service. Review your last five or so bills.  Are you using all the minutes you&amp;#039;re paying for? If not, drop down a package level. Coming close to your limit or even going over? Each minute beyond what you&amp;#039;re allotted can cost 40 cents or more--a much bigger hit than the extra dollars per month of a plan change. Consider a bump up to the next calling package, or switching to earlier &amp;quot;nights&amp;quot; if you&amp;#039;re making lots of calls between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.   Like calling minutes, text messages are cheaper in a bundle--if you&amp;#039;re increasingly letting your fingers do the talking, you may want to add a messaging package. Don&amp;#039;t text at all? Remove the service entirely, so you won&amp;#039;t be charged for unwanted incoming messages.   Are you paying for handset insurance or contact backup? They&amp;#039;re handy if you often lose (or &amp;quot;drown&amp;quot;) your phone, but more likely, they&amp;#039;re just a costly add-on. Another reason to cancel insurance: if your phone is older and you&amp;#039;re eligible for an upgrade soon.  Consider consolidating.  Family plans are generally a great deal, especially those that allow you to share unlimited messaging and data. Members don&amp;#039;t have to be related; adding (trustworthy) friends is also legit. One warning about shared minutes: With just one heavy user, you can all go over your allotment. Look into corporate discounts.  Ask your company&amp;#039;s human resources department about any deals it&amp;#039;s made with carriers. If your provider is one of them, call customer service, identify yourself as an employee of your company, and the discount will be applied to your next bill. If someone on your family plan has a better offer, ask to switch the account to his or her name to take advantage of the savings.  Profit from loyalty.  Once you&amp;#039;re off-contract, it&amp;#039;s all too easy--and often enticing, with great deals for new customers--to take your business elsewhere. Companies have finally caught on, and often give incentives to get you to stay. Call customer service and ask for the &amp;quot;retention department.&amp;quot; Say the magic words, &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m thinking of switching to another carrier,&amp;quot; and see what offer they come up with. (I did this once and got double the daytime minutes in one fell swoop.) Note: Before agreeing to any adjustments to your plan, ask if changes will extend your contract length--not a problem if you&amp;#039;re happy with your service, but if you end up deciding to cancel, you could be hit with costly termination fees. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/a22611/cell-phone-savings/>