Cell phone bills are becoming more expensive as time goes on. Our cell phone bill was our highest bill most months aside from our mortgage payments! What happened to the $20 phone plans? Here’s my take on it. Companies grew smarter. Have you noticed how everything is a monthly subscription now? No more one-time product purchases. Now it’s all monthly fees. How could cell phone providers increase their monthly revenue from customers? They have figured out two additional ways other than minutes and texting. Cell phone providers knew that by offering data they could increase the monthly charges for your cellphone bill. They also knew that they were not making a lot of money selling basic phones for $100 and they also knew that not everyone could afford the large, up-front cost for smart phones. So, they started to finance phones to customers. Now, customers don’t notice the large cost for their cell phone because it is split up across 2 years of monthly payments. But what does this mean for us, the consumer?

Reduced cash flow! Less money in your bank account, but you don’t notice it as much because it only reduced by a small amount each month. Now, multiply that over several types of bills and your cash flow can be greatly reduced for a long period of time. Then, when you have paid your cell phone financing plan off, what do the phone companies do? Offer you the newest phone! They bombard you with offers to get the latest model. Your phone is now 2 years so you must need a new phone……right? Of course I would love the latest model phone, but do I need it? No! And quite honestly, I would prefer the higher cash flow in my pocket each month over the latest phone. They get you by pushing the thought of “your phone bill won’t change and you’ll have the latest phone.”

TIP: YOU DON’T NEED THE NEWEST PHONE

Two years ago, Josh and I decided to upgrade our phones because they were becoming extinct. Apple was no longer updating them and the battery life on the phone was almost at an end. The newest model was the iPhone 12 at the time and we opted for the iPhone 12 Pro Max so we could take great pictures and photos as well. (This eliminated my want for a separate professional-style camera.) This was the cost, per month, to do that:

For two years our cellphone bill went from about $100 to almost $300! That’s a $200 difference per month in reduced cash flow. The other thing to consider when financing a phone is that providers tell you that your phone plan must be certain type or certain amount each month, and that amount is not the cheap plans. When we finally finished the two years of payments for financing our phones, we were excited that our bill would get cut almost in half. March 2023 was the last month of this payment plan.

May 2023’s bill is just our cell phone plans without the cell phone financing plan. We were paying almost $160 a month for two cell phone plans that included Canada-wide calling, texting, voicemail, and 50GB of data for each of us, which I think is a great deal! Then, we contemplated why we actually needed all of this data and realized that we had been caught up in the “just in case” scenario. What if we were driving somewhere and were lost. We might need all the data. In reality, the ONLY time we came close to using it all was when I was in the hospital with Jonah. I had streamed movies while alone in the hospital because it calmed me down and kept my mind occupied while Jonah was sleeping.

TIP: YOU DON’T NEED A TON OF DATA “JUST IN CASE”

I would suggest taking a look at your data usage for the past several months and if you are under your limit by a lot, I would suggest looking for a new plan with less data. Less data tends to mean less money. If you have an old cell phone plan, you should consider shopping it. Data used to cost a lot of money like $60 for 6GB of data. Josh and I had “loyalty plans” through Fido where we were paying $70 plus tax per month each for 50GB of data each with all of the calling, texting, etc. Yes, these were sweet phone plans, however we didn’t really need them.

TIP: SHOP AROUND

So, Josh started to shop around. He found a great deal with Koodo and asked Fido if they would match it. Providers won’t always match it but this time they did. We are always looking at the cell phone plans offered by phone companies. We believe in loyalty, but we are also prepared to switch providers if our provider won’t match a better deal.

You can do shop your phone plan yourself by periodically searching provider websites for great deals. Then, call your provider to see if they are willing to match the competition. You can also set a reminder in your calendar for a few months down the road to remember to do this. This is our current cell phone bill amount:

This plan includes Canada-wide calling, texting, voicemail, and 20GB of data. So, from March to now, we cut over $200 per month from our cell phone bill. If we need more data one month because we are going on a road trip, then we are prepared to put an add on for data for that month. Compared to our old phone bills, we would still be saving money.

TIP: PAY YOURSELF FIRST

So, we aren’t saying that you should never upgrade you phone or that you don’t need data. What we are saying is to be smart about it. Pay yourself first by resisting the bombardments to upgrade your phone or phone plan for as long as possible. Pay yourself first by lowering your current phone plan and keeping your eyes open for great plans. Be sure that the plans are not promotional for a limited time. If you do feel like you need to upgrade your phone, figure out the costs and the increase to your phone bill ahead of time. Input the cost into your budget to make sure it is within your budget.