Almost a thousand lucky people so far have managed to get their cell phone bills reduced, thanks to the help of BetterPlans.org, an organization that uses research from various financial and technical experts in the telecommunications field to help consumers save money on their monthly cell phone bill. During their closed beta, BetterPlans saved its users on average half a thousand dollars per year, which makes a massive difference to an individual’s household bills. The company has been in closed private beta for the past year, but today, BetterPlans is opening its doors to the public.
If you’re thinking you might benefit from cutting down on your cell phone bills each month, you can sign up on the BetterPlans.org mailing list and receive all the information right to your email inbox. We spoke with a few users of BetterPlans to see how they actually save you money of your phone bill.
- Get your fees overage fees waived – If you’re like most people, then you probably get at least one to two overage fees every year. Although usually these fees only cost $50-$100 per overage, the costs can add up pretty quickly. However, contrary to what carriers want you to believe, in many cases you don’t have to actually pay these overage fees. BetterPlans takes a look at your bill history to see if you have any overage fees that can be waived, then tells you exactly what you need to do to get your cell carrier to waive those fees.
- Find you a better phone plan – Many people overpay on their monthly cell phone bill (for instance, by buying a large data plan and not using all of it, or buying unlimited texting/talking, when a lower tier would suffice). BetterPlans takes a look at your history of cell usage and finds you a plan better suited for your usage. In their closed beta, BetterPlans found that over three quarters of cell phone users would benefit from switching plans (even factoring in any early termination fee), and most users who switched saw 40-50% reductions in their phone bills.
- Find you better insurance rates – When you buy a phone, it usually comes with phone insurance. Of course, this doesn’t come free of charge, but instead, buyers are normally charged quite hefty prices for this benefit. Most people don’t bother to think about this or check it out when they’re getting a new phone, and the benefits of the insurance policy are usually sold to new users very well. Frankly speaking, the insurance is kind of like getting extended warranty on your car. It’s totally useless, and when your phone does break, there’s usually some loophole that prevents the insurance from covering the broken phone. BetterPlans can help you to get rid of your insurance policy altogether, or find you a much cheaper monthly rate for insurance if you feel that it’s a beneficial extra to have.
- Read the small print for you – One of the reasons carriers make so much money is because the vast majority of customers don’t read the small print when they sign their 2-year contracts. As a result, thousands of people per year are charged fees for coming out of contracts earlier, switching to a different provider, or simply breaking one of the rules of their contract. BetterPlans reads the fine print on your cell carrier’s contract for you, and let’s you know exactly what to do to avoid getting charged unnecessary fees.
So how does BetterPlans know how to do all of this? According to their website, the BetterPlans team members consist of ex-employees of a number of major carriers, telecommunications industry veterans, and data scientists. The ex-employees provide the common methods that carriers use to overcharge their customers, the industry veterans takes a look to see if any of the charges can by avoided, and then the data scientists crunch your data to figure out the best way to save you money.
If you’re interested in finding out if BetterPlans can save you money on your monthly phone bill, you can get early access by signing up on their website at BetterPlans.org.
