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Cell phone service can get very expensive and new consumers often
don't realize the full costs. Contracts for traditional cell
phone plans are usually 1 or 2 years with activation fees,
cancellation penalties and many other charges beyond the monthly
rate plan.
The average
cell phone user spends $60 per month. That's because city,
state, federal, and 911 service taxes add as much as 20% to the
bill. Going over your monthly minute allotment can also cost
as much as 40 cents per minute. Not using enough minutes is
also a waste. Statistics show that cell phone users forfeit a
third of their minutes every month.
For heavy cell
phone users, contracts are worth the expense, You can
compare monthly cell phone
plans here. But many consumers
have monthly contracts even though they really don't need all those
minutes. Anyone who talks less than 300 minutes per month
would spend less having a prepaid phone.
The average
regularly used prepaid phone costs only $25 per month. You use
much fewer minutes and still get a very good per minute rate.
Many plans are at 10 cents. And this includes all taxes.
Prices on monthly plans do not.
In the last couple years, prepaid prices have come down quite a bit
as more and more cell phone users go prepaid. The expiration
periods have also become much longer. It used to be that you
had to use up your minutes in 30 days. But now a number of
plans give you minutes that last a whole year. You could have
a cell phone for less than $5 a month in some cases.
Your calls are
made on the same networks and the handsets available are the same.
The only difference is that you're not stuck with a contract or
expensive bills. Pay for what you use, control your own costs,
and no surprises in the bills.
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