T-Mobile Announces Price Hikes (Even For Loyal Customers) So Here's How to Lower Your Bill ASAP

For the first time in practically a decade, legacy T-Mobile customers will feel the effects of inflation. 

 "In response to rising costs and inflation, we’re making small adjustments to some of our oldest rate plan prices," the T-Mobile website announced. "Beginning June 5, the rate of your voice plan will increase by $5.00/line per month."

While the company hasn't directly commented, they reportedly plan on honoring promotional prices, services, and benefits. Customers can expect to see an increase in their bills starting June 15. Consumers online have revealed that they've already seen some hikes that range from $2 to $5. 

If you’re wondering how to save money by lowering your cell phone bill, we’ve assembled a list of useful tips you can put into practice immediately. These smart strategies can reduce your costs and help you with how to manage your money.

Individual cell phone plans can cost a lot of money each month, but if you have a few friends and/or family members join a plan with you, you can reduce the individual costs.

So if you’re on a plan by yourself, or even a family plan, it could be advantageous to look into adding more lines to reduce overall costs. 

The phone bill comes in, you pay for it, and that’s the end of the process. But do you know exactly what you’re paying for?

If you aren’t taking the time to look over your cell phone bill every now and then, you might be missing out on some important savings opportunities. Most of the time, your bill should be roughly the same cost each month. If you notice a discrepancy, review your bill (easily accessible online) to see why there might be an additional charge. Even if you don’t notice anything different, you can still take a look to see about cutting unwanted expenses from your bill.

Do you need unlimited data, talk, and/or text? Or enhanced voicemail? Cutting out additional expenses could save you hundreds of dollars a year, and all it takes is a look at your cell phone bill. You may even be able to cancel or downgrade certain services without getting on the phone with customer service.

Without data, our phones wouldn’t be nearly as useful. We wouldn’t be able to look up nearby restaurants, check movie times, or use navigational apps on road trips. But that doesn’t mean we can always use as much as we want.

For non-unlimited data plans, there are caps on how much data usage each line on the plan is allowed to use during each billing cycle. If you go over that data cap, you’ll have to pay for the overages.

Most phones provide easy ways to check your data usage whenever you want.

• For iPhone: Go to “Settings,” click on “Cellular,” and then click “Usage”
• For Android: Go to “Settings,” click on “Connections,” and then click “Data Usage”

The best way to save on data and avoid overages, though, is to use Wi-Fi as often as possible. If you’re anywhere that you can access Wi-Fi, leverage that internet connection instead of using up your cell phone data. If you find you're still going over your allotted amount of data, an unlimited plan might be a better option for you.

Most cell phone providers offer insurance coverage in case your phone is damaged and/or lost or stolen. This type of insurance has become increasingly important and popular as phone prices continue to increase.

Although phone insurance is useful, it may not always be necessary. For some people, you may not even realize why you’re paying for phone insurance. It can often be added on as an additional service when you first purchase your phone and may sound like a good idea at the time. But if you think about it, how many times have you had to replace a phone because of damage, loss, or theft?

To get cell phone protection with a credit card, you typically have to pay your monthly cell phone bill with the eligible card. It’s an easy way to protect your phones without having to fork over money for an insurance plan.

New phones come out all the time and they always have great features attached to them. But if you’re thinking about upgrading your phone with a new one, make sure you weigh the pros and cons. Sure, you’ll get a brand new phone that has the latest technology, but do you actually need it? Is your phone even that old?

If you get a new phone, you have to think about how much it will cost you. You can pay upfront or on an equipment plan. If you pay on an equipment plan, expect your monthly phone bill to rise dramatically. And you should realize, you don’t actually own the phone until it’s paid off, so you’d technically be in debt.

To avoid the increased debt, avoid phone upgrades when they aren’t necessary. If an upgrade is absolutely necessary, try to pay for the new phone cost upfront. You’ll most likely save money in the long run.

Many cell phone service providers offer different options for paying your bills. You can manually pay your bill each month by logging into your account and inputting all the applicable information. Or you can set up automatic payments, or autopay, which is an easier way to pay your monthly bill.

With autopay, you link a credit or debit card or bank account to your cell phone account, and your bill is automatically paid on a specific date each month. It’s a lot easier than logging in every month to pay your bill manually. The real kicker, though, is most cell phone companies offer you a discount if you enroll in autopay.

Autopay is one of many easy ways to lower your bills. If you aren’t already using this strategy, you should look into it immediately.

The best cashback credit cards offer valuable rewards as you pay for purchases. Some cards even offer bonus rewards when you use them to pay your phone bills.

If you use a cashback credit card to pay your phone bills, you’ll earn extra rewards while covering a necessary expense.

If you want to save yourself a lot of money over time, do your due diligence and research the best promotions and discounts before getting a cell phone or signing up for a cell phone plan.

Cell phone carriers are always having promotions, including within specific retailers they’ve partnered with. You might find one deal at a T-Mobile store, but maybe there’s a better one at the T-Mobile kiosk in Costco. Check around and see what would work best for you.

There are many strategies for lowering your cell phone bill. One way might work well for one person, but another may work better for you. Just remember, when it comes to saving money, it’s up to you to see which method works best for your specific situation.