Beginner's Guide to Android
Tips: Try to renegotiate your cell phone contract
April 8, 2009 | by Andrew Kameka
Beginner's Guide to Android, Carriers, Featured post, T-Mobile
The one drawback to using T-Mobile’s My Account app is that it reminds me how little I used the minutes in my plan this billing period. Most of my friends communicated through texting, and my long conversations took place during free nights and weekend. Why did I pay for all those unused minutes?
This is a common question these days, and deal hunting with your carrier is usually the answer. Reading consumer advocacy blogs has taught me that calling a service provider and negotiating a better deal is a viable option to cutting costs. Cable providers, phone companies, and other subscription-based industries only survive if people keep their service, so they aren’t completely opposed to giving subscribers better deals to prevent them from jumping ship to another carrier. It makes more business sense to offer some type of incentive to keep customers paying their bills.
T-Mobile customers may want to consider calling the company and asking for a cheaper plan or some type of rebate program. When I first bought my G1, the salesperson “mistakenly” told me that I had to sign up for the unlimited text message and data plan. Yet I managed to switch to a data plan that is $10 cheaper after only ten minutes on the phone with a T-Mobile customer service rep. This wasn’t some special promotion, either. It was a standard plan that the salesperson didn’t tell me about, probably because he was trying to drive up his sale numbers.
Getting a better deal from your provider is all about calling at the right time, being respectful, and politely letting them know that you have other options. If you’re considering ditching your G1 when the HTC Magic / Sapphire comes out soon, you may have an even bigger bargaining chip.
Consumerist.com offers several tips in its 11 Confessions of a T-Mobile Salesperson post that can help you in your price break search. Some of the information is a little old, so policies may have changed, but I strongly suggest reading it and seeing what you can use for inspiration. The worst thing that a customer service rep can tell you is ‘no’ and you pay what you’ve already accepted. Want more helpful links on how to renegotiate your cell phone bill? Read these posts:
The Art of Leveraged Bargaining
Five Ways to Slash Your Cellphone Bill
10 Things We’ve Learned from Confessions of a Wireless Sales Rep
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… And this is why I stick with my grandfathered 400 minute family plan with free TMo-to-Tmo, free nights after 9 and free weekends.
I’m also hoping to get my hands on a Google Voice account so I don’t have to upgrade to unlimited texts for 10 extra bucks per month.
These are tips everyone should know! Thanks for sharing!
Just my luck, I’m in a bit of pickle, I have had my iphone 3G for the last 2 years and it’s been great. It is my understanding that Apple has a new software update coming out called OS 4 and it’s supposed to be adding some new features to the iphone. I actually just bought Verizon’s new HTC Incredible the HTC Incredible and it’s an awesome phone, far superior to the Apple iphone, BUT I’m hearing that Apple is going to be coming out with a completely new iphone altogether, and it’s supposed to be really nice but no one has any ideas as to when and Apple isn’t saying a thing. Should I keep my HTC Incredible, that I have 30 days to test and give back if I do not want to keep it, or should I return it, keep my current 3G and wait for the release of the new iPhone- tough to make up my mind.