Consumers can cut costs for cell phone plans

These days, having a cell phone isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. Nonetheless, consumers across the country still find it difficult to lock down an affordable plan that will work for their whole family. Regardless of whether they have a smartphone, these costs can add up quickly and cost them potentially thousands of dollars over the course of the year.

This is especially true because of how difficult it generally is for people to find and compare plans from various service providers as a means of locking down the best possible monthly price, according to a report from PC Magazine. Without being able to compare, people may be stuck with plans that don't meet all their needs, and are a little more expensive than they would like. However, taking the time to research which companies will charge less for certain services than others; for instance, a given company may charge more than the industry for data, and thus a person with a lot of smartphone use every month will probably do well to shop around.

When other people come into play
When cell phone plans for an entire family are involved, it obviously gets a lot trickier for consumers to balance everyone's needs simultaneously and still get a good price, the report said. In general, a good rule of thumb for people looking to buy is that those popular flat-price plans are better when they have a lot of people using it at the same time. So a family of six would get more value out of it than a family of four. Again, it's important for consumers to assess their needs here and find out exactly which plan is going to work best for everyone, but a little research online will probably go a long way toward helping them make the most informed choices when it comes to saving money.

This kind of added affordability could be good news in other regards as well. For those with a limited credit history, payments like those for cell phone bills, cable bills, rent, and so on can be incorporated into alternative credit scores - such as those from PRBC - to paint a more complete picture of a consumer's financial habits. That, in turn, could improve their access to more affordable credit and other services they might not be able to tap right now.