Back when people started buying their first smartphones and when service providers began to offer new data plans to go along with the voice minutes that they already had, it was an added expense and no one liked it. These days though, the data plan isn't exactly an add-on extra - or an afterthought. People use their phones for almost anything other than talking these days - their online gaming, their YouTube viewing, for messing around with photos on Facebook, for texting and e-mail - and the data plan doesn't exactly seem like an extra anymore. If anything, it's the voice plan that looks like an extra. Still, even if you do believe that you have the best cellular phone plan, there are ways you could learn to save hundreds of dollars every year on your data plan.
When smart phone makers set up their app stores to help their users make use of their smartphones like they were mini computers, they must have seen it as an opportunity to build some extra functionality around their devices, to make them more essential and relevant in their customers lives and as a way to painlessly turn a neat profit. What they probably didn't intend was that inventive programmers who designed those apps would sooner or later find ways to help phone subscribers undermine the very phone plans that kept the manufacturers' cell phone carrier partners afloat. There are all these apps now that allow you to completely circumvent having to use up your calling minutes and your text message quota. One out of three smartphones out there today have Skype's app that allows them to call other Skype users for free. And the number of users on Skype doubles every year. And then there are Instant Messenger apps that let you send text messages for free. These have been on the smart phone companies' app stores on their top 10 lists off and on. Not even the best cellular phone plan can beat free.
What can it save you? Let's say that you have a child who sends out a hundred text messages a day (not uncommon). Getting him on Yahoo! Messenger or Facebook on a smartphone could save you $200 a year. If you could buy voice minutes in a smaller bucket, that could save you another $200. If you have to make regular calls to other countries, your savings could double. For instance, if you use Skype instead of your voice minutes calling Canada for a half hour each week, that could save you $10 every month. Not to make it appear like using these services can be as effortless or as high-quality an experience as you're probably used to with regular voice calls. Skype calls go over Wi-Fi or your phone company's data network. If it happens to be a congested Internet connection, your call quality can be pretty unreliable.
Instant Messenger apps can be far more satisfying to use though. Still, all of this will only work if the other party to the call has a smartphone too and has the same app as you. But using these strategies won't really support you for very long. AT&T has already scrapped its unlimited data plan and Verizon is set to do that shortly. And that's when using your data plan for voice can kind of stop being a useful strategy. Until then, going about your communicating in these ways can be cheaper than the best cellular phone plans out there.
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