Here is the 4th Video in the New Year New Budget Video Series – This week I talk about the how to decrease your Phone and Internet Bills.
If you cannot see this video – you can view it here.
If you missed out on my other videos you can view them below:
- First video in my Series here – I discuss how to set a Vision for your Budget!
- Second video in this series here – I discuss how to set a budget and stick to it this year!
- Third Video – I discuss 4 ways to decrease your cable bill!
Hi Lauren, with the cell phone family plan-it sounded like that meant that the family member did not have to live in your household to do that-is that correct? I would have thought they would have to live together. That sounds like a great idea if they didn’t! Thanks!
Sarah, I have talked with my ATT Rep many times about this, she said that as long as it is under my name and the bills go to one place, that ATT doesn’t have any issues with it. I know so many families that share cell phone plans, I wasn’t aware that you had to live in the same household.
We have shared a family plan for our cell phones and didn’t have to all live in the same household. Actually, I don’t think they ever even asked us about it. My parents still share a plan with my sister and her husband, and they don’t live together.
Since in the last video you pointed out how useful it is to use services like Netflix or streaming other things through your blu-ray player, would the iPhone hotspot be able to support that traffic? It’s just something to think about before committing to a new plan.
I don’t think the hotspot could support all the traffic of netflix. If you were planning on doing Netflix over the Internet I would recommend a lighter version of your internet provider.
You have to be careful using your cellphone as a hotspot. With Verizon at least, it is very limited usage allowance and if you go over they charge. Your savings could cost you tons. All great tips though Lauren – thanks for all you put into helping!
Sarah At&t doesn’t make you live in the same house. My mom I do this and she lives in Florida. She and I are basically co-owners and we rotate months paying the bill. There is a downfall if you are in different states, each phone has to have the same area code of the actual owner of the phone, so keep that in mind if you look to join with out of state family.
i think you covered everything, that was a great video, thnx!
We have verizon, so I’ll have to check it out. Thanks!
I shared a family plan on Verizon too with people in a different home.
I share a phone plan with my mom who lives at a different address. We have 5 kids and my husband and I each have a cell phone – and unfortunately,Verizon only offers 5 lines per family plan. So, instead of adding another family plan which is what they told us we needed to do, I added 2 lines to my mom’s account for $9.99 each. She added me as an authorized user on the account and I just log into her account online and pay my portion and she logs in and pays hers. It works really well! We also just disconnected our landline. It was only $10 a more per month when bundled with our internet and cable, but the taxes were another $10 so it added up. We switched our cable provider, disconnected the landline and added a cell for my youngest (as she was the only was using the landline) and kept the internet and we will be saving $60 per month – which really adds up!! It is a little time consuming to shop around and make all of the calls – but well worth the effort!
Since you use only cell phones, do you use the Bluetooth Link to Cell telephones like the ones that are on sale at amazon? If so, do they work well. That’s what we were going to try so we could get rid of our landline.
I do not use the bluetooth link to cell telephones, I honestly hadn’t heard about them until today. They look pretty cool though, I will have to look into it a bit more.