Like
any rational consumer, the last thing I want to do is overpay at the
register. And that goes double for expensive items like smartphones.
Unfortunately, many of us end up paying way more than we need to for our portable Candy Crush machines. Worse still, some of the things we do to save money — by skimping on things like protection plans and service agreements — can end up costing us in the long run.
There are plenty of ways you can waste money on your smartphone or the stuff that goes with it. But these are the five biggest.
1. Not buying your phone outright
Most
of us are accustomed to going to our carrier’s store, forking over $200
for a new phone, and signing a new two-year contract. That’s just the
way it’s always worked. Lately, there’s also been the option to eschew
that $200 up-front cost in favor of equal monthly payments over two
years.
But
there’s actually a better option than either of those: buying your
phone outright. Yes, coming face-to-face with a bill for $650 might seem
worse than paying $200 or a monthly fee. But those other payment
schemes had some hidden costs that made them bad deals.
For
one thing, opting for a two-year service agreement has meant locking
yourself in with that carrier. Want to break your contract? You’ll have
to fork over an early termination fee.
By
paying outright for your phone, you open up the option of buying
pre-paid, month-to-month data plans from companies like Cricket Wireless
or Boost Mobile (which operate on AT&T and Sprint’s networks,
respectively).
A
two-year plan from AT&T for a 16GB iPhone 6s with 2GB of data per
month will cost you — depending on how you configure it — from $1,924
over those two years.
Cricket
Wireless — which, again, runs on AT&T’s network and should offer
comparable service — will cost you just $1,620 over two years for 2.5GB
of data per month and that includes the cost of the phone. Those are
some serious savings.
2. Paying too much for cables
So
your dog thought your phone’s charging cable was just a really stringy
chew toy. No worries, you’ll just go to the manufacturer’s website and
buy a new one. And while you’re at it, be sure to flush some cash down
the toilet, because that’s essentially what you’re doing if you buy a
replacement charger from your smartphone manufacturer.
Take
Apple’s Lightning cable, for example. Buy the cord from Apple and
you’ll end up forking over $30. Check out Amazon, and you can find cable
certified by Apple for just $10. The only difference between the two is
that you’ll spend too much on one and save with the other.
3. Paying too much for international roaming
When
you travel overseas, you can bring back memories of a
once-in-a-lifetime experience and stories you’ll be telling your
grandchildren years from now. You can also bring back an enormous bill
for the data, text messaging, and call-time you used while traveling.
The
reason? When you travel overseas with your standard wireless plan, your
carrier can — and will — bill you at insanely inflated rates.
Even
if you sign up for your carrier’s international travel plan, you’ll
likely pay too much. Verizon, for example, charges $25 per month per
device for its Monthly International Travel Pricing service.
That plan
lets you pay $1.79 per minute for voice calls, $0.50 for every text
message you send, and $0.05 for every text you receive, while limiting
you to just 100MB of data.
Your
other option: For $40 a month, you can get unlimited talk and text, but
still just 100MB of data. Go over your limit, and you’ll be charged $10
per 100MB (under the $25 per month plan) or $25 per 100MB (under the
$40 plan).
Here’s
the thing, though. You can buy a pre-paid SIM card through a local
carrier in the country in which you are traveling for way less and get
more data out of it. For example, if you travel to London, you can get a
1GB SIM card for about $23.
The
only catch: Before you go, make sure your smartphone is unlocked for
international use. If you aren’t sure, check with your carrier.
4. Not getting a case
You
just paid in full for a brand new iPhone 6s. But because you just spent
$650, you didn’t want to drop an extra $20 on a protective case. Then
two months later, as you’re trying to simultaneously carry that phone
and your morning cup of coffee in one hand while unlocking your car with
the other, you fumble it all. The iPhone loses, falling to the ground
and cracking its screen.
Now
you’ve got to either pony up for the deductible for your smartphone
insurance plan to get a new handset; fork over a $100 to get its screen
repaired; or (god forbid) buy an entirely new phone.
Yep,
by not purchasing a $20 case that could have protected your phone from
that fall, you’re now wasting a ton money to get it fixed. Not wise.
5. Paying too much for storage
For
the most part, people agree: 16GB is simply not enough storage for a
smartphone. Between all of the photos, music, videos, and apps we all
have, that 16GB can disappear really quickly.
But
that doesn’t necessarily mean you should throw your money away on the
high-end 128GB model. The sweet spot seems to be a handset with 32GB or
64GB of space (depending on what your manufacturer offers).
That
seems to be enough space for most people to store their apps plus all
the media — photos, music, and so on — they need to immediately access.
For everything else, there’s always the cloud.
And
just so you know how much you’re getting screwed out of your cash when
you buy a phone with a ton of memory: The price difference to you
between a 16GB iPhone 6 and 128GB iPhone 6 is $200. The difference in
cost to Apple? Just $53.
