Add this factoid to the many others concerning the poor state of customer service, right alongside the one about how we …
text messages
When Keeping Up with the Joneses Means You’ll Save More Money
Wanna boost your savings account? Get a buddy to prod you along. According to a new study, higher interest rates have little or no effect on how much a person saves. But when a peer group is involved and participants monitor each …
The New Math on Smartphone Plans & Providers
Soon, you’ll be able to use an iPhone for as little as $30 per month. Alternately, your iPhone could lock you into a contract that costs upwards of $140 monthly. A new lineup of shared family plans from Verizon might run far more …
Would You Rather Pay for AT&T’s $20 Monthly Text Plan or Text All You Want for Free?
This is not a trick question. But it’s one that AT&T, by trimming its text plan options to two—unlimited for $20 monthly, or a la carte texts at 20¢ apiece—is forcing customers to ask themselves.
Simple Hacks to Cut Your Cell Phone Bill in Half
How much do cell phones really cost? Here’s one indication: The average household pays $350 annually—solely for wireless taxes and fees.
Quick Tip: Free Text Messaging
Considering that a text message costs a fraction of a penny to transmit, it’s absurd that some consumers still pay 10¢ or 20¢ a pop for sending and receiving texts. Even 5¢ per text is arguably a huge rip-off: Even though we’re only talking about a measly nickel, the charge represents a mark-up of something like 2000%. What can you …
When Should You Buy Your Kid a Cell Phone?
My oldest is only six, but I have a feeling this question is going to come up in our household a lot sooner than I’d like.
Avoiding “America’s Biggest Rip-offs”
CNNMoney put together a list of “America’s Biggest Rip-offs,” which include things like text messages (marked up 6500% with some cell plans), college textbooks (which cost the average student $900 a year), and popcorn at the movies (no surprise here, they charge nine times what it costs to make it). But for every rip-off, there’s usually …
