Anybody successfully lower their VERIZON cell bill without reduction in services

[zoo2tycoon]

I saw the At&t deal for 4 smart phones for $160+taxes last night unlimited talk, text and 10 gigs shared data. That is a heck of a lot cheaper than my Verizon...and I have 3 phone up for renewal next month (the fourth is in December and even paying the termination fee we'd come out way ahead).
So has anybody ever negotiated a cheaper rate with a cell phone company. I have with COMCAST for cable but never a cell phone company.
Any tips???
Really don't want to switch because in my area some parts are iffy with at&t but for $1200 a year that might be something we deal with...

 

[DizMe]

I would love to know this also. I'm in the same boat... we have Verizon primarily because it's the only cell provider that has consistent service where I live, which is up in a canyon. However, this phone bill is killing me and my 13-year-old is just about to upgrade to a smart phone. I already pay $230/month! In order to keep my bill in that same neighborhood when dd switches her phone, I have to move my family to a shared data plan that reduces what we now have (and it isn't that much, as we had to reduce it already from the unlimited plan). It's pretty stupid to pay what we do since dh and I don't even use our phones that much, yet we do rely on having smart phones unfortunately. Every time it's time to upgrade, I lose more data.

 

[happily single]

I can finally help!! I am typically asking for help here!

So I called Verizon last week. I have been with them for 4 years. I told them that I was thinking of switching to Metro PCS as my phone bill was kiling me. They offered me the CUSTOMER LOYALTY PRICE which is unlimited phone, unlimited text, unlimited pics and 2 gb(??) of data for $60.00 a month!! I was paying close to $160 with taxes for 700 minutes!!!!

It took a few minutes because the rep had to re-set my sim card or something, but I went on-line yesterday and confirmed my plan!

 

[bjscheel]

This doesn't help those with family plans, but if you are by yourself on a Share Everything Plan you can switch to a single plan now. I saw their commercial for the $45 single plans so I checked it out. He had unlimited talk & text, and 300 MB data (of which he only used about 1/6 because he is careful about it) for $80. I moved him to the $60 single plan which still has unlimited talk and text plus 1GB data. So he was able to get more services for less.

Here you have to be careful about who you get. We have had Tracfones with AT&T towers and they were spotty. The Tracfones on Verizon towers work much better. I would be leery of getting anything else in our area.

 

[bjscheel]

I can finally help!! I am typically asking for help here!

So I called Verizon last week. I have been with them for 4 years. I told them that I was thinking of switching to Metro PCS as my phone bill was kiling me. They offered me the CUSTOMER LOYALTY PRICE which is unlimited phone, unlimited text, unlimited pics and 2 gb(??) of data for $60.00 a month!! I was paying close to $160 with taxes for 700 minutes!!!!

It took a few minutes because the rep had to re-set my sim card or something, but I went on-line yesterday and confirmed my plan!

You know, when I was on-line chatting to get DH's plan changed, I said I wanted the $60 plan. She said the unlimited call, text, and 2GB? I said I thought it was 1GB. She said, Oh I see you want the $60 single plan that has 1GB. I did have the thought that I should have run with the 2GB and not said anything, but it was too late. Stupid me. I wonder if I could get it changed.

Not that DH uses that much data, but you never know what might come up.

 

[kymom99]

We all still have a year to go on our contracts but it will be nice to see what they can do for me when the time comes. My son will probably get a smart phone next Christmas when he is ready for and upgrade. (Or he will get mine and I will get a new one!) I am hoping there will be better plans by then. We are sharing everything and paying $170 for 3 lines. Two smart phones and one basic phone. Unlimited text, 700 minutes, 1gb data. My son has no data. He is blocked from using internet at this point. So expensive.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

Found the At&T is actually with the phones $260...which is more than what we have with Verizon...so typical ad where tiny tiny fine print spells real terms!
Did find out Verizon will give us 6gigs with unlimited talk, unlimited text when we renew for $30 per line per month which will lower bill by $30 a month...since that is $10 less than the $40 we are paying for unlimited talk and text and 2gigs per line.
Still want to try and get it down....
I got Comcast to lower my bill $100 for 12 months! I pay $109 for too many channels to mention, internet and home phone. Only reason we have home phone is the bundle is cheaper. They always try to downgrade me to lower cost but I went in to the local Comcast office and talked to them....easy to do.
Might go into Verizon and talk to them in person and see what they say....worst thing is NO.
And I know I can speak to an non-international call center.

 

[tvguy]

Guess I won't complain about $120 for 4 phones.
I'm trying to figure out how my bill got from $60 a month to $120.
Their trick is they throw in a bunch of additional minutes and other features when they raise prices.
I now have more minutes and more texts than I ever hope to use. Don't use call ID (mostly because everyone who calls me has a blocked ID), call forwarding or anything else.

 

[TravelMommy]

but we use Straighttalk phones (through Walmart/our phones use Verizon towers) it is $45/month unlimited everything per phone. It is a prepaid cell phone with many phones to choose from including smartphones. I wasn't sure if this was an option in all parts of the country.

 

[robinb]

Page Plus Cellular runs off the Verizon network so you can use your current phones. It's $55 per month for unlimited talk/text + 2.5 GB data. They have cheaper plans too.

 

[jaoconnor]

I was able to add a 20% discount to our monthly bill because of DH's employer. (Hewlett Packard). If anyone works by a larger company be sure to ask Verizon if a discount is available.

I was able to add the discount completely online & was mad at myself for all the months I paid full price! It really makes a difference now that both my kiddos have phones.

 

[DVCcurious]

It never hurts to call.

We have FIOS for our TV, home phone, and Internet. After our promotional period ended our bill went from 120 to 160. After a few months I called them up and I got it lowered to about 130 for the past year and now they just boosted it to 145. But still, that one phone call saved me $400.

Typically they have a "customer loyalty" program for people who call to complain, and it's like 10% off. But it's well worth an hour of your time to call up and see what you can get.

 

[anniemck]

Straight Talk here, but I have to use AT&T towered phones as where we live AT&T is the only cell phone company that works. 2 daughters have Sprint, other daughter and my inlaws have Verizon, and I used to have TMobile, everyone loses signal about a mile from our house. My friends MetroPCS phone loses it at our front gate on a good day, 3 miles away on a bad day. At&T we have FULL signal with no issues.

Just bought a new phone from Amazon, Blu Life One is the phone, $230+ shipping and $496 a year for my straight talk which is unlimited talk/text and 2.5g data each month. Works for me. If I want to pay monthly then it is $45 a month, either way I am not in a contract.

 

[CarlisleMom]

I have AT&T and was in the store Sunday about the new plan. The deal for a family plan..$100 for unlimited talk, unlimited txt and 10g of data + $15 per line. Currently I pay $140 for 2 phones (mine and DD) and 1 tablet.

The catch is when you want a new phone there is no such thing a free...you need to do what they call AT&T next. A monthly payment plan.

I ordered a new phone (Samsung III mini) which will cost me $12.50 a month for 12 months. When this comes in DH will take my old smartphone and will be added to my plan for an additional $15.

 

[Fire14]

I was able to add a 20% discount to our monthly bill because of DH's employer. (Hewlett Packard). If anyone works by a larger company be sure to ask Verizon if a discount is available.

I was able to add the discount completely online & was mad at myself for all the months I paid full price! It really makes a difference now that both my kiddos have phones.

Not just large companies. I worked for small company and get 22% off bill plus anything else I buy there gets discount also worth it to ask no matter where you work. I know Kohl's offered it when I worked there. I believe LOwes offers it but not sure if it's Verzion or Sprint.

 

[Enchanted Minnie]

I have had Verizon for probably over 10 years. I do like the coverage they have but the extra hidden fees and the overage charges were killing us! We watched our data very carefully but with my dh's job sometimes he needs the internet on his phone and we'd wind up going to the next data plan. So it wasn't really saving us money. Our bill would be about $200 for just the 2 of us!

Then that t-mobile promotion came out where they pay your early termination fees and actually had a pretty reasonable family plan. I went ahead and switched to them about 2 weeks ago. The coverage isn't quite as good as Verizon but not enough to notice. Plus we got the twins each a phone since they'll be going to middle school next year. For all 4 of us it's $140 a month. Also, the thing I like is once the data limit has been reached they don't charge you, they just slow down the speed.

I was a very loyal Verizon customer, heck my BIL is a district manager for them! But I am on a lowering bills mission and I just couldn't justify the cost! Next up, trying to convince the family to get rid of Dish!

ETA: I just realized I didn't answer your question! I had tried to get them to lower the bill, but with the extra cost of adding the boys' phones it would have still been more expensive then the t-mobile plan. Even with my discount through my work.