Help the haitian earthquake victims with a text
In the aftermath of the tragic earthquake that has devastated Haiti, the world has risen to the call and responded with aid. Governments across the globe have sent money, doctors, medical supplies, food, water, and military personnel. Private citizens have also rallied, donating to this absolutely necessary cause. CNN quotes the Red Cross as estimating that three million Haitians, about one third of the nation’s population, “were affected by the quake.” Even a casual glance at the news conveys the severity of this disaster. Haunting images of the dead, the displaced, and the destitute fill our papers and our television screens. This suffering spurs us into action.
A recent post on this blog advocated exercising significant caution when dealing with so-called “premium text messaging” and provided examples of how uncontrollable and expensive these premium texts can sometimes be. Well, as a fair balance, here’s an example of a terrific type of premium text messaging that allows us to help Haitian earthquake victims. Just text “Haiti” to 90999 to make a $10 donation that will be charged through your cell phone bill. Thus far, the texting campaign has generated in excess of $20 million in donations, a record-breaking amount for charitable premium text messages but nowhere near enough to adequately help the Haitian people. There is more work to be done, and more lives to be saved. Text 90999 to make your difference.
Are “premium” text messaging charges really what you want?
If you review your wireless bill and discover “premium” text messaging charges, be aware that these generally refer to either billing for services (like voting on American Idol through texting) or subscriptions to features like jokes or ringtones. Using often convoluted marketing and miniscule fine print, companies tend to target teens, leaving family plans particularly vulnerable to incurring these premium text fees. With that said, it is just an innocuous reflection of our world’s advanced wireless capabilities when, aware of the costs involved, you use your phone to vote on your favorite TV show (usually $1 per use) or intentionally purchase the latest Lady Gaga ringtone. The problems start, however, when we sign up for deals such as “free” ringtones without reading the fine print detailing that ordering the ringtones constitutes accepting the terms of a paid subscription to the ringtone service. In some cases, scammers have even gotten hold of wireless numbers and begun billing them through the wireless providers until the charges are halted. Your cell company will not do this automatically, either; close review of your wireless bills is essential. Audit your cell bill with Validas, where we generate savings for the average consumer of around $450 annually.
Websites to take notice of that are connected with premium text messaging include the following list. Watch for references to them on your wireless bill:
http://www.solow.com/how_to_play/play_mobile.html
http://www.personalpsychic.com/faq
http://www.lifecoachexperts.com/
http://www.predicto.com/index.cfm/fuse/faq
http://www.funmobile.com/catalog/ringtone
http://www.lovesoulmate.net/
http://mozoot.biz/
A T-Mobile store in one of America's biggest malls just before Christmas. ...Did T-Mo get coal and onions in their stocking this year or what?
Same wireless plan, less cost
With both the 2009 Holiday Season and challenging economic times simultaneously upon us, plugging financial leaks around the house is more important than ever for Americans looking to stretch their dollars. Thermostats are set lower, cars are driven fewer miles, lunches are packed, going out for dinner occurs less, appliances are unplugged when not in use, and routine maintenance on houses and cars are put off. In this continuing national economic crisis, with unemployment over 10 percent and underemployment far higher, and bolstered by a general lack of confidence in the markets, Americans have stepped up to the plate and used innovation and ingenuity to try to get their families through the lean times while preserving as much of a semblance of normalcy as is possible.
Reducing the cost of goods and services that are integral to our lifestyles is a key strategy for doing more with less. Certain expenditures also may seem depressingly inevitable, like gas prices for instance, but not every cost that appears fixed is necessarily so. Specifically, while we may tend to think of wireless costs as next to impossible to reduce but easy to send skyrocketing, you can nevertheless often significantly lower your wireless bill by auditing your plan with Validas to optimize its features to best suit your usage. Same wireless plan, better tailored to what you need, less cost. Validas saves the average consumer 22 percent, or around $450 annually, off their wireless bill. You can find out for free if Validas can save you money by going to the website MyValidas.com.
Do you really think these guys have your best interest in mind?
The name says it all, no need to add anything further.
don’t become just another story
On a semi-regular basis, a new particularly cringe-worthy and unfortunate story of some gigantic wireless bill emerges. Earlier this year, for example, one particularly popular anecdote centered on a father taking a hammer to the cell phone that his daughter used to rack up a $4,700 Verizon Wireless bill via massive texting. Another story that spread through the press was about an Alberta, Canada oilfield worker who thought that he could use his phone to download data to his computer and was subsequently hit with an C$85,000 bill. While his provider reduced the charges to C$3,400, the cash-strapped 22-year-old is still feeling the burn. Then there was the saga back in February of a guy who used his AT&T wireless card to download a Bears game while sitting on a cruise ship in Miami’s port. AT&T charged him international roaming rates for the download and subsequently billed him for $28,027.31. After wrangling and negotiating time and time again, AT&T finally accepted proof that when the game was downloaded the guy’s ship was still in port in Miami and so he should not have been charged international rates. Most of the giant bill was subsequently forgiven.
The latest addition to this collection of unfortunate wireless experiences comes from Hayward, California. Ted Estarija was apparently anticipating Verizon Wireless bills of around $50 per month extra when he added his 13-year-old son to his wireless plan. Media reports indicate that Estarija believed by limiting his son’s calling and texting, large charges would be avoided. Then came the $21,917.59 whopper-of-a-bill. Apparently Estarija’s son managed to rack up the charges through data downloading. Recently unemployed, Estarija reasoned with Verizon, who has since agreed to credit the giant charges.
Stories like these will always be popular because they speak to that certain shock-value many crave from a distance. We tend to be fascinated with misfortune—as long as we’re safely on the other side of the fence. Perhaps surprisingly, and certainly unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case, however, in terms of overblown wireless costs. That is, while we may think that we’re safe from $10,000 cell bills, up to 80 percent of wireless users are actually likely paying for plans not ideally optimized to their specific needs. So rather than isolated examples, these stories of enormous cell bills are actually merely the outliers that illustrate the extremes of what many wireless customers experience regularly in some form; a plan not tailored ideally to their usage and financial losses as a result.
By optimizing your wireless bill through Validas, you can be put securely on the other side of that fence where reading stories about cell bill mayhem is no longer an exercise in hearing about a more extreme version of what you experience on a monthly basis. Validas identifies how you use your wireless service and designs your plan around your needs. Don’t risk becoming the next wireless horror story, and try Validas today.
Monitor your application downloads
Some of the latest news working its way through the telecom blogosphere revolves around T-Mobile’s new Android application downloading policy taking effect December 30. Rather than needing a credit card number in order to purchase and download an app, T-Mobile Android customers can now charge applications directly to their wireless bill; no card necessary. This new process ostensibly enables easier access to the applications, and without the added risk of paying credit card interest on those purchases. For app-hungry T-Mobile users without a credit card and for customers heavily using and constantly expanding their phone’s features through apps, these changes may signal a step forward in terms of the ergonomics of their wireless plans.
However, the potential for unintentional overcharging should not be discounted. Whether due to an overzealous teen on a family plan downloading a slew of apps without realizing the full extent of the cost involved, or whether due to the accidental downloading of an app while exploring a phone’s features, larger cell bills may inevitably result. Although one source reported that T-Mobile would provide a 24 hour grace period in which a downloaded app could be deleted and incur no subsequent charges on that user’s bill, it stands to reason that an accidently downloaded app may go unnoticed. So, for those consumers with T-Mobile wireless plans, navigate your phone carefully so as to not accidentally download an app and scrutinize your wireless bills themselves for extra expenses attributable to application downloading. At Validas, our cell bill audits return an average $450 annually into the each consumer’s pocket who uses our service. If you’re facing wireless bills bloated with gimmicky charges, let us have a look and we might be able to straighten things out for you.
Make this a holiday season without early termination fees
A broad range of media has been recently reporting heavily on a bill co-sponsored by US Senators Klobuchar, Begich, Feingold, and Webb that would essentially cap early termination fees (ETFs) levied by wireless companies against consumers who cancel their plans before the end of their contracts. ETFs vary depending upon contract and provider but at sometimes hundreds of dollars are often ruthlessly expensive for those in dire economic straits, and these fees arriving around the holidays in one of the worst economies in our history is a dreadful prospect for many families. ETFs may be an expense, however, that some consumers are trying to endure because their wireless plan, perhaps agreed to in a time of greater prosperity, now requires too great a portion of the monthly household budget to sustain any longer. Caught between a rock and a hard place, these consumers are facing either unsustainably expensive monthly cell bills or heavy ETFs. Choosing the ETFs and cancelling the plan does help alleviate the burden of month to month costs but often requires a large immediate outlay of cash. This situation stings particularly around the holidays, cutting right into the budgets for gifts, holiday decorations, and family celebrations. In short, these monster ETFs do nothing to contribute to the holiday spirit.
While a Senate bill capping ETFs could theoretically reduce their impact on a family’s budget, this still likely leaves the family paying some form of an ETF and additionally relegates them to either forgo cell phones or buy another plan. Wouldn’t a better solution be to reduce the cost of the family’s current plan, thereby eliminating the need to incur ETFs in the first place while simultaneously ensuring that a family can remain on the original plan that they wanted? Accomplishing this outcome may be possible through Validas. Cell bills that we electronically audit are subsequently reduced by an average of 22 percent through our website, which equates to an average of over $450 per year. Rather than paying hundreds in ETFs and losing their plans, Validas offers consumers the potential to save hundreds while staying on their preferred wireless plan. We’re at least worth a look, especially if you’re struggling with a large cell bill but would face hefty ETFs if you quit your plan. Retake control over your wireless expenses and potentially free up some extra cash with Validas this holiday season.
Introducing the Validas Wireless Family Plan Shopper’s Guide
Introduction
Welcome to Validas’ Wireless Family Plan Shopper’s Guide. You can use this to navigate your way through the dozens of Family plans offered by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon Wireless. We’ve priced them all out based on the monthly cost for a family of four and group like-with-like so you can compare plans side by side.
Happy Shopping!
Plan Shopping Tips
- There’s no reason to buy a plan that doesn’t include unlimited nights, weekends, and mobile to mobile calls. Make sure your plan includes these benefits. We’ve only included those plans in our tables below.
- Some plans seem less expensive because the price for the first line is cheaper than with other similar plans. If that’s the case, check the price for additional lines with each carrier and consider your total cost before buying. That’s why we’ve priced them all for a family of four.
- Often the right deal for you is with your existing carrier. It won’t cost you anything to switch to a plan that’s a better fit for your family. 80 percent of the time your carrier will
Family Plans Overview
There are 86 different family plans in the market from AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, and US Cellular (not including A la Carte add-ons for text and data).
- 42 different voice-only family plans
- 22 Do NOT include unlimited nights and weekends
- 16 Do NOT include unlimited nights and weekends or mobile to mobile
- 10 US Cellular, 6 Verizon
- 13 different plans that include unlimited voice minutes
- Only 3 unlimited voice and text plans that don’t also include unlimited data
- 6 unlimited voice, text and data plans
- 2 Sprint, 2 VZW,1 AT&T, 1 T-Mobile
- 14 plans with unlimited text, but a fixed number of voice minutes
- All have unlimited nights and weekends and unlimited mobile to mobile, but only those from Sprint start night hours at 7 pm
- 21 plans with unlimited text and data, but a fixed number of voice minutes
- All have unlimited nights and weekends and unlimited mobile to mobile, but again only Sprint starts nights at 7 pm
- Across the board T-Mobile’s plans are the least expensive for a family of four.
- T-Mobile also is perceived to have poor network coverage relative to the other national carriers
- US Cellular is arguably the least family friendly provider.
- It offers 10 family plans, but all are voice only, and none include unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited mobile to mobile calling, or unlimited text and data
Number of Family Plans Per Carrier
Verizon Wireless: 33
T-Mobile: 12
US Cellular: 10
Sprint: 7
AT&T: 24
So, who’s the most family friendly?
It depends on how you measure it.
Cost: T-Mobile is friendliest.
Options: Verizon is friendliest.
Simplicity of Choices: Sprint is friendliest.
Balance of Price and Options: AT&T and Sprint are friendliest.
Early Nights and Weekends: Sprint is friendliest.
Remember that plans and prices change all the time, so when it’s time to make a final decision, you might want to visit www.myvalidas.com/consumer and find out exactly which plan is best for you.
Happy Shopping
Give the gift of savings
How many Facebook friends do you have? Do people follow you on Twitter, checking out what you have to say about politics, life, or getting through a hard work day? Online social media has undoubtedly bolstered the creation and maintenance of our interpersonal relationships. Now old college roommates can once again know what you’re eating for breakfast by checking out your Twitter page, and you can cultivate a real friendship with that person you briefly met at a party by looking them up later and adding them to your Facebook network. The concept of only “six degrees of separation” between us all is more than a novelty; it represents the fiber that holds together and fosters these interpersonal relationships reflected in online social networks.
By virtue of the immediacy of information transfer among people through their online networks, those six degrees among all of us can be crossed very quickly. So, if you’ve lowered your cell bill through FixMyCellBill.com, don’t be greedy and let your social networks in on the action. Take a couple seconds to help spread the word about FixMyCellBill.com and you may collectively save your family and friends thousands of dollars. Now that’s a holiday present!
There are a number of simple ways you can be a cell phone savings hero. If you’re on Twitter, write a quick post saying how much FixMyCellBill.com saved you off your wireless bill and follow us at Fight_Back for regular tips and media links about wireless savings. On Facebook, you can post your FixMyCellBill savings to your Wall and connect with our profile named Fix My Cell Bill. Also, join the group “FIGHT BACK” and become “fans” of our FixMyCellBill.com Facebook business page to connect with others who have achieved wireless savings. Most importantly, invite your friends and family to join these FixMyCellBill social networking groups. All it takes from you is one click to join yourself and another click to invite your personal network. Not a high cost for the gift of savings in a tough economy.