Check These 3 Things to Get the Best New Cellphone Plan

This post comes from partner site WhistleOut.com.

There are some things that you probably naturally look at when considering purchasing a cellphone plan from a certain carrier, such as price, talk, text, data and whether that carrier provides coverage where you need it the most. These are also things carriers are happy to share and promote.

What you might not know is that there’s more to carriers and their plans. Here are three things we think you should look into before making a switch to a new carrier.

Discounts

Cellphone carriers don’t always promote certain discounts, so, you might not be aware that they even have them.

Senior discounts are very common among cellphone carriers. Turns out that having a little more experience in this world might let you save on your cellphone plan. Carriers will often offer lower prices on their standard plans or even have plans built specifically for seniors.

Here are just some plans that include special senior pricing:

Military discounts for cellphone plans are also very common. To show gratitude for service, many carriers will extend special prices and plans to members of the military — and some will extend these discounts to the service member’s whole family.

Here are some cellphone plans that include military discounts:

Perks

Carriers often offer perks to make their plans a little more appealing; however, you might not notice these when your attention is so focused and price, data and coverage.

Common perks include free subscriptions to music or video streaming services (such as Netflix, Hulu or Spotify), mobile hotspot data and international calling features.

Boost Mobile, a Sprint MVNO, offers plans that are loaded with perks. (MVNOs, or Mobile Virtual Network Operators, piggyback on the networks of big carriers to give you great coverage at a discount.)

The limit to unlimited data

Yes, unlimited data means you can use as much data as you want. However, the truth is, there’s a limit to how much of that data is optimal data. That is because all carriers who offer unlimited data will limit your priority access to the fastest data available after you’ve used a certain amount.

The general rule of thumb is, the higher tiered the plan (more expensive) the more priority data will be included in your “unlimited” plan. If you watch a lot of videos and play a lot of online games with your phone, you should definitely check with your next potential carrier to see how much of your unlimited data will be prioritized.

More from WhistleOut.com:

• “The 5 Top Deals on Cellphones and Wireless Plans in November”
• “4 Good Reasons to Change Cellphone Plans Right Now”
• “The Easiest Way to Move Your Cellphone Data to a New Phone”