Cut your iPhone bill by $15 a month

AT&T has changed their pricing plans for iPhone Internet access.  Their old plan was $30 per month for unlimited data service.  They now have two new plans: $15 or $25 per month for more limited data allowances.  The new allowances are 200MB or 2GB per month.  But 200MB is more than enough for me, which means it should be enough for most people.

The AT&T website isn’t very easy to use, but if you can find your way around, this will save you a lot of money.  You can use their website to see how much data service you’ve been using, and then change your data plan to a cheaper one.

How to check your data usage online:

1. Visit the AT&T Wireless website at http://www.wireless.att.com.
2. There’s a box at the right called Manage Your Account.  Enter your wireless number and account password, then click Go.
3. Once you’ve logged in, click the Bill & Payments link from the menu at the top.
4. On the Bill & Payments page, click the link Create a Billing Report.
5. This will take you to another page with a form at the top and a bar graph below it.  Use the form to control what appears in the bar graph.  Choose the report Data Usage Trend.  Choose the earliest listed Bill Period Start Date, and the latest Bill Period End Date. Then click Submit.  The webpage will display a bar graph showing your data usage for each month.

If your data usage is consistently under 200MB each month, you can switch to the $15 plan without having to cut back on your use at all. If it’s under 2000MB a month, you can pick the $25 plan.

How to change your data plan:

You can call AT&T customer service and change plans over the phone, or you can do it on their website. Here’s how to do it online:

1. Visit the AT&T Wireless website at http://www.wireless.att.com.
2. There’s a box at the right called Manage Your Account.  Enter your wireless number and account password, then click Go.
3. Once you’ve logged in, you’ll see a box called Quick Links.  Click the item Manage Features inside there.
4. This will show you all the optional features you can add to your iPhone account.  One of the first sections is called iPhone 3G Data Features.  Here you can select DataPro 200MB for iPhone ($15.00) or DataPro 2GB for iPhone ($25.00).  Don’t pick the ones for “Enterprise” customers — those are special business services that you probably don’t need.
5. Scroll to the very bottom of the page and click Next.  Complete the next two pages and click Next.  Once you’re done, it will display a confirmation page.

Let me know if you’ve been able to save money this way!

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