Q There has been talk about cellphone carriers limiting their data usage. As a parent of two teenage girls — who love to talk, text and download — are there other ways to help keep cellphone costs down?
A Children and teens easily can go over their cellphone data limit playing games, surfing the Internet and downloading music. When it comes to monitoring your child’s cellphone and data use, there are easy steps parents can take to ensure that their monthly bills do not come as an unpleasant surprise. Better Business Bureau asked the major cellphone carriers for tips on overseeing family data usage.
In 2011, BBB received 38,420 complaints against cellular telephone services and equipment, making it the No. 1 complaint category in the BBB system. While many of those complaints were from data billing issues, there are ways to prevent this, and the cellphone carriers are willing to work with consumers to monitor and, in some cases, lower their bills.
Parents need to be proactive, and aware of the data activity in which your child engages. You can save hundreds of dollars on your next cellphone bill. The cellphone industry has put together different data plans and restrictions that parents may want to consider if their child has a persistent problem of going over the data limit.
BBB has put together a compilation of the major cellphone carriers’ data plans and packages: