Find the optimal cellphone plan with BillShrink

Filed under: Internet, Web services, web 2.0

Find the optimal cellphone plan with BillShrink

by Brad Linder Apr 10th 2008

If you consider taking out a second mortgage on your home every month when the cellphone bill arrives, you might want to check out BillShrink. This web-based service lets you compare cellphone plans in the most useful ways possible. It shows you which plans can save you money and which companies provided the most reliable coverage in your neighborhood.

The toolbar at the top of the page lets you describe how much you're currently paying for service and then you can drag a few sliders around to show the number of lines, anytime minutes, text messages, and data minutes you need. BillShrink will then try to find a plan that matches your criteria for less than you're currently paying. If there's one that meets your needs and has a strong signal in your area, it will show up at the top of the list. If there's one with a weak signal in your area, it will move down the list a bit.

You can click on any plan to see additional details or to see comparable plans from other wireless carriers. And you can sign up for service, at which point BillShrink redirects you to the carrier's web site. The only problem we see with this service is that it doesn't account for local fees and taxes. So if you normally pay $95 per month for your phone service, you might accidentally input that value and see a whole bunch of bargains before realizing that your actual plan is closer to $75 while the rest is fees that would apply no matter which carrier you use. Not that we made this mistake the first time we checked out BillShrink. Nope. No siree.

[via MakeUseOf]

Tags: billshrink, cellphone, mobile, wireless

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Bufsabre said 3:18PM on 4-10-2008

damn, looking to save money doesnt help im already getting the cheapest one for my usage according to this and i still think im paying too much

TY said 4:16PM on 4-10-2008

how current is their comparitive rate plan information and how often is it updated???

GEORGE said 7:29PM on 4-10-2008

Canada is wayaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more expensive than the U.S.

Jeff said 12:22AM on 4-11-2008

I agree 500% !!!! US$49.95 / month will get me what CDN$120 doesn't even pay for :(

dubsix said 12:25AM on 4-11-2008

Am I the only one that is mystified by the fact that it only works for US plans (no surprise there) but gives you prices in GB pounds? Or is it somehow sniffing the language settings in my browser?

BlackAle said 1:17AM on 4-11-2008

Find the ultimate 'cellphone' (whatever the hell that is) plan ..aslong as you live in the US, that's what I think you mean.

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