<prompt> Human: This is a mini-guide to save on your cell phone bill for both the service and equipment. I have been in the wireless industry for four years at the retail level. I am writing this in hopes that some people can save some dollars instead of paying a car payment sized phone bill.Selecting a companyThis is going to have to do a lot with where you live. Luckily for us there are generally the same tiers of providers throughout the United States.Tier 1: Big Four Verizon, ATT, Sprint, T-MobileTier 2: Prepaid Monthly Cricket, Boost, US Cellular, MetroPCS, etcTier 3: Prepaid dollar-for-dollar Ting, ProjectFi, etcChoosing a tier is going to be based off of your needs. With Verizon and ATT you are going to pay the most on a postpaid account for the best service. For more rural areas these can sometimes be the only options to get usable service. Where the lower tiered companies come in handy are in urban areas. All companies use the network of one of the big four, they contract them out and slow the speeds down. They slow speeds down because the service is generally cheaper and also the big four do not want prepaid customers taking priority over their own customers. Before signing up for any postpaid service I highly recommend trying out their service on prepaid for a month to confirm you have the service you need.The EquipmentEveryone wants a nice phone. We all hear about the 1,000 iPhone X or the 950 Galaxy Note 8. What if I told you that there were phones that did 95 of the same things at nearly the same speed and storage size for 15-35 of the cost? These higher tier smartphones are amazing looking and have the bells and whistles that some people love. At the end of the day most of my customers use their phone for calling, texting, picturesvideos, social media, and web browsing. Instead of being locked into a phone equipment installment plan of 20-40 monthly I am going to link some devices in this price range that I know are solid and reliable phones.Moto G Plus - 185 wads 219 wo adsHuawei Honor 6X - 175ZTE Axon 7 Mini - 194But uHammyFresh, I am under contract for X monthsyears longerWell do I have good news for you! T-Mobile and ATT both pay up to 650 for termination fees if you switch to them. How it works is the same for each company. You must trade in your financed or contracted smartphone to the new carrier and finance a new one with them. Where you can come out ahead is when you trade in that phone you have 600 left to pay on, instead of getting another phone of that price get the cheapest one in the store. The company will then buy you out of the other companies contract and you take a minimal hit when you pay off the device you selected with the new carrier.The Big PictureIf you are a single line on a big carriers postpaid plan you are likely paying 60-90 just for the service. Factor in a phone installment plan and insurance on the phone they have the habit of leaving this bit out, dont they? and you are somewhere between 100-140 just for one line of service. That amounts to between 1200-1700 a year.I am going to be using Cricket as an example of how you can change this. With Cricket you get to use ATTs network. The call coverage is the same, they slow the data speeds down to 8MBPS. After autopay with Cricket you are looking at between 354GB- 55unlimited. Add the 200ish to the service for the phone and yearly you are between 620-860 which is much more reasonable.I really hope this helps people. I am no financial guru but when I see the same 150 in budgets for cell phones I get physically ill. We can all control this!  <response>: Some important due diligence to perform before switching to MVNOs or any provider, really: 1. Check the coverage in your area to be sure the network youre going to be relying on is strong where you will be using it.2. If you plan to bring your own device BYOD, check your device to make sure it is compatible with the appropriate network bands.3. Shameless plug warning - check out rNoContract for additional informationresources.I recently switched to MintSIM after being on Verizon forever. Bought a used iPhone SE on Swappa to change from CDMA to GSM and am currently trying out 5GB data with unlimited voice for 20month for 3 months. No complaints so far and barring any major issues I will be purchasing the year long pre-paid plan when it comes due. 