What's that on my bill? Data Charges!

From time to time, you see charges on your cell phone bill that you might not immediately understand. Here are some of the more common nickels and dimes that cell phone companies charge you to make millions. 

Most cell phone companies would prefer to see you pay more month over month with a text messaging package, or an internet package, so they tell customer service representatives to mention those services proactively, but not to mention that you can block these services so you can't 'accidentally' get charged, in this article we'll discuss blocking data charges.

.Most cell phone carriers charge $1.99 / MB for this service, hoping that you'll fork over $9.99 to $29.99 a month for cell phone data. While this is great if you use mobile content, like facebook, email, and navigation, not every user requires these charges or are aware of what they are. 

Data charges are broken down into pay-per-use, pay per month, or pay per product. If you do not want these services, ask to have the following blocked:

• Downloads - this will eliminate the possibility of someone on your account downloading pay per product offerings like MP3's and Games.
• Usage - This is what actually charges you per kilobyte or megabyte, and is incurred when you surf the web, get an email, or use navigation. Most of the applications to do these things are installed on most phones, so the unsuspecting user may think they're included in the package. However, blocking usage with some providers will disable picture messaging, so ask before you block it.
• Call Tones and subscription services - these are pay per month costs and can range from .99 to $9.99. This can be navigation, ringback tones, or games that require a monthly recurring subscription to play.