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How To Cut Your Cell Phone Bill

(CBS) -- Everyone's looking to save a buck here and there.

CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker tackles cell phone charges and shows you how easy cutting costs can be.

Seems like almost everyone has a cell phone.

We asked Chicagoans how much they pay for their phone bills. Here are some of the monthly figures they cited: $62, $130 and even $350 to $400.

To cut the cost, first decipher your data usage. Figure out how much you need.

What is 1 Gigabyte of data? It's the equivalent of:

-Checking out a thousand web pages

-Sending or receiving 50,000 emails

-Posting 2,800 photos to Facebook

-Streaming music for 33 hours

-Or watching more than 8 hours of YouTube videos

Then compare plans.

"A family should be looking at their cell phone plans on a yearly basis. Maybe even sooner," says Jim Chilsen, director of communications at Citizens Utility Board, which offers tips to consumers on its website.

MyRatePlan and WhistleOut give you comparisons based on family size, data usage and how you pay for your phone.

Tucker put in her details and got 18 options -- one saving her $140 dollars a month.

Even though an unlimited data plan was best for Dorothy's family, such a plan may not be the best option if you only have one or two people on your plan.

Experts say it's very difficult for any one person to use more than 8 Gigabytes of data in a month.

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