Anatomy of a Cell Phone Bill

What are you paying for? We broke down all the fees and charges on a typical cell phone bill and found some things you pay for that you may not be aware of. Pay-per-use data access charges can rack up quickly if you’re charged by the KB and if you’re on a cruise, you’ll want to turn the phone off to avoid expensive roaming charges.

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Droid vs iPhone 3GS vs Palm Pre vs MyTouch 3G: Total Cost of Ownership

After months and months of blogger buzz and a heavy veil of secrecy, the new Motorola Droid by Verizon Wireless is set to launch within days, just in time for the holiday season.

The Droid enters into a smartphone marketplace dominated by the Palm Pre with Sprint and the ever-popular iPhone 3GS with AT&T. But how are consumers supposed to compare the offerings?

BillShrink.com is here to help! While sticker prices are roughly comparable between smartphones, each offers its own particularly generous features. Below is an apples-to-apples comparison graphic that examines the true cost of ownership and select features of each phone.

And, without further ado, we bring you the Droid vs. iPhone vs. Palm Pre vs. MyTouch 3G …(now that’s a lot of smartphones)

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Where’s the Money? Top VC Firms in the US

Where’s the money? Here’s a look at where the most active VC firms in the US are and the biggest deals have been made. Venture funding increased during the third quarter over the first two quarters of 2009, but is still down 33 percent from one year ago.

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Men vs. Women: Financial Planning

Statistics show that men and women handle money differently. While there are exceptions to every rule, men generally are better prepared for retirement, are more willing to put money into savings, pay off credit card balances in full and are more educated about investing. Men are also more prepared for unemployment, which is fortunate because there are more unemployed men than women in the U.S. and the growth of the unemployment rate for men is currently outpacing the unemployment rate for women.

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Costs Around The World: Internet Access

When it comes to Internet access, not all plans are created equal. The data transfer speeds vary greatly around the world, as does the cost for basic access. As you can see, in Japan Internet speeds are blazing fast and cheap compared to those less fortunate users in other countries. In the United States, Internet users pay more for way less, but are still better off than users in Greece who connect at the slowest speeds in the world.

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The Collapse of Personal Savings Rate in America

This year’s dramatic shift in the economy found many Americans without a ‘rainy day’ fund.  Millions of Americans lost their jobs and saw their 401(k) wiped out. It is unsurprising then to see that the trend of personal savings rate has been on a fast-pace decline since the mid 1980’s, reaching decade-low levels in recent years. The following graphic shows the trend of personal savings rate per month from 1959 to 2009, along with an alarmingly opposing trend of rising consumer debt.

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Mobile Service (and Costs) Around the World

Trends in use of mobile phones around the world vary as much as the people carrying them. Looking at some of the key factors, including pricing, usage and prevalence within a country, highlights these differences. Interestingly, as of 2006, many countries passed 100% penetration of their population, reporting more mobile phone subscriptions than people.

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Comparing Carriers: Mobile Phone Usage and Costs

The mobile phone market can be a confusing one for consumers to navigate, as there are many seemingly similar services offered, often lumped into different packages, plans and pricing. How do usage trends and costs vary between the major wireless providers? We have looked at the various plans of Billshrink users to see how these companies compare in a number of different categories.

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