Back-to-school is prime time to get a better phone plan. Here’s what to know

Thinking of switching your wireless plan to get more data or a cheaper rate? Back-to-school is the perfect time to renegotiate a mobile phone plan, experts say.

Canadians looking to cut line items from the household budget as inflation bites would be wise to try trimming down their mobile phone bills during the back-to-school season, according to some experts.

Stephen Clark, senior writer at price comparator WhistleOut, says that back-to-school is one of the three times of the year that wireless rate plans see price drops, with Black Friday and Boxing week being the other two hot spots.

But before you start hunting for more data at a better deal, it’s critical to know what your needs actually are, he says.

Clark says the first step is to download your past 12 months’ worth of bills and take a look at how much data you actually use, both on an average basis and in the heavier months.

Many Canadians have deals with way more data than they use, he notes, and end up paying for a more expensive plan than what actually fits their lifestyle.

“Once you’re armed with that information, then you can really call your provider and say, ‘Hey, I’m only using at-most this much. Can you come up with a deal where I’m paying less than I am right now?’”

The widespread Rogers Communications outages last month and the ensuing backlash pushed the company to offer a five-day credit to customers affected by the disruption.

Clark says he hasn’t yet seen the company offer cheaper plans or other incentives to hold onto their frustrated customers.