Have you added up your technology bills recently? Proper research and price comparisons can save you a lot of money when it comes to the services and products you need. Many Americans don’t price-shop for their most basic technology purchases, and they end up overpaying. Here is a list of four technology services you are likely overpaying for.

Books, Movies, and Magazines

It seems we have all forgotten about our public library system. Many don’t realize it has even gone digital, with apps and tools available to sync your tablets to the world’s largest free library of books and magazines. Despite the fact it is easy to get these things for free, people still pay for e-book downloads, movie rentals, and magazine subscriptions.

Cloud-Based Storage

Today more than ever we are relying on cloud-based storage. That said, we tend to just buy into the services that are the most convenient vs. comparing cloud services and options. For example, iPhone users run out of space and Apple has the perfect solution with just a scan of your fingerprint. That service is one of the most expensive cloud storage solutions on the market.

A little research will help save on unnecessary bills. Dropbox, for example, offers a free account with 2 GB of storage and the option to increase your storage by linking your contacts and following their social feeds. If you are a Microsoft Office 365 user, you’ll be eligible for 1 TB of cloud storage with your yearly subscription.

Cable and Internet Packages

We’ve all heard the pitch — bundle your cable, phone, and internet services and save money. The problem is that once you’ve locked yourself into a company’s bundle, many don’t compare packages with other services. Understand the services you use most and how much you are using them. For example, many are streaming TV through services like Netflix and Amazon and watching less cable TV. We pay for expensive bundle packages without thinking about reducing the costs of these services by paying for what we use vs. an overpriced bundle.

When was the last time you sat down and compared all these cable and internet packages? Companies are always adjusting their promotions and offerings, and switching to a new carrier may get you a better deal.

Cell Phone Plans

Another area where many of us overspend is with our cell phone plans. When purchasing a plan, we ask questions including:

• How much data is included?
• How many minutes do I get?
• Can I get a “free” iPhone?

The questions we should be asking, however, are:

• How much data do I use?
• How many minutes do I use?
• What is the actual cost of that “free phone”?

When it comes to cell phone plans, we fall victim to the sales pitch vs. analyzing the actual costs. We don’t want to pay overage charges for data or voice minutes, so we buy packages that include minutes or data we don’t need. We want the latest and greatest iPhone and are willing to lock ourselves into a contract and spend more per month on a cell phone that would cost less if we just purchase it outright.

Once we are locked into these contracts, we tell ourselves that getting out will be too expensive as we will have to pay a termination fee. If you spend the time to research other companies, you will find that carriers like T-Mobile make switching carriers easy by covering early termination fees. Now that T-Mobile is the nation’s fastest network, you might even end up with better service than you had before.

How to Avoid Overpaying for Technology Services

Here are a few simple strategies to avoid overpaying for your technology services:

• Look for a free alternative.
• Track your usage and spending and understand what you need.
• Shop around and compare services from all competitors.
• Don’t assume that a bundle is always the best deal.
• Don’t get stuck in an expensive contract in exchange for a not-so-free product.
• Don’t be afraid to switch companies.

Doing a little research and weighing your needs vs. the costs of the service can save you money. Don’t be afraid to make the switch from a brand you’ve been with for a long time. Sometimes, they will even match a competitor’s price just to keep you.

Image via Flickr by freeimage4life

Technological change happens at such a rate it can be hard to stay on top of all the newest developments. You’re just getting used to one new service when another comes along and makes the first obsolete. Since VHS won the videotape war with Betamax way back in the eighties, there’s been an ever-increasing turnover of new technologies scrambling over ones that have only been around for what seems a very short length of time. When VHS conquered the video market, they looked set to dominate for years to come, but were almost immediately blown out of the water with the arrival of DVDs and CDs. Of course, not all new tech is successful. Advances keep on coming and the pace of change looks set to keep accelerating into the future.

Streaming services

Streaming services are the big growth area in visual entertainment. Following the rise of cable and digital TV stations, the most significant change has been the adoption of streaming to watch TV programs and films. This type of service appeals because you are no longer restricted by what is on a channel’s schedule, you can just watch whatever you want whenever you want. As long as you have a sufficient broadband signal, you can watch your favorite shows and movies whenever you like, giving the consumer the ultimate choice over their viewing. Companies like Now TV and Direct TV that provide these services have their own name – virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs), and new players are continually entering the market. YouTube is considered to be a vMVPD too, with its vast content all available on demand. As a consequence of the proliferation of channels and services, new companies are emerging looking to take advantage of the almost overwhelming quantity of programming available by providing streamlining solutions for consumers, known as cord-shaving.

Screens and TVs

Recent years have seen a mind-boggling variety of technology utilized in flat screen TVs, and you’ll probably be familiar with things like high definition, 3-D, LED, LCD and Blu Ray. They all seem to have their champions, and some have proved more popular and enduring than others, but again the highest spec TV of a few years ago has seen advancements since. The current trend is 4K TV, which has a screen resolution of 4,000 pixels and is ultra-high definition. Given the drive for an ever more sharp, realistic viewing experience, consumers are likely to be demanding this kind of quality as a minimum on all their viewing devices.

Virtual and augmented reality

The pixel perfect artificial reality of Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s holodeck on the Starship Enterprise may still be some way off, but VR and AR are advancing towards that vision in leaps and bounds. Immersive video games are the most familiar concepts, and this experience can now be shared by players at home and across the Internet. The Merge Cube is a clever AR device that allows you to experience virtual reality scenarios simply and cheaply using an app on your cell phone or the Merge headset. Being able to make use of this kind of technology at home makes it much more accessible for the average consumer, rather than it being the preserve of hardcore gamers, so there’s likely to be a massive take-up of home-based VR and AR applications.

Gaming

Sony’s Play Station and Microsoft’s Xbox still dominate the gaming console market, but there has been rapid growth in shared gaming platforms such as the Nintendo Switch, and games like Pokémon Go! that use an element of virtual reality. The popularity of shared user experiences and the innovation of being able to go out in the real world to find virtual characters has been such that there is bound to be an expansion of this market. Serious gamers are sticking with their massively powerful custom-built gaming PCs, and in fact building and designing your own has become almost as popular as playing the games. The exterior appearance of gaming tech may not have changed drastically, but the internal technological advances have ensured devices have more processing power and speed. Keyboards are crucial for the lightning quick response times gamers require, and there is a flourishing market for top mechanical models for gamers.

Up, up and away

No matter how old you are, there is bound to be a toy out there that brings a smile to your face. The great thing about tech-based toys is that because they seem clever and complex, they qualify as being suitable for adults. Many people don’t worry about playing with big boys’ toys anyway, and the tech toy industry is a huge business. Drones continue to be popular, with new versions that are themed from popular culture adding an extra dimension to the basic concept. Robots are one of the big movers, with technological developments steadily transforming them into the kind of interactive humanoid beings we have come to know from science fiction. The new Star Wars Stormtrooper robot is a good example of the combination of robotic technology with AR capabilities. The Mekamon fighting robot is eerily lifelike in the way it moves, rather like a spider, and will battle with other robots. If you fancy having a go at building your own robot, the Star Wars Droid Inventor Kit enables you to build your own R2D2 from scratch, and then program it to perform simple tasks. The Anki Overdrive racing cars are a neat combination of a Scalextric type track and racing experience with the interactive capability of an AR app.

These toys are good examples of how AR and VR are crossing over into realms outside the immersion video game sphere. This is the kind of adaptation that is likely to proliferate in the coming years as the technology both improves and becomes more accessible. If you’re not keeping up with all the trends and new developments in tech entertainment, you could be missing out on some truly amazing experiences! Be sure to check out your options in terms of getting on board with the latest tech.