Consumers are getting rid of their traditional phones and moving to new technology that provides more services as well as flexibility. There are many solutions available. We felt that it was time to review some of them on this blog as a means of saving some money. While embracing all of these new technologies.
In our own home we have tried to keep our communications cost down to a minimum. But as hard as we try they have crept up over the years. Now it is time to try to do something about it. For example 15 years ago we did not have internet. We now pay $50 a month for high speed internet. We did not have cell phones. Now we pay another $50 for two phones with local air time, long distance and text messaging without data capability.
If we added data for our smart phones this would cost another $30 or $40 or even more. In addition we still have a land line which we have kept to a minimum in terms of features. It costs us about $45. All told we are paying about $150 for communications which is a lot more than what we used to pay for just the phone.
Home Phone Bill – Use Cell Phone Only
Many family s now just use their cell phones for communications plus high speed internet. Right away they save $45 a month on that. If you have not already got rid of a land line and have a cell phone, then I suggest that you do that. Cell phones are so much more flexible and have all of the features that you could ever want. Smart phones can handle data over the network or WiFi which in turn can get you onto the internet to do email etc.
Use WiFi whenever you can to minimize your data requirements. The phone companies have realized that this is huge money for them and are charging a great deal for this service. Using Wifi is one way of keeping this cost to a minimum since it is free and most coffee shops and bars now have WiFi available at no cost.
Should you get rid of your land line? Most of us will eventually so why not now? Our cell phones companies charge a lot for long distance, however there are ways around this as well which can save money. Using services such as Skype or Google’s G Phone is virtually free for most calls. Calls between skype users is free and calls to regular phones are so inexpensive, pennies a minute that it they might as well be free. These systems can be used for outgoing calls and anyone can reach you on your cell phone.
IP Phones
IP phone calls can also be made using a regular phone by installing VoIP as well. This service can be purchased from the regular phone companies as well as startup companies and the cable companies as well who offer IP service. We are not sure why you would do this since it ends up being the same thing as a regular phone service at a lower cost. Just use your cell phone for all calls including local and long distance calls.
Before making any decisions regarding these services, you must really take into account the type of calling that you do. If there is a lot of long distance calls, to another country, and your land line is inexpensive for this service, then you may want to keep your land line and only use your cell phone for local calls for example. This is unfortunately the situation we are in.
My cell phone carrier charges a great deal for calls to the US and other countries. My land line calls are free up to 500 minutes, anywhere in Canada and the US. Since we make a lot of calls to the US, we will keep the landline. Our daughters call us all of the time using a call me card which reverses the long distance charges to us when they call. These calls are also included in the 500 minutes as well so they save money as well. Based on all of this, I guess we will keep the land line and the cell phones for a while longer.
March 14th, 2013 on 7:12 pm
we are now using facetime as well and this is another great way to reduce your telephone calls. it is a free call to all apple products! with video as well.