7 Ways to Lower Phone Bill

Communications is an increasing part of most household budgets. Between home phones, mobile phones, internet access, and cable TV service, the dollars add up quickly.While it’s hard to imagine doing without, minimizing certainly maximizes  savings.

Calling all super-savers, here are a few easy ways to lower phone bill and save money on phone service:

1.  Drop the Landline

As of this week we are officially among the 20% of U.S. households that have dropped their landline phone service and are now only using wireless. For us, that’s a savings of $39.00 per month for a single line and basic phone service. We did not use our landline for long distance, so the savings could certainly be higher depending on your local rates, plans, and usage.

Dropping land line phone service is an increasing trend with the mobile explosion and mobile online revolution that’s upon us that brings  instant access and constant connectivity.

In addition to saving money, the other big benefit is no phone solicitors. We can get through dinner with out the bothersome sales calls, phone surveys and charities asking for money. There’s also less clutter around the house without all the phones and answering machine taking up space.

2.  Review Your Mobile Service Needs and Adjust Your Plan Accordingly

It’s important to review your current mobile plan and how many minutes you use on a monthly basis to ensure that you have the right plan to meet your needs. You do NOT want to go over on monthly minuets because the fees they smack you with for that are huge. You also don’t want to leave a bunch of unused minutes on the table if you don’t have a rollover plan. Long and short, look at the past 6 – 12 months of minutes used and adjust your plan accordingly.

Also check if your service provider has made enhancements to the plan you are currently on. For example, we are with Verizon and can call Verizon to Verizon at no charge in terms of minutes used. They now offer a Friends and Family Pick 10 feature where we can call 10 numbers and not use minutes and these can include out-of -network and landline phone numbers.

The important point is that the new features may be available to you without changing your package, but you need to ask about them to activate them.

3.  Consider Pre-Paid Cellular Service for Low Rates and Fixed Costs

This is a great option if you don’t use your cell phone that often or want one just for emergency purposes. Or, if you want your child to have one, but want to seriously limit there usage. While there are a number of providers that offer pre-paid service, I am going to recommend the provider that my father-in-law has used for the past few years. He is the most frugal man I know and does tons of research on everything before committing to anything. As a result, his recommendations are always great!

He uses AirVoice Express and has been very pleased with them for the past two years. He has the 700 minutes per year plan for $70 ($.07 per minute) which more than suits his low usage cell phone needs. They have several other options

4.  Use an Internet Phone Provider

Free is a wonderful thing and Skype offers free Skype-to-Skype calls and video calls via the internet. There is no charge when making calls to all your friends and family members that also have the free Skype service and this includes calls to other countries. You can’t beat that. It’s super easy to get started — basically 5 minutes to download and set up and you are in business. The quality and clarity is really good and the video component is great as you can see who you are talking too.

5.  Bundle It Up

If a landline is a must then check and see if your phone, internet or cable provider offers the option to bundle services for a reduced monthly rate. Companies now offer phone and internet through one provider or you can get a “triple play” and bundle your cable television too. But, never assume that the bundle will be the cheapest way to go. Do your homework and shop around.

6.  Ask About Special Offers

Also make a point to see if your phone provider offers special lower rates for calls made during certain days and time (ie. nights and weekends) as this is another way to lower phone bill.

7.  Shop Around

It’s always important to shop around and compare prices for available providers. This applies to home and cellular service. For example, for home phone service I can use Embarq, Comcast and Vonage in my area. They each offer different rates and package deals for ways to save money.

Please share other ways to lower phone bill and save money on phone service.