Three good strategies to reduce your telephone expenditures
By: Linda Rogers

These days consumers are clearly feeling the pinch of rising prices. From the gas station to the grocery market, prices are skyrocketing. Yet the telephone bill is an area where smart consumers can still save. For most people, phone expenses are a substantial element in the typical household budget. Even though telecom prices have dropped considerably in recent years, this is still a cost that can be cut through prudent planning. The following three strategies will help you accomplish this goal.

Tip 1: Switch over to a shared-use plan on your cell phone bill

According to data published by the Kiplinger Letter, the typical cell phone bill in the US runs approximately $55 a month. You might wonder how the average could be $55 given that so many ads for cell phone providers promoting $29 or $39 plans. This is partly because a few power callers spend $79, $89 or more monthly. Part of the reason is taxes and miscellaneous charges such as 411. But a key reason is the fact that cell phone companies zap you on “overage“. Let’s say you’ve got 1,000 peak minutes and this month you hit 1,099. At thirty or forty cents per minute in overage, your cell-phone bill suddenly shoots up $20. Sound familiar? The next month you hit 900 minutes but you don’t see a corresponding drop in your bill. Some providers say they solve this problem by allowing you to rollover minutes. And the rollover does increase your peak minutes quota for the following. Yet even then, you still get hit with overage if you exceed your increased peak minutes quota.

Shared use plans are the ideal solution for this problem. Also known as “family-plans“, these plans enable you to aggregate all of the minutes of two or more users into a collective bucket. Since variability is typically a function of individual usage patterns, these variability quotients tend to cancel out. Think of it this way: if you and your spouse both had individual plans for 1,000 minutes and in one month you hit 1,100 minutes and your spouse reaches 900 minutes, you’re in for overage surcharges to the extent of 100 minutes. If you have a shared-use plan, your total comes in at 2,000 minutes and there would be no overage!

Tip 2: Stop using your regular long distance provider to dial internationally

Most long distance providers offer very good rates for domestic long distance. If you are a reasonably frequent user on a good plan you are most likely paying less than five cents per minute. The difficulty is that international rates are still relatively high. For example, fifty cents a minute to South Asia is typical, even if you pay the four or five dollars a month many providers charge to get lower rates.

In recent years, there has been an explosion of superior offerings. Sometimes known as “PINLESS“ dialing plans, these offerings allow you to call anywhere in the world at rates 40% to 70% less from your landline or cell phone without needing to remember a pin code. If you type “cheap international calling“ into a search engine you’ll see a plethora of options. The basic way they work is that callers register one or more phone numbers and provide a credit card number. They offer you a toll-free number and when you call this number from a registered phone, you can call any country without needing a PIN code. Using the above example, you could reduce the charge from 50 cents to 15 cents per minute.

Tip 3: Begin using a free conference call service

For a lot of families, phone bills escalate due to the need to have multiple phone discussions between family members on the same topics. It is not efficient but this is the way most people cope. In the last five years, there have been literally dozens of companies that have launched free teleconferencing services. All of them work on the same basic principle: they give you a PIN and a toll number to dial. If all participants call the same number and enter the same PIN, they are put into a group call. Apart from normal toll charges, there are no charges assessed by these providers. If you have a large extended family, one thirty minute call could easily replace 5 to 10 one-to-one discussions for planning a trip or family event.

Unfortunately, it is usually a bit of a chore to arrange these calls in the first place; consumers often are reluctant to familiarize themselves with the requirements of setting up a conference call. Rondee is an example of a free conference calling service which is trying to address this challenge. It offers consumers a way to schedule the conference on the web, have the invitations emailed and show all the responses tracked on the website. As with many corporate grade conference call companies, Rondee enables calls to be recorded.

With consumer prices rising, there’s not a lot most people can do to fight back. But telephone expense is an area where being smart can lead to saving a lot. Applying these three ideas will save the typical user 30% to 50% monthly, or several hundred dollars a year.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Linda Rogers comments often about communication subjects. She consults to a variety of organizations that use communication technologies involving conference calling. Her clients include www.rondee.com“>free conference calling companies such as Rondee.

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