Frugal Phone Tips – Saving Money on Phone Calls
What would we do without the phone? Old Alexander Graham Bell (or Antonio Meucci, depending on your particular school of thought) would never believe what his simple invention has become. The phone has become an indispensable part of most of our daily lives.
With land lines, cell phones, car phones, smart phones and now VoIP Internet phone services, being connected is easier (and more expensive) than ever. What can you do to save money without losing your ability to stay connected? Here are a few tips:
Home Land Lines
How much do you actually use yours? In my house there are two calls that come in on my home land line number – my mother-in-law and telemarketers. Next month we are dropping the land line entirely. Relax Mom, you have our cell phone numbers.
If you can’t drop the land line entirely, take a look at what you are paying for along with the very basic service. You don’t need the bells and whistles. Really. In all probability you don’t need long distance on your land line since your cell phone gives it to you for free. Drop the long distance carrier and you will drop the monthly fees associated with it.
Drop call waiting. Before it was invented, people got a busy signal, they knew you were on the phone and they called back. Nowadays people (my mother-in-law) expect you to answer even if you are on an important (telemarketing) call. The nerve!
Cell Phones
Okay now let’s be realistic. You are in your twenties, thirties or beyond. What do you need with 1500 text messages a month? How many times can you possibly send “OMG!”, “O RLY?” or “SRSLY!” before it gets old? Drop the text package and save some green every month. OMG. SRSLY!
VoIP and Internet Telephony
- Skype
By now we have all heard of Skype; the VoIP (Voice Over IP) Internet phone service that costs next to nothing. By paying only an annual fee, you are able to make and receive telephone calls through your computer’s high speed Internet connection for no additional cost. - magicJack
This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen, and all the kudos must go to by dad who told me about it a few weeks ago. The magicJack plugs directly into the USB port on your computer and works just as a standard wall jack would with any telephone, allowing you to make and receive all the free phone calls you like in the United States and Canada. There is currently a free 30-day trial offer going on as well. The magicJack itself cost about twenty bucks and you are able to use it for a month to try the service for yourself. - Phonehog
Sign up and agree to receive advertising offers and you will receive a free phone card and the advertisers pay for the minutes on your card. A great idea for emergency phone calls when you are away from home. What about signing up and giving the card to your kids?
July 8th, 2008 at 7:24 am
Jajah is another online phone service which costs little or nothing (depending on how you use it.) I have been a happy user for some time now and have saved $hundreds. I like that!
July 10th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Like many, I’ve dropped my home phone altogether and just use my cell. Stripped my cell down to a basic high minutes package and added a cell phone long distance service from Alligato ( http://alligatomobile.com ).
Not only does the whole thing cost me less but it is a lot simpler just having one phone and one number.