Useful Tips to Reduce Big Telephone Bills

Even with today’s modern technology including e-mail, Internet, and other forms of electronic communication, many of us still have large phone bills every month. Things such as long distance calls, international calls, and calling options are just some of the things that increase our phone bills. As such, if you can control these things or limit them to a point that it is financially manageable, you will notice that you can save several hundred dollars per year.

Long distance phone calls are the biggest contributor to a land line phone bill. This is because unlike domestic calls which are free, long distance calls are usually billed by the minute. As such, should you call a friend or relative in another state and speak to them on numerous occasions per month for an extended period, your phone bill could be extremely high.

Fortunately, many telephone companies offer a way around this problem. Straight monthly fees are common among phone companies. Basically, you pay one price per month and are allowed to call any phone number in the United States for any amount of time. You are not billed any extra amounts for these phone calls and thus, save money. Additionally, if your primary phone is your cell phone, many companies offer plans where if you call a person who uses the same cell phone company as you, the call is free and does not count against your minutes plan. As such, this can save you money.

Even though the long distance problem can be solved with relative ease, international calls are still an expensive part of a phone bill. In order to reduce the costs of these calls, you may have to inquire about pricing from your phone company. Shop around and find the best deal on international calls if you make a lot of them. Additionally, you should check out the prices for your cell phone company and see how they stack up against land line prices. If your cell phone company offers better prices, you may want to use your cell phone to make international calls.

Telephone options are another reason that your phone bill may be expensive. Extra phone lines for land lines and things like media download plans, text messaging plans, and cell phone downloads can dramatically increase your phone bill. As such, the simple solution is to cancel any plan that costs you extra money that you may not use. At a minimum, you should dramatically cut down on your cell phone downloads (whether they are games, ringtones, wallpaper, or some other form of entertainment, music, or graphics) in order to prevent having to pay large sums over your normal billing plan each month.

Obtaining a monthly fixed price plan, finding the best plan for international calls, and cutting down on telephone and cell phone extras will save you a lot of money.