Ways to Slash Home Phone Bills

Home phone bills can be daunting. Add this to other utilities and you can be paying too much monthly for the convenience of a home phone.

There are several ways to save on your home phone. You can convert your home phone to a cell phone. This phone goes with you everywhere. The inconvenience is that you have only one phone, no extensions in other rooms in your home.

There are some phone companies that offer a “bundle” price for home phone plus another one of their services. These services could be internet or satellite television service. The cost for “bundling” is minimal compared to a phone only price. One such company is AT&T. There are other companies that offer similar service options.

Another option is to purchase a device that you can plug into your computer.  This allows you to make long distance and local calls at a fraction of the monthly cost for a land-line. The disadvantage is that you must always have your computer on and you must use the phone connected to the computer. 

Some stores sell a product called “magic jack”; this acts the same as above. It can be purchased at local electronic stores and the directions can be obtained locally.

A company, known as “Straight Talk” offers a piece of equipment that offers land line service. The equipment cost is less than $100, and a small monthly fee is charged. The company offers the advantage of keeping your current phone number.

All of these options come with call waiting, hold and caller identification features.  Long distance is included at no cost to the consumer.

Bundling has no guarantee of a price freeze. This means after a few months the cost may go up. The other services are fixed, with no contract required. The “bundling” requires a contract to receive these services.

If you are paying over $50 per month for home phone service, you might want to investigate these offers. If you go to an electronic store, the sales associate can give you insight to what other customers think of the service. Most large stores have knowledgeable sales associates who deal with phones on a day to day basis.

The perfect scenario would be to keep your current number, have premium service, and enjoy the lower cost per month.