Don’t chat your way to poverty
Have you switched on? Or are you with the bigger, better network? Chances are that wherever you are hooked up, you open those phone bills after a little prayer. And by the time you see the numbers you will have probably switched on to a few choice words.
The fact, though, is that you can’t run the phone hot and expect not to pay.
And what about the $500 phone card you finish each day? That money just disappears and at month end (or the middle of the month) and you can’t seem to remember where it went.
Well Pinching Pennies has a few bits of advice.
First, we all like to talk and we often use the phone, fixed line and mobile, to keep in touch with our friends. But time on the telephone costs money. The greatest saving would come from not using the phone at all. But since that is unlikely to happen, one option is to use the phone, efficiently — and sparingly.
If you are using a mobile phone the introduction of per second billing is a help. Get to the point of the conversation quickly. Forego the long pre-ambles. We also waste of a lot of money by calling just to check up on someone’s location or to say hello. Often there is no value to the conversation.
Of course, there are a few persons who don’t want mobile phones. That’s not most of us.
But even those who want the ability of instant communication should also think cost-saving. So don’t just jump to buy a mobile phone. There are things to consider. Planning, therefore, is important.
According to telecommunication experts, consider the following before you buy:
*Monthly service charge
*Number of minutes in the plan
*Type of “FREE” minutes — weekend or anytime
*Per Minute Charge: peak, off peak, weekend
*local coverage area
*long distance charges
*roaming charges for overseas
Due consideration of these things will help in deciding on your service provider and the service that is most economical for your needs.
If you already have a mobile phone, take the time to analyse how you use it. Is it for business, personal use or for emergencies? Do you speak about important issues or just to check up on your partner? And how many phones do you have? Do you need two or three?
Be honest, because if you are on a budget, every dollar counts and you will have to cut back. Each of the three (yes three) cell phone companies offers something a little different. It is worth the time to check out each one and utilise the company that offers the best package for you.
And let’s not forget the land line, currently the forgotten stepchild in the phone wars. While the rates keep going up, the usage is actually going down. Now you would have to be a regular reader of the Business Observer to get the hows and whys of “rebalancing”. But in short, since overseas rates have to go down, then local rates and services have to go up to rebalance Cable & Wireless’ falling income.
At any rate, you also need to rebalance. And according to our intrepid National News Editor, Pete Sankey, there is a very simple way to do this. He tells Pinching Pennies the secret to keeping his land line bill under $1,000. And now we share it with you –
1 Use your cell phone to make overseas calls.
Makes sense, because since you are restricted to a card, you will talk with that in mind, and get to the point. Because you don’t really need to know what they are cooking for dinner in ‘foreign.’
2 Call cell phones with a cell phone.
Don’t be fooled by the $7 per minute land line to cell phone dance that is being played out. “How you doing? I’m fine. Honey, pick up some condense milk on the way home.” Braps! $35 gone. And then multiply that by the number of times that you call your beloved daily and the phone bill flies through the roof.
3 Call landlines with a landline.
The rates in this category are still low and in turn keeps the phone bill low.
So there you have it.
