You can cut your phone bill in half with a different service

Lizzie Tyner | RSS | Thu, Dec 31 2009 | 6 Comments

How many times have you gotten your phone bill and thought “We are spending way too much money on this?” We used to do that a lot. When you take your phone bill and add it to the fact that you’re paying for your cell phones and any other forms of communication, I know that sometimes you might think,”Is this land line even necessary?”

I have a love hate (but mostly hate) relationship with my land line. I really don’t want to get rid of it because I don’t always have cell phone service in my house and I don’t want to miss any important calls (and with my luck, the day I turned off the land line, I would get one of those important calls).

To help with my problem, I started looking into VoIP services. I’m sure that everyone has heard of Vonage. If you have cable, I’m sure at one point in time the company has tried to sell you on its digital telephone package (which is simply VoIP). There are many more providers than just this handful though.

After a brief Google search for VoIP providers, I found some really good deals out there. Most were cheaper than Vonage’s $24.95 a month.

You can choose what provider you want by the features you want. If you have friends or family outside the United States, then make sure you pick a plan that offers free calling to international numbers. Sometimes you can find services that offer calling for free to the UK and Europe.  Most providers offer free calling to Canada and Mexico.

There are also some providers that offer a reduced price for service, but it requires you to leave your computer on all the time. The Magic Jack is the most popular form of that. I wouldn’t use one because I don’t want to have to leave my computer on for days and days at a time, and like I said before, the one time I have to restart my computer, I’m sure I’d miss the call I was waiting for.

I just feel like no matter what you pick, if you have a high speed internet connection, you can definitely save money with a VoIP service versus a traditional phone line. You just have to make sure that your connection is reliable and always on. Also, don’t forget, if you have DSL you may not be able to get rid of your land line.

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Tags: voip providers, magic jack, vonage

How to save money on your phone bill

Lizzie Tyner | RSS | Sun, Jun 21 2009 | 2 Comments

These days it seems like everyone has gotten rid of their “home” phone service to pick up cell phone service. Well, not everyone is able to have a cell phone as their main source of telephone service because of the lack of service in their house.

So, how do people save money on their home telephone bills?

If you have a high speed internet connection, you can save money through a VoIP service like Vonage or Packet8. Both services stand alone from your computer and hook directly up to your router. For a monthly fee (usually around $30 a month) you can get unlimited long distance to the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. On Vonage, you’re able to call land lines in Italy, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Ireland also.

So, perhaps you’ve seen some of those ads on TV for the Magic Jack and are thinking that it could replace your home telephone service, well, as much as I love saving money (and it is only $20 a year), the service is sub-par in my opinion and will not be able to replace a home telephone service. Often when I talk to a family member who has a Magic Jack, their phone cuts out and since it is directly connected to a computer rather than the router, if someone is surfing the internet or downloading something, then the signal is weak or breaks up all the time. It has gotten so bad that I try not to call my family that uses the Magic Jack just because it is so difficult to understand what they’re saying when we’re on the phone.

As far as cell phone bills go, there are corporate discounts that the phone companies won’t tell you about unless you ask. AT&T wireless, Sprint, and Verizon all offer corporate discounts. All you have to do is a little digging on the internet to see if you qualify through your employer for a discount. There is a website for AT&T wireless Premier to see if you are eligible for a discount. If you do a little digging around, I’m sure you can find some e-mail addresses to get the discounts, but I won’t list them on this website. Sprint has a program where you can get discounts for knowing someone in the company, they offer some of their most popular plans for a discounted price, they also offer a corporate discount program. Verizon has a similar program to AT&T’s and HowardForums has a WIKI article with the companies that give discounts that can be found here.

No matter which carrier that you’re looking at, check around the internet to see if you can find a discount! Sometimes you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

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Tags: home telephone service, cellular, unlimited long distance