How To Reduce Your Cell Phone Bills In A Recession - Top quality information absolutely free!

Griiinnnngggggggg……..Your phone ring tone goes off. It may also be some top dollars going off with that ring tone, if you aren’t real careful. The Global Recession, which is threatening to drive us all crazy – has everyone scrambling for cost saving measures on virtually everything. Aren’t we all trying to save costs everywhere, from toilet soap to double salamis?

So you’ve got to know what to do to reduce your cell phone bills (amongst other bills) in this recession. Why the focus on the cost of this essential? You may or may not be addicted to your cell phone like I am, but I am pretty sure its accounting for at least 15% of your recurrent expenditure monthly.

You can set goals to reduce your cell phone bills by 40%-50% over a period of time. I have achieved 40% savings over a 3 month period, and I can testify to the fact that it is achievable. In light of this, here go some essential cost cutting measures to keep your cell phone bills under check.

Discounts abound everywhere

That should be pretty obvious. You may need to shop around for cheaper services without compromising quality. Cheaper rates for text messaging, e mail, voice and video calls are being offered continually in a competitive market where loyalty to networks is constantly being rewarded or punished. I particularly like looking at new entrants into the market, or new products on offer by the telecoms companies.

 Free texting is available

I read from a site on the internet that texting was originally intended for short messaging usage by office staff who just needed to send short notices to callers to indicate they were busy in office meetings. Now text messaging is in usage in all manner of situations.

 

You should therefore explore free messaging apps and services. Some apps send your sms to your recipients via your e mail account (I use Freedom SMS on my iPhone). Recipients respond via email also . You can save anything between $5-$10 monthly this way.

 

Also explore text bundle services on local networks. Some networks offer free texting incentives for PAYG (pay-as-you-go) users, though these may be limited to free texting within the network.

 

You may also examine your texting habits. You do not need to reply ‘ok’ to every text message, except you enjoy free texting to the recipients network. Short calls within or less than a minute are also cheaper to some networks than text messages. So keep exploring.

Avoid Contract Packages

Yes you read it right. Avoid contract packages like a plague. Apart from the fact that many lack the discipline to keep their calls within limits on their various packages, and therefore rack up unnecessary expense and penalties, the billing systems of some of these telecoms operators go crazy at times. I have had to be engaged in a long dispute with a local telecoms operator over spurious call claims on my bill.

Being on a pre-paid package also enables you to be mobile, able to switch between operators who offer better and cheaper services ( as I said earlier, new entrants into a market offer good incentives to enable them penetrate the market). A pre-paid package also gives you better control and time to think about making that call or not, given the consequences of dwindling credit balances.

Use VoIP whenever you can

Services like Skype or Vonage offer VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services . Skype has several mobile versions so you may not need to sit at your pc all day making calls. The service also offers free calls to other Skype accounts. Generally VoIP offers cheaper call rates (where charged) and sometimes better quality. So explore this money saver. After all, if you aren’t making more money, you should research how to spend less, shouldn’t you?

Family is good

Many networks offer ‘family and friends’ services whereby you make cheaper calls and text cheaper to nominated phone numbers, or you enjoy cheaper rates within a group. Some of these are designed for corporate organizations, others for nominated phone numbers. Costs are usually halved within these nominated groups, and provide great savings on cell usage costs.

 These are just some tips. You can keep checking within your network of choice for better and cheaper options, or look outside your network for services which appeal to you. Whichever option you adopt, you can achieve goals of reducing your cell phone bills by 40% over a 90 day period.