With all of the advances in communications during the past decade or so, you should have very little difficulty in cutting your telephone costs. And in doing so, you shouldn’t find yourself any more difficult to reach. Most of the “extras” phone companies offer are really quite unnecessary.

Here are 7 tips that will help you save money on your monthly phone bill.

1. Shop Around For The Best Deal On Cell Phone Service.

Unless you are on the front end of a long term contract, you will want to do some shopping around for the best possible deal. If you are having trouble figuring out all of the small print, check out letstalk dot com or myrateplan dot com for assistance with locating the best deals in your area.

2. Cancel Your Land Line

Consider replacing your land line with a VOIP phone service. Skype and Vonage are two of the big ones. Skype’s a little more complicated because you’ll need a special phone if you aren’t connected to your computer, but in my mind, it’s worth the additional effort. I once ran my business with Vonage and had nothing but trouble with both the service and the support. And don’t get me started on the hassles I had to deal with to cancel.

3. Calling Plans

If you find that you need to keep your traditional land line, be sure that any calling plan that you have matches the way you use your phone. If you make a lot of in-state calls, be sure your plan includes x amount for a low rate, or as a package deal for unlimited minutes. If you make a lot of out of state calls, look for the same thing. (VOIP services such as Skype and Vonage offer unlimited calling for a flat price.)

4. Family Plans For Cell Phones

This can be a big savings. Add up the minutes used by all of your family members on their phones and get a family plan that includes the number of minutes closest to what your family uses on a monthly basis. National companies such as Verizon offer free calls on the weekends and free calls to those with Verizon phones. Just be careful not to go over the monthly minutes because the additional minutes can be very expensive. My family has been on a family plan with 500 minutes a month at less than $50 a month for years now. We’d pay more than that just for a single land line several years ago!

5. Get Rid Of Your Landline And Replace With Your Cellphone

Cancelling your landline is definitely the way to go if you have an unlimited minutes and or a family plan with enough minutes for your entire family. Obviously, this only works if you are able to get service in your home. My family had great concerns about not having a land line, but we’ve been land line free for 4 years now and have saved an absolute bundle in the meantime.

6. Review Extras

If your phone company charges extra for voicemail, call waiting, caller Id, and other services like this, get rid of them! Do you really need these things? If so, review #2 and #5 above as those options include these extras as part of your monthly fee.

7. Eliminate Using 411

Look numbers up in search engines, or the old fashioned way – by using a phone book

Bruce has been helping folks with personal finance issues for several years. He started writing about them online in 2008. In addition to his writing, Bruce also operates a number of informative web sites. You can check out his latest website here: Black Leather Ottoman featuring the Microfiber Storage Ottoman

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