Six easy ways to reduce your cell phone bill

Cell phones – you can’t live without them these days. And just about everyone has them – regardless of income or age. In fact, like me, I’m sure you have friends that don’t even have a landline at home; the only way you can get hold of them is via their cell phone.

But cell phone bills can be confusing. If your monthly cell phone invoice is higher than what you expect, you might be unknowingly using your phone in a way that generates extra charges. So this week Inside Secrets looked into six ways to help you reduce your bill.

Tip #1: Mind your minutes!
If you mainly use your phone to make calls, make sure you know exactly how much you’re paying for what. According to investigative journalist Jacob Ross, it’s not the type of billing, but the relevant unit charges that you need to know about when deciding whether a plan is the right option for you.

The general consensus is that “per second billing” wins hands down. Here’s why: On a per minute billing plan that charges 60c/min, a 2:30 minute call would cost you R1.80 (60c for three minutes). A per second plan that charges you 1c per second will cost you R1.50 for the same call. That means you save 30c between the plans. If you make 100 x 2:30 minute calls a month, you’ll save R360 over the entire year.

Tip #2: “To SMS, or not to SMS”
Understanding your SMS habits can do a lot towards reducing your cell phone bill. If you spend a lot of time sending SMSs, you may want to consider adding an SMS bundle onto your contract each month.

The price difference?

A Vodacom subscriber, for example, will pay between 35c and 80c per SMS depending on when they send their SMSs. If you buy a bundle (available in units of 20 to 2,000 SMSs per month), you’ll pay between 22.5c and 50c per SMS. That’s another saving of up to 30c per SMS.

Tip #3: Know when you’re most active
If you look on your bill, the minutes you use are divided into two groups: Peak versus off-peak. Peak minutes refer to the time period when cellular phone activity is the heaviest, generally during the day.

So take a good look at when you make the most calls on your next bill. You may find that you spend a lot of your time making personal phone calls during the work day. But, if you change your habits and wait for off-peak hours to start (usually 8pm) you can save yourself a lot of money and even use monthly “free” minutes if you have any available.

If you’re a Vodacom contract holder listen up: In an attempt to get subscribers talking more, Vodacom’s given free off-peak call minutes to its contract subscribers as of the 1st of May. This applies to subscribers on high-end talk packages only, who’ll receive as much as three hours of additional airtime over weekends.

According to TechCentral, Business Call and Frequent Call, subscribers will receive 20 free minutes each month, which they can use either over weekends or on weeknights, while those on the high-end Talk packages will receive up to three hours for use over weekends or 90 minutes for use during off-peak periods during the week. The free minutes, however, don’t apply to lower-end contract packages, such as the Weekender plans. For more details on whether you qualify, contact the Vodacom Customer Services department on 082 111.

If you don’t qualify, don’t fret. You can still make use of Vodacom’s “happy hour” by calling other Vodacom subscribers between 5pm and 8pm. You’ll save up to 50% on an average phone call if you do.

And that brings me to my next point about following your friends…

Tip #4: Follow your friends
Everyone knows it’s cheaper to phone a friend on the same network than it is to phone across networks. But why do many of us choose to ignore this when it comes to renewing our contracts? It’s a mystery really. But by swopping to the service provider the majority of your friends and family are on, you can slash your bill by up to 25%.

Tip #5: Use your landline for local calls
If you’re about to pick up your cell phone to make a local Telkom call, stop right there. Did you know that you’ll save between 30c and R2.28 just by phoning off your landline instead? Yup that’s right, at a mere 67c per minute for each local call (to a number not further than 50km away), using your Telkom line just makes more sense.

Tip #6: Always double check your invoice
Are you paying for extras you don’t even know about? If you are, you’re only going to pick this up by studying your bill intensely. So check for subscription services like Ringtone services, which charge up to R5 per day for you to be a member. By unsubscribing to just one such service, you can save up to R1,800 a year!

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In the name of financial freedom,
 
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