Reducing Your Long Distance Phone Bill Charges
Saving on long distance phone calls used to be straight forward and fairly simple. Call after 11:00 pm on weekdays or on weekends. The downside was that the savings were limited. Today the opposite situation exists. There are a wide variety of ways to save on long distance phone calls, but understanding all the options out there can be worse than trying to work yourself through a maze.
Before you even begin to think about ways of lowering your long distance bill, you need to take a critical look at your personal calling habits. The way you utilize the phone will have a great effect on the long distance service that will provide you the greatest savings. For example, if you are a heavy long distance user with bills over $25 a month, choosing a plan with a monthly fee, but lower per minute rates, probably makes sense. Those who only call long distance occasionally will most likely find the best savings with a plan that has no monthly fee, but charges a slightly higher per minute fee. Once you know your own calling habits, you will be in a position to significantly cut your current phone bill.
The first step is to compare your current long distance rates to see if you are getting the best deal out there for your basic long distance provider. If you are like most people, you have probably stayed with the same phone plan for a number of years because changing just didn't seem worth the hassle. While in the past comparing different long distance phone rates would have been an arduous task, the Internet has made it quite simple. Sites such as
LowerMyBills.com
will let you quickly compare long distance rates available to you by in-putting your area code and first 3 digits of your phone number. Chances are that this step alone will significantly reduce your long distance charges.
Once you have found a basic long distance plan that saves you the most money, knowing your specific calling habits can help you to save even more money. The next step is to check out "Dial Around" calling plans. Your basic long distance provider will bill you when you make a standard 1-(area code)-(phone number) call from your house. You can, however, use a different company for calls by dialing the access code of another carrier first, and thus "Dialing Around" your basic long distance provider. The 10-10 number is the access code of a dial-around long distance carrier. To use these companies, you simply dial 1010, then the three-digit carrier identification code for the dial around company you have chosen, then the area code and phone number. You can compare the different dial around rates at sites such as 10-10-phonerates.com.
While dial around services can provide further discounts on top of your basic long distance service, they have to be constantly kept up to date. Fees with these services can unexpectedly change and if you don't stay on top of them, you can end up paying more than you should in the long run. An easy alternative for those who want a simple, no hassle domestic long distance discount plan without having to constantly make sure the deal is the best around is to purchase a long distance prepaid card from a discount or warehouse club. While the domestic long distance per minute rate may be slightly more expensive, you know there won't be any unexpected changes in the plan, hidden fees and the rates will be competitive (international rates on these cards have been known to change at times).
Another long distance option that often gets kicked around is using your extra mobile phone minutes towards long distance. Some mobile phone service plans offer long-distance service at no additional cost. Many people have interpreted this to mean "free long distance." A more critical look shows that this isn't really all it's stacked up to be. For example, if you are paying $50 a month for 500 minutes on your mobile phone, but typically only use about 300 minutes, using the extra 200 minutes for long distance on the surface appears to be no cost long distance. A closer look, however, shows that you are paying 10 cents a minute under the plan which is twice as much as you can find elsewhere. Using these extra minutes is better than paying additional long distance fees while not utilizing them, but an even better saving option would be to change your mobile phone plan to better reflect the number of minutes you use each month.
Those looking for the ultimate in lower long distance calls may want to check out Internet long distance. The quality is inconsistent and far from what you'll get from a regular long distance provider, but the prices can't be beat. Prices for computer to computer calls are usually free with calls to regular phones at approximately half the price of other long distance providers. You will need to pay for speakers and a head set if you don't already have them, but there are a number of programs that allow free downloads of the software needed to use this technology.
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