There's a reason your phone bills make you want to scream.
Phone service is a classic example of the "gotcha" contract. You think you're signing up for one price, but when the bill comes it's much higher, larded with overage fees, unexpected charges and services you didn't authorize.
Fortunately, you can do something about all this. Here's your game plan:
First consider your home phone service. Unless reception in your home is poor, you typically can save money by using your cell for your long-distance calls, said Jody Rohlena, editor of ShopSmart magazine, a sister publication of Consumer Reports.
You might save even more by dropping your land line entirely, but Rohlena worries you may regret that decision if you ever need to call 911. Emergency operators can find land-line addresses easily if you can't talk, because those are wired into the system. Not so cell numbers.
Some options:
- An easy solution for people who want the wired-in 911 service is to downgrade their landline to basic phone service with no long-distance privileges, which typically costs about $15 a month, Sullivan said. The phone companies don't advertise basic service, he said, but most offer it.
- If it's just the convenience of the home handset you'd miss, you can find Bluetooth-enabled cordless phones that allow you to use your cell service with a home handset. The handsets can also help you make calls in any cell "dead zones" of your house.
- Internet phone service can offer significant savings for those who want or need a land line. MagicJack, which connects your phone to your computer for unlimited calling, costs $40 a year (but the software you download allows MagicJack to display ads on your computer). Vonage plugs into your high-speed modem and allows you to use your existing phone system for about $25 a month. To use Skype, you can use either a computer microphone and speakers or purchase a Skype-enabled phone. Unlimited calls to U.S. and Canadian land lines costs $2.95 a month; for $12.95 a month, you can get unlimited calls to land lines in more than 40 countries worldwide.
- Digital phone service, offered by cable companies and other providers over broadband connections, usually includes unlimited local and domestic long distance calling, as well as features such as call forwarding and caller ID, all for around $40 a month. You typically can register your number with your carrier to get 911 address location service.
But these services have another downside: If the Internet goes out or the power goes off, you have no phone. With old-fashioned land-line service, you can plug a nonelectric handset into the wall and still have service.
If you're intrigued by digital phone service, check into whether you can save by bundling it with your high-speed Internet and/or television service, Rohlena recommended.
Re-evaluate your cell plan. An informal Consumer Reports poll found two-thirds of respondents failed to use all their cell plan minutes each month. So "the A-No. 1 way to save on your cell phone is to get the right plan for your calling pattern," said Elisabeth Leamy, ABC News consumer correspondent and the author of "Save Big: Cut Your Top 5 Costs and Save Thousands." The variables include:
- How many anytime minutes you use.
- Whom you call frequently.
- How many lines you need.
- How much data you need (for e-mail and Web browsing).
- How much you text.
The problem, Leamy said, is that cell-phone companies "offer a zillion different plans that are all just slightly different, making it almost impossible to compare plans at one carrier, not to mention at multiple carriers."
Impossible, that is, unless you have help.
Continued: Web sites that can help you save