10 Ways
To Reduce Your Phone Bill

1. Dump that Analog Phone!
We've got news for you--that same old flip phone that you've been using since George Bush was in office is costing you money! Sure, it still works great, but most carriers today are offering 10-25% discounts on their digital service, compared to the rates you're paying. More importantly, PCS service providers, which have nothing but digital phones, have dropped rates for cellular service as much as 50% in the last two years. Okay, digital phones may not be free, but you will save in the next six months of airtime charges the $50 - $250 dollars you spend today for a new digital phone. Plus you'll get a lot more features and benefits from your digital phone.

2. Make Sure You're on the Right Rate Plan.
Don't underestimate the power of competition--rates have dropped. PCS Service providers introduced their service at prices significantly below that of their cellular competitors. And cellular competitors have adjusted their prices in response. But most importantly, you're calling needs, and calling habits, have changed. That rate plan that met all of your needs two years ago is woefully inadequate compared to the offers being thrown out there today. You should do a rate plan analysis at least once every six months--not sure how? No problem. We'll be glad to help. Tell us where you live, how many minutes each month you use on average, and how much you currently spend for cellular phone usage each month, and we can tell you which cellular carrier would provide the most cost-effective service for you.

3. Know why you're making the call, and stick to the agenda
"…How are you doing? How was your weekend?" Chit-chat may be acceptable in normal office telephone conversations, but when calling from a cellular phone, don't be afraid of sounding like a New Yorker--cut to the chase! (If you are a New Yorker, you don’t have anything to worry about). You called for a specific reason; ask your question, get your answer, and then get off the phone. Don't get sidetracked with office gossip--you can catch up on that later. And never, never say "okay" when the receptionist says "do you mind holding?"

4. Eliminate Roaming and Long Distance Charges.
Okay, you can't always stay at home, nor limit yourself to calling your next door neighbor. Several carriers, including AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS, and Nextel, offer nationwide rate plans with no roaming charges nor long distance charges. Normally, Long Distance charges from a cellular phone are just as high, or higher, as the cellular airtime, and roaming charges can be as high as four times, or more, your local charges. These National Calling Plans offer extremely attractive airtime charges, even if you don't use a lot of long distance or roaming minutes. If you travel or make a lot of long distance calls, you can save a quite a bit of money using these plans. 

5. Make Sure You're Not Paying Too Much for Long Distance
Long distance carriers have been locked in a price war that’s driving long distance rates down, so the plan you signed up for a year ago may be costing you money. When MCI added 5 cent Sundays, AT&T quickly responded with 5 cent Weekends. Sprint is now offering 2 ½ cent Weekends, and Qwest is offering 5 cents per minute 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The monthly fees may vary, so read the fine print. If you use over $45 per month, Qwest currently has the best all around package with it’s Q.home plan. Q.home offers 5 cents per minute anytime with a $14.95 monthly fee if you sign up for credit card billing. Qwest also includes a personal 800 number for 10 cents/min and a calling card for 10 cents/min with no surcharge per call. For more info on Qwest’s Q.home plan, click here.

6. Know Who is Calling You
Some calls you want to take; some you don't. Caller ID lets you see who is calling- so you can decide whether to answer the phone. Knowing who is on the other end has its benefits; you may want your boss to go to voicemail, but answer the call from your spouse, or vice versa. Caller ID is only available on digital phones through most carriers. Or you can use a pager with your cellular phone, if you can't get Caller ID. Instead of giving out your cellular phone number, give everyone your pager number. That way you can decide which calls to return, and when to return them. For example, if you’re only five minutes from the office when someone pages you, you may decide to wait until you get there to return the call from a regular landline phone, rather than chew up more airtime on your cellular phone.

7. First Incoming Minute Free
Many carriers offer the first minute of an incoming call free of charges. Although the carriers assume that you will make your cellular phone number more available because of this, if you use this feature to your advantage, you can save significantly on your cellular bill. Make sure that you know the terms and conditions of "first incoming minute free"; sometimes the carrier will require you to make calls that last more than a minute to receive the benefit of this feature. But, hey, we all can say a lot in a minute!

8. Check your voicemail from a landline phone.
Although most cellular carriers do not charge airtime when someone leaves a voice mail message for you, they do charge you when you retrieve messages from you cellular phone. Most digital phones provide you with voice mail notification--your phone receives a message notifying you that you have a voice mail message you haven't heard. Why? So you retrieve the message right away, usually from your cellular phone. You can reduce your cellular phone bill significantly by retrieving your messages from a landline phone.

9. Don't get Trapped by Convenience
I'll let you in on a secret…the cellular industry knows if they can provide you with "anytime, anywhere" communications capabilities, you'll use it! Little Bobbie just scored a goal? Who wouldn't want to tell the world! Just understand that the phone call you make to tell everyone about Bobbie's achievement has a cost associated with it. Sometimes, those conversations are better reserved for the dinner table.

10. Turn your phone off
Every cellular phone has a power button. You can turn the phone off, if you want. In fact, there are some places you should turn your phone off…the Board Meeting, the Broadway Show, the restaurant, even the movie theater, to name a few. If you're afraid of missing important phone calls, get voice mail on your cellular phone. It's just like an answering machine for your cellular phone (just make sure you have read item #6). And in the event that you just have to know if someone is calling you, you can use the phone like a pager (even putting some cellular phones in vibrate mode) so that you know that you got that call, even if you didn't actually answer it.