The Budget Room

Most people sooner or later bump in to the serious turn-off to owning mobile- Prices. Strange, incomprehensible bills, incredible charges for things that cost almost nothing on landlines, you name it; the phone industry seems determined to make owning a mobile a sort of punishment for doing business with them. Even ringtones can be a problem, particularly if you get lumbered with a scam ringtone site.

It’s not absolutely necessary to own a business mobile phone to take a vow of poverty and pay bills to feel better about yourself. There are plenty of other ways of going broke; the phone is just an optional extra. It is, believe it or not, possible to have a phone and not be penniless after every bill.

Mobile phone plans- The tricks and the traps

If you don’t look, mobile phone plans, at least the antiquated things still on the retail market for consumers, contain a range of default charges. These are the things that do the damage. You actually have to customize your plan to get the best out of it, and if you’re prepared to spend a bit of time on this process, you can save yourself hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

The trick is to specify what you want on the plan.

For example:

• Do you want 19 or 190 numbers accessible? No, definitely not. They cost a fortune per minute. The 19 and 190 numbers are also the numbers commonly used by scammers.
• Do you want “free call time”? Yes, you do. This is usually an hour per day in a specified region. You’ll be amazed how many phone calls you can make in an hour.
• Do you want special international call rates? Yes, and they can be excellent. If not, you need to be sure you can use phone cards on your mobile. They’re still not necessarily cheap, but they can cost a lot less than the mobile rates.
• Do you want a package bundled with your internet connection? This is usually a better deal than separate suppliers, but not always. Check rates, and see what sort of discount you can get.
• Do you need online plan management? Yes you do. This is also a good way of finding charges and researching better phone plans as they come on-stream.
• Do you want monthly or quarterly billing? Monthly is less of a shock to the system, and you don’t have to find big money at the drop of a bill every 3 months. Go for monthly as the preferred option with any phone plan.
• Do you want free ringtones from the provider? Yes you do. The selection can be excellent, and you don’t have to worry about little “surprises” on the bill for subscriptions. You can always shop around later for a new ringtone, when you feel like it.

These 7 points can save you a lot of money over any billing period. Stick to a game plan, and your phone bill can be managed without a whip and a chair.