Top Tips on Reducing Your Mobile Phone Bills
Most of us have mobile phones and the bills can be really high. We may get used to paying a certainly monthly fee or a certain amount per call and so you may not think about it. However, if you could reduce the amount that you are paying, you could find that it will make a significant difference to how much you are spending each month and so it is worth giving it some thought. There are a few thinsg that you can try and some of them are explained below.
Change Providers
It is worth comparing the costs of different providers. There are now quite a lot of companies that provide mobile phone packages, whether you use pay as you go or are on a contract.
There are four UK mobile networks:
Any other companies piggyback on the signals of one of the above.
It is worth looking at what you have and what you are paying and compare it with what other companies are offering. Some people may worry that if they switch, they will have to change their phone number. However, you can take your phone number with you, by getting hold of a certain code and your current and new mobile phone company will be able to let you know how to do this. It can be very simple and could mean that you could save a significant amount of money.
Change Contracts
If you do not want to swap providers, then a change of contract could save you money. You may have a fee if you swap contracts and so it is worth taking a look at the terms. Work out how much it costs to change and how long you have left with that particular contract. Then look at the alternatives and see whether there are any that are significantly cheaper and could be worth changing to right away. Otherwise it might be worth looking at what might be good to change to once your contract has finished. It is good to look at your useage and see whether you make full use of what is offered in your contract. If you do not, then it is worth thinking aboutw hat sort of contract might suit you better.
Use Landline/PC
If you have a landline phone, then it could be cheaper to use this for calls rather than your mobile. This will all depend on how you have it set up. It is possible to have free calls to other landlines on a landline and possibly even free calls to mobiles. This could make calls cheaper than with mobile phones depending on the contract. Some mobile phone contract also have free calls, but it is not worth having free calls on both mobile and landline so look at which is the cheapest and consider just using this. Of course, there will usually be other benefits as well, such as data and texts on mobiles and possibly broadband and TV with the landline, so you need to consider these as well. It could be cheaper to use your PC if you want to go online or use your home wi-fi when at home, rather than your data. Getting the right combination can be tricky to calculate but it can be wise to consider whether it would be cheaper to just use one or the other rather than both.
Reduce Use
If you can use your mobile phone less, then you may be able to move onto a cheaper package or pay less on pay as you go. This is something which will take a concerted effort form you. You will need to monitor your usage and try to use it less. This might mean cutting short your phone calls, sending less texts or using less data. You could try to use free data when you visit coffee shops, libraries and shops, or see if you can speak to people face to face rather than using your phone. You could always use Skype, facetime or similar to chat to them when you are able to use a wi-fi signal. This is probably the hardest one to do as it can take a big effort from you and may mean that you reduce your online activities or communications with your friends and family, but it may encourage you to see more of people in person.
