Because we often incur recurring monthly fees to enjoy them, the financial impact of telecom services may even be more important than you think. As we already talked about, Reducing Recurring Expenses is A Great Strategy to Save. In fact, it could immensely help you build wealth. As previously mentioned, saving only 10$ each month could translate into a couple hundred thousand (not just a couple 100$ or 1K$ but rather, a couple 100K$) dollars more in your pocket over your lifetime. Just imagine the impact of a monthly saving of 25$, 50$ or even 100$.
In the end, this type of simple recurring savings could even make you a millionaire or prevent you from becoming one. That’s why we believe trying to reduce your monthly recurring telecom bill is a great idea for your long-term financial wellbeing.
We don’t have all the answers about it. We will try to stir up the discussion or help start your reflection by providing and commenting a list of ideas to deflate your telecom costs. There sure exist a lot of different opportunities to save or avoid unnecessary expenses in the telecom realm. Note that the list is not exhaustive and is presented in no particular order.
Ideas to Deflate Telecom Costs
1 Speaking of recurrent profitable savings, we’ll start off with a recurring theme from us lately. Indeed, Just Asking for a Telecom Reduction might be the simplest approach to go about it. As some of you might know from Our Post from a Few Weeks Back, we personally obtained more than a 40$ monthly rebate after a brief exchange over the phone. To add to it, my father also easily got about a $50 reduction using the same scheme.
Some might say that we were paying too much in the first place, but we still ended up paying less than before all the recent increases. It seems like many telecom providers are systematically hitting their clients with substantial price hikes. Only those who complain get their fees adjusted back to reasonable levels. You don’t have anything to lose by asking, apart from a few minutes of your time. A few minutes well invested from what we experienced. At worse, your provider will just say no. You can make it a habit to call them every year or two.
2 Landline phones are a thing of the past. Several cheaper and more advanced replacement options are accessible out there.
If you already use a cellphone or have access to the Internet, you could easily ditch your landline phone for good. In our case, it was still a very painful decision as my wife was very attached to her home phone and the additional (false) sense of security it provided.
3 Another way to lower or even avoid communication costs is to use free Internet applications like Skype or Facetime. In this day and age, it’s almost a cardinal sin to pay for long distance calls.
Furthermore, your kids will appreciate video images now added on top of your voice. Maybe they’ll miss you a little less. Not our style to make some publicity, but Google is now in the mix as well with Duo.
Less known services can offer a myriad of possibilities. Just always be careful on what private information you could (not always knowingly) give out.
For our trips, someone recommended us a neat application, Fongo. It allows you to make international phone calls often at no charge. It’s less demanding than video calling options but still requires a viable Internet connexion. So, it will work in most hotels but probably not in Cuba. Kids can even use Fongo for local calls from school without having an actual phone. It can be used, for instance, with an iPod.
4 More and more, free content is accessible via the Web. Even traditional TV channels now provide contents free of charge and get revenues from publicity. For users, the key is having effective Internet access.
In fact, contents now available thru the web offer a wide range of interesting entertaining possibilities. These offerings are also improving with every day.
5 In that context, the added value of subscribing to cable can be quite limited. The younger generation has grown up thriving on web content and many of them can easily get by without cable.
Pulling the plug on good old comfortable cable may not be that obvious for older folks. But it probably only practically means that frenetically zapping thru boring channels won’t be an option for your lonely Friday nights anymore.
Because it can be a very sensible financial decision profitable for you in the long run, be courageous and get rid of obsolete cable. And yes, you’ll have to do it even if you find the technician cute. Remember movies, that cable guy can sometimes be dangerous.
6 With or without cable, many will be tempted by appealing paying services like Netflix.
We often profit and used these subscriptions a lot in the first few weeks or months then forget about them after a while but continue paying for them every month. As they might be the perfect complement for some, they usually can be a recurrent waste of money for most. Especially that, more often than not, the same contents are now available for free elsewhere.
So, take a moment to review your recurring subscriptions as it might be a wise decision to dump some. Also remember their perpetual effect on your long-haul finances.
7 In the same fashion, packaged or limited options can become a great money saver. For instance, many phone plans now come with a butch of included options. Maybe you could switch to one that better suits your need.
You should cancel options you only sporadically use. Maybe you should consider paying some of them only when you use them. Many options, like group calling can be used and paid that way.
Once again, saving 5$ a month may first seem trivial, but the recurrent long-term effect can be overwhelming.
8 One great way to save on options may come to you from the past. Indeed, using a good old answering machine may be much cheaper than pledging to a recurrent voice mail monthly plan.
Many home cordless phone system already included an answering device. Simply use it instead of paying additional fees.
Another interesting possibility is to use web answering systems. Some of them even come free of charge.
9 Shopping around is always a good idea with all things consumption related. The telecom realm is no different.
Because offers and products are so diversified in that vast domain, the problem may be to compare apples to apples. We would suggest focussing only on what you need to narrow your search and possibilities.
Be careful about clever marketing that may lure you into buying more than necessary. It makes no sense getting a great deal on something you don’t need or won’t use that much anyway.
10 Even thought it’s probably considered as a necessity by most, when you think about it, many of us don’t even need a portable phone. We already have phones at home and at work where we spend most of our time. In the end, having a phone only transforms a lot of us into real danger on the road.
Forgive me for judging but I’m shocked when I see people struggling to pay for basic needs with a smartphone or a cellphone. Some may even have the latest model with a ton of features and the big fat monthly payment that comes with it.
Today’s smart devices can still be amazing. We just have to make sure we have real use and can truly afford to pay for them.
11 If you get rid of your phone or at least, its associated expensive monthly plan, you still could recycle it. You could use it as an emergency phone. It also can be a great alternative as a first phone for your kids.
Just be sure not to enroll in recurrent monthly fees only to use it once in a while.
12 Another great way to reduce fees is to use prepaid or pay as you go services for your emergency phone.
With many smart devices, you can access Internet free of charge. An emergency phone should not cost you that much if you only use it in situations where you don’t have that type of free access. It will still be available if you get into real trouble elsewhere.
Different Avenues to Affordably Cover Your Telecom Needs
We feel like we’ve only scratched the surface and as you can see, we’ve already discussed a lot of possibilities to cover your telecom requirements. Because everybody is in a completely unique and different situation, no secret one-size-fits-all solution exist to fulfill telecom needs. It is not that different from any other aspects in life.
We would also suggest not to forget about your means. Consider having an objective to reduce your monthly consumption of telecoms. Any expense amount can be acceptable as long as you measure its long-term financial impact and are willing to pay for what you ultimately need.
Don’t hesitate to think a little outside the box. For instance, some will invest in a robust Internet connexion and save a lot by obtaining almost everything else for free. Others will be better served with basic features on multiple services.
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