A year ago, I was spending over $300 per month on telephone expenses. Today, I am down to $100!
How did I do it? By testing some suggestions I made in last year’s article on phone expenses. When I wrote that article, telephone developments were already remarkable. Who could have imagined unlimited long distance 20 years ago? In those days we paid dollars for every minute. Now basic local service and unlimited long distance are cheap. So, why complain? The answer is that it could be even better, folks, a lot better!
When I started my quest, I was spending $45 for my house line, $75 for my work and fax lines, and $185 a month for six cell phone lines. Only one was a smartphone, and it had a very small data plan. Total cost: over $300 a month. My bill now, for all that, plus a generous data plan, is 66 percent less. Let’s look at the details.
Who Needs a Fax Line?
It used to be that a fax line proved you were up on the latest. Now it’s a sign you are behind the times. Yes, add faxing to the list of things that the internet has rendered obsolete. The new way to transfer documents is to scan and email them to be printed by the recipient. I still need a fax line for work situations, however. It is an online “virtual” fax line. The caller hears the phone ring, but there is no ringing occurring on my end. Rather, the fax comes to my email as an attachment. That means that I can receive the fax wherever I am on my smartphone and even see it. I can save the fax documents to a paperless file and never have to print anything: less paper, less toner, less confusion, more organization. The cost? Six dollars a month! For those of you who receive very few faxes per month, there are free online fax services. Or, you can ask a relative or friend to receive faxes as an email attachment and to forward them to you. It is not much of a bother to do that.
You might be wondering how I send faxes without a fax machine. Well, my computer printer (a four-in-one machine) also functions as a fax machine. It works like this: I have one office line, which runs from the wall, through the printer/fax machine, to my office telephone. I set the fax function to never answer the phone; it is only for outgoing faxes. I am therefore able to send a fax whenever I need to without paying for a separate fax line.
Ooma…Oh My!
I had heard of Ooma for a while and finally decided to try it. The Ooma company sells a machine that connects to your computer and provides free telephone service forever. (You do need to have internet access, of course, but there is no need to leave your computer on.) The technology is called VoIP, which stands for “voice over internet.” (Other companies that offer VoIP are Vonage, Magic Jack, and many others.) Instead of your voice traveling over the wires on the telephone pole, you are talking over the internet. The voice quality, while not perfect, is pretty close to it, so I am satisfied. The added benefits, however, is what makes me really love it.
The price is unbeatable. After buying the answering-machine-size Ooma device, for $100, I pay about $200 per year ($17 per month) for two lines! That covers the taxes and $100 per year for premium service. So “free” is not exactly free. Still, imagine getting two lines for under $20 a month. These lines come with unlimited long distance and also have voicemail and all the traditional add-ons, such as call waiting, call forwarding, etc. The premium service gives me two lines, and every time someone leaves a message, I get a text with the caller ID. That means I know about messages instantly, no matter where I am, and can call back as soon as possible, instead of “listening to my messages” once a day and discovering that someone needed me several hours ago. Essentially, my answering machine is stored online, and I never have a backlog of messages. Of course, I can listen to my messages from anywhere. I love it!
Ooma is saving me over $800 a year and is providing better service. You might be wondering what happens when my internet is down? Answer: I cannot talk on the phone! But I still get messages to my cell phone. Furthermore, I can use my smartphone to go to Ooma’s website and “call forward” all calls to my cell number. When the electricity returns, I simply reset it to the normal setup. (Hopefully, I will soon be testing some simple indoor electric generators to keep the internet running during a blackout.)
Selling Cells
Cell companies provide their customers with free or reduced price cell phones. All who agree with this statement, please say “aye.” If you said aye, you are wrong. Come on, folks, do you really think that any one is going to give you a free top-of-the-line smartphone for free or even for $200? AT&T has finally come clean and admitted to its customers that the cost of that phone is included in the monthly charges. That’s when I suddenly realized that the phone I thought was free was actually costing me hundreds of dollars to buy.
Now, when a family member needs a cell phone, I buy it on eBay. A decent phone that can text and has a pullout keyboard can be had for $25 to $50, depending on the condition. All you have to do is slip your SIM card out of the old phone and insert it into the new phone. (Just make sure that the new phone is “unlocked.” I also only buy AT&T phones, since they provide my service.) No need to accept “free” phones from the cell company, and no need to sign two-year contracts. I had been obligating myself to fork over upwards of $5,000 over a two-year period in order to receive a cell phone that I could buy for so little.
I am considering upgrading my smartphone. My Samsung Galaxy 2 came out almost four years ago, which, in the world of smartphones, is “elderly.” AT&T gave it to me for $10 (refurbished) when I complained that my old phone was not working right. It keeps freezing, forcing me to yank out the battery to force a turn-off and then turn it back on. If I buy a new one, I will have to fork over $400 to $600. That is the “real price,” meaning what it sells for on the open market.
So, now that you are going to resist the urge to pay 30 extra dollars a month for two years for your new cell phone, let’s talk just service. AT&T had $25-a-month deal for smartphones and $20 a month for regular (dumb) phones. Seemed like a decent deal to me. The problem was that it came with so little data (internet use allotment) that my smartphone could hardly help me. Then they came out with a great deal: If you buy 10 gigabytes of data for $100 a month, they will reduce the cost per line to $15 a month. I went for that deal and invited friends of ours to join in with my plan. Bottom line: We are sharing the data usage, and we’re all saving money.
An example: Let’s say that five couples need smartphones; that is 10 lines. Since no one couple needs 10 gig of data, no one is eligible for the $15 deal. If they join together, however, they can sign up for the 10 gig and their costs will be as follow: 10 lines times 15 equals $150. The data part costs $100. Total is $250. Assume tax is $40, so the monthly total is $290. Hence, each couple pays under $60 a month for two smartphones with unlimited talk and text, and each person can use one gig of data per line. Any one person might go over the one gig ration, but someone else will most likely go under, so who cares? That is a great deal, considering that you are getting AT&T service, which I think is excellent, at least here in Baltimore. A little deal brokering, and you will be saving thousands.
The Internet
Ooma – or any VoIP – requires high speed internet. We used to have Verizon, but it was too slow, so we switched to Comcast. They came out and ran a new wire from the telephone pole to my office. The voice quality is much better. Regarding the cost, Comcast is always wheeling and dealing. They will give you a price for one year or even half a year. When the trial period ends and the price jacks up, be prepared to call them and see what deals they can offer you. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. We are now paying between $50 and $60 a month.
By the way, if any of you readers knows of a decent internet service that is less than $50 per month, please let me know. Meanwhile, there are many situations where neighbors can share one internet service. I have heard of people in semi-detached houses doing this and it works. If you can implement it, you will save at least $600 per year.
TV Talk
Most internet/phone packages come bundled with cable TV. Folks, I would not pay a dollar extra for TV service. In fact, I think I would pay the company not to have it in my home. There is so much news and information on the internet, who has time for cable TV? You need to ask the company if you can get a lower price if you don’t get TV. They may not agree, but either way, I would say, drop TV, and you can do good deeds and learn more Torah in the time saved.
In conclusion, I see people who are spending several hundred dollars per month on phone and cable TV service. They could be enjoying the same or even better service for a whole lot less. All you have to do is to try out some new tricks and coordinate with friends and family, and you are on your way.
Eli Pollock is a CPA in Baltimore. He can be reached at elipollock2@yahoo.com.
