How To Lower Your Phone Bill Today – Best Practices
![lower call center bills main](https://www.cloudtalk.io/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/banner_newsletter_27.12.21_main2-1024x538.png)
Every company has mandatory expenses that simply can’t be skipped. These could include, for example, company insurance, employees’ wages, office rental costs, and many more.
Therefore, you should take serious steps in order to maintain a stable financial position. Luckily, there are costs that can be reduced. Phone bills are one of them.
If your company uses business phones and you’re looking for ways to cut down on various expenditures, keep reading. In this piece, we will share our top practices for lowering your phone bill.
First – Why Should You Lower Your Phone Bill?
A lower phone bill, obviously, means fewer expenses and more money for your business. Some of the ways how you benefit from a lower phone bill include:
- allocating the saved money to other, more important aspects of your business (e.g. marketing)
- Advantageous deal: receiving the same or even better phone service for the same or lower price
- simply enjoying a larger budget and having more money to spend on a potentially attractive opportunity
The 7 Best Techniques To Lower Your Phone Bill Today
Now that you are reminded how you benefit from a much smaller invoice for your next phone bill, let’s find out how you can do that.
Find the best phone solution for your business
#1 Switch to a prepaid carrier
One of the first things you should do is switch from a contract to a prepaid type of subscription.
The plan is simple: instead of paying a fixed amount of money every month, you only pay for the services you actually use. It works either by paying a specific amount of money in advance and adding it to your balance, or paying small portions of money after each phone call / at a specific time.
A very common mistake that companies make is choosing the wrong subscription plan or, even worse, signing a contract for a fixed amount of time. As a result, you’ll be stuck in an expensive plan you don’t like for years..
The biggest benefit? Much lower monthly cost. Prepaid phone plans are typically cheaper than contract plans. When you use such a service, you essentially buy exactly what you need – with no unnecessarily overpriced extras included. This solution is perfect for companies with a dynamic nature where some months are busy and others are rather quiet.
#2 Sign up for automatic payments
Number two on our list is signing up for automatic payments, instead of manually making transactions at the end of each billing month. It can turn out that quite a lot of providers offer attractive discounts when customers allow for prepayments to be made regularly. It could be something from $5 up to even $15 off your bill each month.
#3 Remove your phone insurance
The devil is in the details – it’s fair to say this common saying is very fitting here. Many cell phone carriers offer various, often attractive protection plans. Such plans can include additional features and access to enhanced services such as 24/7 technical support, extended warranties, and more. Chances are that 99% of the time, you won’t need any of those additions.
What can you do then? Most reputable carriers will most likely give you the possibility to cancel your insurance plan and stop paying for it. If that’s not the case, provided that there is no subscription cancellation fee, you could cancel your current contract and start a new one. Without overpriced phone insurance. It will allow you to save on some costs and you will actually pay for what you get.
Don’t worry about not having phone insurance, though. Many carriers usually offer standard insurance plans that are already included in your bill. Only premium plans can turn out to be quite pricey. Avoid those at all costs if you want your phone bill to shrink ever smaller.
#4 Add more lines
Sometimes more is less – at least when it comes to phone services. Our next piece of advice: add more lines. This may appear counterintuitive, since adding more lines will ultimately increase your bill. But it’s actually smart, as long as you meet some conditions. When you add more lines, you can split the costs with other people and your bill will automatically get smaller. It’s a win-win.
Now let’s put this into perspective. Imagine that your current provider offers one line for $50. Adding one extra line costs $30. Together, you’ve got an $80 bill each month for your phone service with two lines. Here comes the magic: when you only need one line, you can find someone to share the other one with. As a result, you will both be paying only $40 for one phone line. In a year, that adds up to a saving of $120.
#5 Skip the phone upgrade
Many phone upgrades work like this. You get no significant changes that would benefit your company, or feasibly improve your experience, but you pay for it anyways. Now, we know what you’re thinking. Why would I do something like this?
Well, phone carriers have their ways to trick you into thinking you’re getting an upgrade that will change your life, when in fact you don’t. How can you avoid becoming a victim of such upgrades?
First of all, do some research and find out more about the new upgrade the carrier offers. Does it include any new, significant changes for you? If yes, it’s time for step two. Is the upgrade worth the money? Think about whether or not you and your callers actually need it.
Just then make your final decision. And the most important aspect to consider – how the potential upgrade will influence your overall bill? Does the cost come via a single payment or a regular addition to your current bill? Just after you have considered all these variables, make your final decision.
#6 Update your service address
This is one of those sneaky, but still, completely possible ways to start reducing your phone bill. All you have to do is think smart and take advantage of any potential possibilities life can throw at you. When you’re a phone service user, you surely know that there are various taxes and fees included in your bill. You can reduce those taxes and fees easily by simply updating your service address.
This step is great for companies with international teams working from various countries, where different laws can apply regarding the costs associated with using phone call services.
For example, in the US each state has its own laws and a person moving from Illinois to Wisconsin could save around $100 each year.
#7 Opt for toll-free numbers and a VoIP phone system
Last but not least, one of the most beneficial steps you could make is opting for a toll-free number or a reliable VoIP phone system, like CloudTalk. Or both. Either option is a much cheaper alternative and saves money.
Toll-free numbers are special numbers that allow all your customers to call you for free, or to split the cost of a call between you and them. That essentially contributes to lowering your phone bill. It’s a great way to facilitate communication. This type of number helps small businesses eliminate financial barriers. Once you take the worry of high phone bills off your mind, you can focus on more important business aspects.
As for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone systems, they actually are much cheaper compared to traditional solutions like landlines. This is due to the fact that VoIP uses an already existing Internet connection, and doesn’t need separate hardware. That leads to a much more cost-effective solution.
Some VoIP software, including CloudTalk, also offer toll-free numbers as an embedded feature in their plans.
Start Saving Money On Your Phone Bills Now
If you thought that the only way to save money on your phone bills is to stop calling, this article was definitely useful for you. As you can see, keeping your phone for a lower price is much easier than it seems. You simply need to look for ways to make it happen.
If you run a business and pay close attention to your budget, with our simple steps, you may notice financial growth in your bank account very quickly.
Did you enjoy this article? Make sure you check out other publications on our blog.
And if we got you interested in switching to a VoIP calling system, we’re here for you. Check out CloudTalk website and the rich variety of features we offer.