14-Jan-2011 13:53

Low Cost Calls & Rentals - a Guest Blog :)

Thanks to Anna B. for her Guest Blog:-

I know I’m not alone in feeling as though I’m in the Dark Ages when it comes to figuring out phone services and various calling plans.

I’m truly not a Luddite, but with the plethora of phones, phone cards, calling cards, long distance phone service options, and local phone service options available, how is the average consumer supposed to make an informed decision?
There are times when I find myself longing for the old days, when British Telecom was the only game in town - or the country, for that matter.

I received a call from my phone company some weeks ago. It turns out that my DSL contract was about to expire.. To be honest, I didn’t even know I had a contract for DSL. I thought I just signed up for it – end of story.

The sales rep on the phone started asking rapid-fire questions about my current phone service and rattled off different types of phone service and rate plans.

I was completely paralyzed.

First, I didn’t understand why, if she was from the phone company, she didn’t already know my calling plan.

Second, I haD a deep distrust in this phone company, and simply wanted to keep my service, and for her to go away.

I told her as much, though very politely, of course.

Needless to say, I was dreading my next phone bill, just in case she messed with my plan.

So in the meantime, I decided to hold my breath and dived into the world of telephony in an attempt to figure out what options were out there.

What I discovered was that there are many new technologies and plans available for virtually every need.

For example, SimplyFone is a great option for people who want to save money on domestic and international long distance while still using their own phone (mobile, home, or business) and not changing companies.

You can simply register your number with them and by dialing 1689 (or 0800 6 191919 from a Cable line) before dialing your number, SimplyFone carry & bill the call per second at rates from less than 1p per minute!

It combines the convenience of a calling card with many of the features found with traditional long distance providers.

VOIP was a possible option if you've high speed
Internet. You may achieve have low cost local and long distance phone but you may have to sacrifice a little quality.

I found Pre-paid phone cards may be ok for people who are traveling or who want to make occasional low cost domestic or international calls. But, when you study the rates, additional costs and per minute billing and T&Cs closely the actual charges are rather high and quality can be pretty low…

Right now, I’ve moved my line rentals (£9.79 +vat p/m) and all my calls over to SimplyFone and the calculations show - I’ve lots of family overseas too - that my savings are about 40% reducing my bill by about £70 a month - that’s over £840 per year which for me is a great saving…

Also, although my mobile phone provider touted low International rates & Int. add-ons, my last bill was astronomical.

By using SimplyFone’s Mobile Override service, by pre-dialling 020 8497 7777 my International calls from my mobile are now exactly the same as if calling from my landline...

A winner all round peeps! Thanks SimplyFone :)