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How To Get Rid Of Phone And Internet Bills
How We Saved Over $400 on Communications Bills.
Our parents and grandparents phone bills were much less than what Scott and I were paying for add on services to our regular phone and cellular service. Somehow we had become numb to forking out hundreds of dollars a month for communications services. Our parents didn't have internet bills, cable bills, satellite radio bills, GPS premium navigation service fees or any of the nonsense we were paying as much as a car payment for.
Free 411 From Google Saves $20 A Month
I couldn't believe how much we were spending for things like 411 calls and the premium traffic updates on our Garmin GPS. We ditched that for a savings of $6.00 a month and to cut down on the info calls, began using Google 411 for free information calls. (Free Google 411 is 1-800-466-4411) We now save about $20.00 using free 411.
It was time to get rid of the phone and internet bills as well and figure out how to get by another way.
First Scott and I reduced our cell phone plans to 1000 shared minutes. Since we get free calls to each other and other Verizon customers, plus free nights and weekends this was not a terrible hardship. Total savings for this was $80.00 We also ditched web browsing on our cell phones, but kept text messaging, for a savings of $40.
Next we ditched the XM radio service bill for a savings of $28.00. Both of us have iPods and we have enough music to last for years. Besides, we are planning on getting a couple of the new HD radios, that pick up local digital stations for free, this Christmas.
Our Roadrunner high speed cable internet was costing us $45.00 a month. We had Southwestern Bell home phone service with a nationwide long distance plan, that cost us $80.00
How We Got Rid Of Half Our Internet Bill by Sharing With The Folks. Savings: $24.00
See: How To Use Long Range Wi-Fi Panel Antennas For Free Internet
Scott had an idea after seeing an article on using long range WiFi antennas to share a wireless internet connection. Scott's parents live just down the road and have broadband internet as well. They are about a mile away. We discussed the idea of sharing their broadband internet and paying half of the bill.
We bought an Engenius USB wireless adapter and a high gain panel antenna for our end and a small magnetic mount antenna for their Linksys router that we stuck outside of their home. It's a pretty clear shot to their home with only a few trees in between.
We use the same WPA security key to keep the connection secure on both ends and we now have internet on our home office computer at half the cost we were paying before.
See How to get free internet with long range WiFi antennas Savings from sharing internet with our parents home a half mile away: $24.00, Savings from using Skype for home phone service, about $
How We Got Rid Of The Phone Bill. Using Funny Headsets To Call For Free Saves $870.00
Our sexy Skype Headset
Southwestern Bell was costing us almost $1000.00 a year. Skype proved to be a good replacement. We signed up for a local phone number and the plan that allows you to call anywhere in the U.S. and Canada for free. Total cost per year is $70.00 for a savings of about $870.00 a year over regular phone service. You can get incoming calls by leaving your P.C. on, with the speaker turned up. It has voicemail, caller ID and almost everything else our old phone service had. I don't mind looking like the Shamwow salesman with my headset on, and it actually is nice to work on the computer and talk hands free. Skype makes some USB phones that look just like regular telephones as well, with a handset and cradle.
How We Got Rid Of The Cable Bill. Free TV and Netflix Replace Cable. One Less Monthly Bill. Saves $60.00
Scott disliked the idea of losing his cable channels, but for the game that isn't on one of the six over-the-air TV channels we get (including 5 in HD), he can go to a friend's house. We got a over-the-air HD antenna from Radio Shack for $60, which picks up HD very well. We got rid of the cable TV bill entirely and joined the Netflix 3 DVD at a time program, so we get as many movies as we can watch, as long as we remember to mail the watched ones back in. Netflix takes only two days for turnaround where we live. Scott is looking into a Free To Air satellite system, see: http://ehelpfultips.com/how_to_get_free_satellite_tv_wit.htm for some extra channels. Total savings for ditching cable TV, after cost of Netflix, $60.00
Total Monthly Savings From Cutting Internet, Phone Bills, etc. about $439.00
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