Saving Money on Phone Service

It’s amazing to me how some people will spend $200 a month for a fancy cell phone, when there are so many inexpensive options available. Here are a few I use or suggest.

Free	Google Voice	You can forward any incoming phone calls to your Google Voice phone number. Google Voice will record the call, transcribe it and send it to you email address.You can then send an SMS text message (FREE) to the number which called you. What I like about this is that I don’t have to talk to marketers and people who I’d rather forget.You can look at the email and just delete it. Note – some companies may charge you for call forwarding – mine (T-Mobile) does not. You can also enable “Do Not Disturb” on Google Voice so that the message is instantly recorded and transcribed. Google Talk is like Skype, just computer to computer, but I’m hoping that in the future I can use that feature to integrate it with Google Voice and be able place calls to a phone via my computer.
2 cents/minute – Call England	Google Voice	I use Google Voice to call my England number. It then calls my cell phone and connects me to England phone number.
2 cents/minute – call any phone in the Continental US	Skype	I use my USB VOIP phone  by Vondoo – $20
$2.95/mo	Skype	Call anywhere in the continental U.S. and Canada. Use a USB phone or headset. I don’t use this now, but the price is certainly cheap enough.
$10/mo	T-Mobile@Home	This uses a router and seems great except you have to already have a cell phone package with them and sign a 2 year contract.
$50/month	T-Mobile	Cell phone – Two Lines – 1000 minutes/mo.(This is my main phone.) Note – they don’t offer this anymore.
$25/month	Vonage	Internet Phone – I used to have this but had problems. I still need a cell-phone, and this is certainly higher than TMoible @Home
$45/month	Straight Talk	Unlimited minutes and Text in U.S. (I don’t have this – I need two lines.)
Overseas	Article	Buy a cheap phone in the country you are visiting and a new SIM card with 1000 minutes. When you go to a new country, buy a different SIM card for that country. (I haven’t tried this, but will on some upcoming trips.)
What’s Your Plan and How Do You Save $$$ ?

The $2.95/month Phone Plan

As my wife’s retirement edges closer to reality, I’ m realizing that my 1000 minutes per month Family plan from T-Mobile is not going to hack it any more.

The question is, how can I get more minutes without having to pay through the nose? One answer is the Skype subscription plan. For $2.95/month I can make unlimited calls to anyone in the U.S. and Canada.

The bad news is that if you search the Skype user forums, there are lots of  people upset with the poor customer service Skype provides. They have no phone number you can call and make it very hard to ask a simple question as I found out.  Buyer Beware.