Smarter homes

Cost-cutting tips for your home phone

A study by the Post Office showed that landline phone customers in the UK spend nearly £80 a year more than they planned to on their phone bills. Cut the cost of your home phone by following these tips.

1. Consider a different phone option

The digital age, with mobile phones and the internet, has changed the way we use our landlines and created new, flexible options. Internet calling, free phone call deals and bundles are better value than traditional packages - read more about new ways of calling and see if one suits you.

2. Avoid peak-rate calls

Wait for the evening or weekend to make calls, rather than during the day when phone charges tend to be higher. If you need to use your phone during peak times, you may be able to reverse your off-peak time band. Ask your company how flexible they are.

3. Discounts for your favourite numbers

Ask your phone company if they give discounts to your most dialled or preferred numbers, as with BT's 'Friends and Family' scheme. It may simply be a case of activating the discount over the phone to start making savings.

4. Avoid premium rate numbers

Avoid calls to numbers that are prefixed with '09', or '08'. These prefixes indicate premium rate numbers which cost up to £1.50 a minute. Use saynoto0870 to find local rate alternatives to premium rate numbers.

5. International calls

Use a specialist secondary supplier for your international calls or ask your current phone company for overseas options. Alternatively, use calling cards or an internet calling service such as Skype.

6. Change your payment method

Direct Debit is generally the cheapest way to pay bills, and some companies charge an extra premium for choosing to pay by any other payment method. You may also receive a discount for managing your bills online.

7. Check your bill

Read an itemised bill in detail to check you're getting accurately charged for the calls you've made. This will also help to highlight any serial phone users you may have in your household.

What are these?

These links appear on every article on UpMyStreet. They enable you to share any article via email or social bookmarking websites (digg, del.icio.us, Facebook).

Clicking the 'email' link will bring up a message window where you can enter someone's email address and send them a link to the article you think they would be interested in.

The 'digg', 'del.icio.us' and 'Facebook' links will add the article link to the specified social bookmarking site. This will save the link for your future reference and will enable you to share it with other people who are likely to be interested in the subjects covered by the article.

These websites require you to register, but registration is quick and free.

Digg registration:
http://digg.com/register/

del.icio.us registration:
https://secure.del.icio.us/register?noredir

Facebook registration:
https://register.facebook.com/r.php