Phone Bills
With the ever increasing broadband market the world over, many Internet ISP companies have package deals and this can greatly reduce phone bills together with broadband and even television.
The only thing you have to remember through all this is that you still need to pay your line rental costs through BT.
A cheaper - FREE ! - way of keeping in touch with friends (if they have a PC and broadband a bonus) is to download some of the many free messenger type services.
For straight forward telephony, Skype have a good system and probably about the best on the quality side.
Like MSN Messenger, you simply have your selected 'friends' and phone them whenever they are online.
You can then add a camera and go the whole way with video conferencing, or in simple terms, watching them whilst you talk.
Should you have family and friends spread around the world, this is a giant leap forward. You can watch your nephews, nieces, grandchildren etc., getting older by the day and they can see the face on the end of conversations and letters.
In telephone, the tech has gone to even having actual phone sets to ring from.
But, simply having a PC with speakers, a microphone and a camera will set you up nicely.
You can spend as much as you like; speakers start at around £8, microphones from £4 and webcams from circa £18.
Add those up and look at the savings over the long calls to Australia say, you've got it made.
With mobile phones, the companies will always tempt you into longer contracts by allowing more frequent up-grades, but this then blocks you from changing should a better deal come up somewhere else.
Try to get a company which will allow your credit (if paying by direct debit) to go onto the following month. If not, make sure you get your full values worth by zeroing it out at the end of each month !
Technology is these areas is increasing by the minute, so always be on the
loookout for the right deals for you.
Saving tips - Set yourself a maximum time limit for your phone call and stick
with it, even if it means saying the old "So sorry, have to go, someone
at the front door"!!
If the other person has no 'no limit' phone contract,
ask them to phone you back.
PC World have a huge selection of webcams both online and instore
Quick links to articles
in this section
Cost effectiveness, saving money, reducing expenditure in the home and at play
“ Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to” John Pearce