It's always interesting to research what pains consumers most when it comes to their mobile phone use. Bill shock is something many of us have not only heard of but also unfortunately experienced (some more than once).
Mine came following a few international phone calls made to friends and family during the recent holiday season. My mobile phone bill for the month came to $219.78. This is on a monthly plan, which is meant to cost me $20 per month covering my local and mobile calls plus my internet usage.
Upon receiving my bill, I immediately called the telecommunications company and tried to argue my way out of it, but it was no use, the facts where there, I had spent far too long on those international calls.
Beyond the facts, making international calls using your mobile is not the smart thing to do unless you are on the right mobile plan. There really is no reason why you should be spending $2+ per minute on call costs.
I invested some time doing the research and this is what I found.
If you are going to be making lots of international calls, I mean calls every few days, then a mobile plan, which focuses on very cheap international calls to select countries, is best. Providers such as Lebara Mobile, Gotalk and even Lyca Mobile offer great rates to many countries.
The challenge with these plans however is that whilst they may offer great international rates, their local rates can be high, or they offer very little by way of call credits and mobile internet.
Another option is to use a phone card. International phone cards can be purchased for $10 and will give you hundreds of call minutes to select international destinations. I have used these cards on lots of occasions. Whilst it can be difficult to determine if they are charging you accurately, they tend to last long enough so that you think you are receiving good value.
There are a few draw back swith these cards. Firstly, when they are in physical form, they can be lost; they also need to be with you when you are ready to make your call. Purchasing them online is an alternative, at least this way you can access your email from pretty much anywhere. Finally if you don't use all of the credit within a 90-day period your credit expires. This doesn't altogether mean you have lost all of the credit it just means that you need to recharge for a further $10 to access the unused credit.
One final option that you may wish to consider is using a service like Skype. You may like me already me using it on your computer, but with the introduction of smart phones and applications, a Skype app can be accessed for pretty much every mobile operating system, including Apple, Android and Microsoft.
Skype can be used in a number of ways. There are free Skype calls and paid Skype calls. You can also use Skype to make video calls.
Calls between Skype users are free. Free in that you don't get charged for the actual call. This applies regardless of whether you make the call via your personal computer or your mobile. What you do use is your mobile data allowance.
How much data does a Skype call actually use?
Skype-to-Skype calls will use about 3MB for a one-minute of call. A 10-minute call will use 30 MB. A video call between two mobiles will use about 10x this eg 30MB per minute or 300MB for a 10 minute call. If the video call is between a mobile and a computer it would use even more data per minute.
Therefore, Skype could actually be a very effective option if you had a reasonable data allowance that you found you where never using. Why waste it each month. Make some international calls using your data.
Hopefully these alternative options might save you from a future excessive bill from your telecommunications provider.
My Name is Ranya Georgalas and I enjoy blogging about all sorts of topics. I work in Marketing, Social Media and Affiliate Marketing. I started blogging several years ago and now I own many blogs. The most popular being http://www.prepaidplans.com.au/
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