Last updated on April 16th, 2021 at 08:35 am
In the past, I’ve often found that my phone bill was a lot higher than expected due to the number of phone calls I made – especially to numbers outside of the UK – and frequent usage of apps that drain a lot of mobile data.
My irritation was naive since the problem was entirely my own fault however the rise in cloud technology and access to both public and private WiFi has made it easier to beat the big phone networks and dodge those expensive bills.
Here are three ways I learnt to lower that expensive phone bill:
WhatsApp and Facebook Calls
If like me, having 100 free minutes is simply not enough to keep up with your friends and family both in the UK and abroad then WhatsApp and Facebook have an alternative for you.
WhatsApp has rapidly grown with 900 million active monthly users and it is estimated that Facebook has over 1 billion users with 727 million of them mobile-only users. Both WhatsApp and Facebook now offer the ability to call any number or Facebook contact for free.
This new technology, known in the profession as Hosted VoIP, uses cloud-based technology to transmit calls as an alternative to traditional methods of using phone lines and networks. The idea is simple and is already revolutionising the way in which people use their smartphones to make contact with others.
The most important thing to remember here is that you must always be connected to WiFi (unless you have an unlimited data bundle). Do not use these applications without WiFi if you want to keep your data under control.
Don’t Use Mobile Data On Big Apps
Another charge that weighed down my phone bill was my data usage. Long trains journeys and slow Sunday afternoons meant a lot of YouTube browsing and Mail Online reading; both of which use a lot of mobile data.
Now I make sure to only use these data eating apps whilst on WiFi. Connecting to home WiFi or private cloud networks are great when accessing apps that require a lot of data from the cloud. If you doubt your abilities in self-control then you can change your phone settings to make sure that certain apps only play when connected to WiFi. To do this simply go to your general phone settings > choose the app > switch off ‘use mobile data’.
Turn Off Automatic Play
One new feature on social media applications such as Facebook and Twitter is automatically playing videos on your newsfeed whilst on mobile. This eats up your data big time. To stop this simply go onto the app, click the settings and turn off the option that plays videos automatically. Doing so enables you to control when videos are played; I recommend only play videos when connected to a WiFi network with the capacity to handle the amount of data necessary to play a video.
If you’re a smartphone addict then I’ve just saved you a lot of data usage whilst teaching a lesson in self-control and smart time management: use only when on WiFi!
Why not talk to us about how Hosted VoIP could help your business? Call our dedicated Hosted VoIP team on 0845 180 9988 today.
