With the recent deregulation of elective telephone services for land lines, such as call forwarding and call waiting, people in many areas can expect higher telephone bills.
The price increases may vary from state to state, and may show up on your telephone bill without prior notice. The difference may be subtle, but over time, the increases can become very costly.
On many of the older packages in which different services were bundled together, some companies are raising fees and other charges, so it is a good idea for consumers to question new fees and rising costs.
It may be cheaper to purchase services individually and let go of services that you don't need. A thorough check of your telephone bill will give you a clear view of all the services that you are getting. Once you know which services you are not using, you can have them removed from the package.
Your cell phone plan may also be a money pit and you should watch it carefully. Your plan may include the services you needed two or three years ago, but with the frequency in which updated technology is applied and with the amount of competition in the cell phone industry, prices for services are always changing and you could get better rates by shopping around.
You can't talk about cell phones unless you talk about minutes. The minutes are usually bought in blocks. Make sure your minutes can be rolled over from month to month. If your minutes don't roll over, they just disappear, but you still pay for them.
There are other issues that you may want to look at when purchasing cell phones, and cell phone plans, such as call quality, the number of anytime minutes, unlimited weekend minutes, or free nights and weekend minutes.
Telephone companies, cell phone service providers, and other utility companies are in the business to make money, so they are not going to volunteer information that might take money away from their bottom line, regardless to whether you need the services or not.
That is why you, the consumer, need to take matters into your own hands and question anything on your bill that does not make sense to you.
Saving money on any scales is always worth the time and effort that you put into it. By looking at your utility bills and your telephone service plans, you may be surprised at how much you could have been saving all along.