A firm called CCMI recently published a report commissioned by Truphone that gave a brief overview of how modifying the usage behaviors of employees helps to save money on international roaming costs. In the same fashion, behavioral modification works on consumers too.
We’ve talked about applications such as Onavo, Readability, and others in the past here on TruTower. We explained how these apps can help reduce costs for Truphone SIM users and other customers roaming internationally. We’ve also touched on how keeping data usage restricted to Wi-Fi keeps hard-earned money in your Truphone SIM account rather than letting it disappear needlessly into financial oblivion.
What it all comes down to is changing your usage behaviors to lower costs, whether you’re using your services in your home country or abroad. Data is without a doubt the most expensive part of the bill, and as boy band One Direction found out way back in May, costs can add up quickly to the point where it can become a very large hindrance on your wallet.
Aforementioned ways of lowering costs are great ways of altering your usage behaviors, but they are not by any means the only ways. One way that many people and businesses overlook — even though it is one of the most obvious — is using VoIP instead of using mobile network calling. Free Wi-Fi is constantly spreading to new areas, and it’s making it easy and convenient to keep your costs down by using VoIP services such as Truphone VoIP. VoIP calls between users on the same service are often free to make, and in these cases results in instant savings. Still, even voice over IP calls made to persons on different VoIP services, to landlines, or to mobiles can often be cheaper than making those calls using a cellular network. Even if you can only keep your personal calls on VoIP while using your mobile phone calls for business, the savings can be astronomical. Mobile VoIP usage is on the rise, and businesses and consumers alike can benefit from using these services.
Free text messaging services are also on the rise. Cross-platform services such as Kik Messenger, WhatsApp, (eventually Truphone VoIP), and others can all but eliminate your text messaging costs. Many of these services also allow you to send MMS (multimedia messages) for free, which also reduces costs. If you’re using a text-only service, you can always work around the lack of MMS issue by sending photos and videos through email instead, since mobile email has now become standard in every smartphone. Services like Kik and WhatsApp are available for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices, making it easier than ever to stay connected and reduce costs.
Of course, there are still more ways to stay connected and reduce costs while at home and abroad. Do you know of any other creative ways you keep your bill low? Let us know in the comments!