How I pay only $20 a month in phone bills

You pay too much for your phone, assuming you pay more than $20 a month. Or, at least, you pay more than me.

That’s all I pay, and I have a cell phone and unlimited long distance. And no, I didn’t hack the phone system.

It’s quite simple, actually. By combing Skype, a pay-as-you-go cell phone (Net10) and Google Voice you can have a single phone number with unlimited long distance that you can use anywhere in the US…for $20 a month. Here’s the annual breakdown:

  • SkypeOut: $30 ($2.99/month w/ 15% discount for 12 months.)
  • SkypeIn: $30 (discount for purchasing the year subscription.)
  • Net10: $180 ($15/month)
  • Google Voice: Free (and awesome.)
  • Total: $240 Annually, or $20 a month.

With this, I get:

  • Unlimited long distance in the US and Canada, via Skype.
  • Better cell reception than most of my friends.
  • Convenient web-based voicemail via Google Voice.
  • SMS transcripts of voicemails sent to my cell phone.

Naturally you might want to modify my strategy a little, but if you want to learn how to copy this method I suggest you keep reading.

Step 1: Get Skype

The first step is to get a Skype account, which you can do easily at Skype.com, and it’s worth it. This program, known best for its free computer-to-computer webcam calls, is actually quite functional as a phone line. Over at bicycle-based IT company iSupportU we use a Skype phone to conduct practically all our business.

Once you have your Skype account set up I suggest you buy a subscription. The price is listed at $2.99, but if you commit to a year you’ll receive a discount bringing the price down to a round $30 per year.

Step 2: Get a Skype Phone

Making phone calls from your computer has its downsides, even if you’ve done all you can to fix low sound quality on Skype. The biggest problem, of course, is that you need to keep your computer on all the time to receive calls.

For this reason I own a Skype phone. I myself own the Belkin Desktop Phone (Buy.com, $69.99) but there are a variety of such phones on the market. Belkin’s got a pretty nice WiFi phone on the market for $179 (Buy.com), for example.

There’s are a few more to choose from, of course; check out Buy.com or Skype’s online store for more selection.

Of course, if you already own an iPhone or an iPod touch you’re good to go already; justĀ download the Skype App and you’ve got a WiFi Skype phone already…even if you stop paying the bill to AT&T.

Step 3: Get a Net10 Cell Phone

Skype’s great, but even with a WiFi phone it only works if you have WiFi access. Cell phones can easily fill in this gap, but unlimited cell phone plans tend to be expensive.

For this reason I prefer cheap pay-as-you-go phones; the kind you see in grocery stores. I particularly like Net10, because it’s cheap and easy to use.

Don’t believe me? Check out how cheap the phones are and how cheap the minutes are. Even with the cost of the phone you won’t be paying much more than $15 a month for this service.

Just keep in mind: when buying time for your phone ignore the minute totals. Minutes don’t matter.

Why? Your minutes are bankable and, assuming you depend mostly on your Skype account for longer conversations, you’ll typically not even get close to using up all of your minutes in a given month. Use the cell phone primarily for quick “I’m coming home” or “Where are you?” conversations and you’ll be surprised how far you can stretch things.

So what does matter? Cost-effectiveness. Keep your cell phone active for the most days possible while spending as little money as possible. Doing this is simple if you know the formula: days of service divided by total price. Use a calculator if you need to, just make sure you understand which amount of minutes you need to buy in order to get the most Days of Service for your buck.

As of right now the best deal Net10 has going is the three-hundred minutes with sixty days of service card for $30; that’s fifty cents a day. Click here to buy a phone and get started.

Word to the wise: do not enable voicemail on your Net10 phone. You’ve got better plans.

Step 4: Combine Everything With Google Voice

Now that you’ve got two phones it’s time to get yourself a Google Voice account, if you haven’t already. Sign up here and you’re good to go. This service is amazing, but Google can explain better than I can:

All you need to do is add your Skype phone number and your cell phone to Google Voice to get started, but you can do a lot more. For example:

  • Set up Skype to display your Google Voice number for outgoing calls. This will make things less confusing for the people you call.
  • Set Google Voice to forward messages to your email and you’ll be less likely to miss them.
  • Set Google Voice to send you an SMS message when someone leaves you a Voicemail. This gives you a discrete way to check your voicemail.
  • Open SMS messages on Google Voice as much as possible. Net10 only charges you for texts if you open them on your phone!

Google Voice is well documented in and around the web, so I won’t get into it much more. Check out Google’s own Voice help page if you get stuck, and have fun!

Feedback?

I hope this guide saves you money; it’s saved me quite a bit. Do you have any more suggestions? Please Leave them in the comments below. Also feel free to leave any links to deals on Skype phones or pay-as-you-go phones. I tried to find low prices but things change quickly.

Also, I live in the USA. As such, this guide assumes people live in the USA. If you know of any similar guides for people abroad, or have tips, please include them as well.

14 Comments

  1. I am not sure what it is compared to other countries, but I pay $59.95 for 100gb internet (50 on, 50 off) which gives me free calls to landlines in Australia.

    Overall, unlimited calls, and internet for $59.95 – it’s a very cheap option.

    1. I am in Australia, and have a mobile (cell) plan that is AU$30 (roughly the same in US dollars) per month for unlimited calls to landline and mobile, unlimited SMS, and 6GB data.

      It seems odd, given the vastly different population densities of USA and Australia, and the fact that USA is supposedly the land of capitalism and the free market, that there is such a difference in mobile communication costs.

      1. It’s the land of capitalism, yes, but also the land of the regional telecom monopoly. That’s the difference: not enough competition.

  2. A really don’t know about an option here in America quite that cheap, but this is the land of the regional phone monopoly so everything’s a bit more expensive than that. Plus, does that include your cell phone?

    1. Nah, that doesn’t include calls to mobiles – plus I don’t make many mobile calls anyway.

      (and about 5 times to get through CAPTCHA)

  3. I am doing this for maybe less than $20/month, in the US. Took out my land line ages ago. I have a Skype phone set up to display my number. I use it when I’m at home, especially is I might be on hold a while. I use a TracFone that I got for about $20 and prepay the time. Works great for me.

  4. Ok, I see great minds think alike…smile. But I am still trying to get more from my NET10 minutes when I am away from my home/computer (GVoice/Skype) Do you take calls forwarded to your NET10 from GVoice? Or do you only use NET10 to place outgoing calls? But no matter which method, still cheaper than the T-mobile plan I had years before this cheap arrangement. Christmas WISH: An unlocked Nexus One and attach my Verizon mi-fi. $59/mth unlimited data plan

    1. I pretty much only use the Net10 to receive calls, very rarely do I call out with it. I myself won’t be interested in a data plan until it’s much cheaper; WiFi is plentiful enough here in Boulder that I’d pretty much only use it while travelling.

  5. sounds like this wouldn’t work for receiving text messages in a city that doesn’t have wifi as abundant as yours!

    1. Actually, the texts are forwarded to the Net10 phone if I want to read them there. Even better: I only have to use minutes for the text if I actually open them on my phone. So if I’m at a computer, I don’t pay. If I’m not, I read it on the phone, and use up half a minute. Works great.

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