Two ways to kickstart 2018 with cheaper telco bills

It's a brand new year, and like we do every year, we've all made plans to shave a few centimetres off from around the waist, to read more books and this is year we're going skydiving. Definitely this year. 

While you're in resolutions mode for 2018, it's a great time to take a look at your phone and internet bills with fresh eyes and see if there are savings to be made. Imagine, if you could trim $20 or $30 per month from your telco bills, but get the same plan or better than the one you're currently using. You'd have several hundred extra dollars to spend next Christmas.

To get you started, here are a few things you might consider to kick off the New Year.

Time to take a look at the tiny telcos

If you've been a rusted-on Telstra or Optus customers for years, you'd do well to consider one of the newer service providers. We all can get stuck in the 'if it ain't broke…' mindset with our phone and internet services, but you can save big money by making the switch.

For example, the cheapest Telstra internet plan is $70 per month, while the average price for a comparable service with one of the lesser known brands is about $50 per month. Straight away that is a saving of $20 each month for making this one simple change.

The same is true for phone plans. In a recent survey we conducted we found that the average Aussie mobile phone bill hovers at around $50 per month, but you really shouldn't need to pay more than about $30 per month, if you own your own phone.  If this describes you, then you'd be in line to save another $20 per month, per mobile phone plan in your family.

As you can see, it really adds up, but we know that one of the major factors holding back a lot of people from making a change like isn’t price, but trust. For many, these are unknown brands, and we rely on our phone and internet services so we need them to work. But there are a couple of reasons why you needn't worry about this.

• The smaller providers use the same networks as the major telcos, so you should get the same coverage and performance.
• The NBN network is built by the government and all providers have the same access to this infrastructure.
• Most of the smaller providers offer risk-free, no-contract plans, so if you're unhappy you can switch to a different company any time you like.

If you'd prefer to stick it out with the devil you know, give them a call and use the information above  as ammunition to get a better deal. Tell you that you know you have plenty of options to choose from and see what they are willing to offer you to retain you as a customer. You might be surprised to see how low they're willing to go.

Give Foxtel the flick?

I find it astonishing the number of people in my circle who have the Platinum Foxtel package and barely use it. Especially when the Platinum HD package costs a whopping $137 per month. 2018 is the year I'll be pulling them into line.

Not that you need to get rid of Foxtel altogether, but you should only pay for the parts of Foxtel that you actually watch. Start with an honest audit of your Foxtel usage. Do you watch the Movies channel? Should you be paying for the Kids channels or Docos? Do you really need the second Foxtel box in the bedroom? I'd be surprised if you couldn't cut your bill in half.

Once you have figured this out, give Foxtel a call and tell them you want to cancel your service. I did this recently and I was floored by the number of freebies and bonuses they were willing to throw in to keep me on as a customer. They referred to these as 'loyalty bonuses' but the first time I'd ever heard about this was when I threatened to cancel my account altogether.