How To Save Money on Broadband

Luke — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:00:22 +0000

Most people like to keep their household expenses as low as is practically possible. If you can save $50 a week, then by the end of the year you will have saved over $2,500 in post-tax dollars. I’d rather have that money in my pocket or spending it on a holiday than paying it in bills!

Is saving that much money actually possible? Definitely. There will be lots of ways you can do it. Take lunch to work instead of buying it, don’t get suckered into buying food and snacks from a petrol station, do a meal plan and eat at home rather than getting fast food, quit smoking, cut down your phone and internet bills, stick to a budget and the list goes on. And on. And on. There are lots of ways you can save money. But I don’t have expertise in most of these matters, but I can help you on reducing you phone and broadband costs.

Here’s my guide on how to save money by significantly cutting your phone and broadband bills.

1. Know What You Are Using and Spending

Do you actually know what you are using each month? And what it is costing you? Surprisingly, many people don’t. They just pay the bill without paying much attention or it is set up on direct debit and they never think of it (until their bank account is empty or the credit card is maxed out). If you know what you are using and how much you are spending, then you have a chance of reducing the cost and maximising the usage.

2. Write It Down

Depending on how technically inclined you are, you may want to use a spreadsheet to do this or get out a pen and a piece of paper. When you write down your usage and costs, break them down into home phone, internet and mobile phones. There is little point in looking at all three together as a total cost. By itemising your usage and costs, you can best see where savings or enhancements can be made. You may already be on a good mobile plan, but need to cut down on home phone and internet expense – only by itemising can you accurately see this. You may be only using 5GB of a 20GB download allowance on your broadband plan and could drop to a lower monthly plan.

The act of writing it down or entering the details into a spreadsheet will also give you greater commitment to doing something about it.

3. Start Comparing and Looking For Something Better

There are all sorts of ways you can compare and work out how to get a better deal. I’d suggest starting online. Compare a couple of the major competitiors to your provider and see how the deals stack up. You could also call your existing provider and ask them if you are on the best deal for your usage – I’d only suggest doing this after you have scoped the market. Otherwise you lose the power of negotiating a sweeter deal if better things are available. If you aren’t confident you’re making the best choice then look at finding a website or a broker who you can trust. They will get paid by a provider for helping you, so in most cases it won’t be money out of your pocket.

I’ll write a follow up article to this with an article on saving money with Naked DSL. It will look at some case studies and if the sums really stack up.

Amnet $100 Broadband Stimulus Package

Luke — Fri, 22 May 2009 03:58:11 +0000

We have just uploaded the Amnet plans to the site (read our Amnet Naked DSL Review), but also saw that Amnet is running a ‘Stimulus’ promotion. Their offer is $100 credit if you sign up on a 24 month plan with Amnet in May 2009. So there’s a bit over a week to go to take advantage of this one.

The credit can be applied against hardware you buy from Amnet or pay off your monthly access fee.

You don’t have do do anything to receive the $100 credit, just sign up online during May and the credit will be applied to your account. Don’t worry about the field “Enter Promo Code” when you go to sign up. The credit will show up on your first or second invoice.

This offer is for any Amnet broadband plan, not just Naked DSL. But we of course recemmend Naked DSL as being the best way to connect broadband! Amnet is available at selected phone exchanges in WA and SA.

Click Here To Sign Up With Amnet

Here is a summary of the Naked ADSL plans from Amnet:

Internode