Whether you have one or several hundred telephone lines, you should audit your service and usage to be sure you aren’t spending money unnecessarily.

The telecommunications audit begins with gathering your bills for both local and long distance service. If your Internet service is provided by your telephone company, you will need a copy of this bill also. While a collection of bills for one month is sufficient, bills from three or more months will give you a better idea of calling patterns and other necessary information to help in your audit. If your bills don’t list each number individually, contact your telephone company and request an itemized bill. An itemized bill will list each telephone number separately along with any related charges.

Your next step is to list each telephone number along with the associated costs. If you have several lines, make sure all are in use and what they are used for. If your not sure where each line goes or its use, you can perform a call test. Simply call each unfamiliar number to identify where it is answered. If you get a ring/no answer, try calling at various times during the day until you either get an answer or determine the number is unused at your facility. Document all numbers and locations and make note of any numbers that appear to be unused. If you get an unidentified fax tone, send a fax to the number and request the receiver fax back contact information. If this fax isn’t one of yours or you do not receive a reply, make note so you can notify the telephone company.

Next, look at the type of service you have on each number. If you are making a minimum number of local calls, you might be able to use a basic service where you pay a flat rate plus a few cents per call. High use numbers that make local calls should have unlimited service. Sometimes, lines are set up for basic service only to later be used as high usage lines resulting in hundreds of dollars spent each month. An example of high usage numbers would be outbound trunks and an example of low usage numbers would be inbound trunks. If most of your faxes go to long distance numbers, these might qualify for low usage or basic service.

Now you are ready to audit your long distance service. Look at the number of calls you make intrastate and interstate. Once you have an idea of how many of each you make, shop around for the best per minute rate. When shopping for a per minute rate, be sure to ask what increment of a minute is used in calculations.

To summarize, you can save money if you look closely at your telephone bills before paying them. If you make changes, be sure to follow through with changing your telephone service. I’ve seen instances where a company has moved but forgot to disconnect a data circuit that cost a couple of hundred dollars per month. In another instance, a telephone line was set up on the basic per minute rate and later used as a modem line for Internet access. The person using this Internet access chose to sign on in the morning and off in the late hours of the evening resulting in monthly phone bills of over $1000 for this one line. These costs are relatively easy to overlook on phone bills that range in the thousands of dollars.