If all hell breaks loose in your home every time you open the phone bill, do not feel alone. Similar scenes of domestic drama are played out in homes all over the country on the day the phone bill is delivered. But before you take the drastic step of cutting your landline, first try cutting your bill.

Ask a couple of friends what they spend, on average, on their landline telephone every month, and you may be comforted to discover that you aren’t the only one shelling out several hundred rand every month … to talk. And you do not even have to be a chatterbox – or a teenager – to run up a hefty phone bill. It is quite easy, really. All it takes is blissful ignorance and a lack of discipline.

It’s generally accepted that, by international standards, South Africans pay a premium for landline local calls, although Telkom will tell you studies have shown that their tariffs «fall within the median of those charged by telecommunications companies in a mix of developed and developing countries». Be that as it may, as long as there is only one national phone operator, there’s only one thing a landline user can do to keep the phone bill down to a minimum: be informed about what you are being charged for and how you can save on those charges.

A memorable Telkom television advert a few years ago showed people in the street being asked what it costs to make a local call, and what it costs to phone Johannesburg from Cape Town. As the respondents plucked figures from the sky, it must have dawned on television viewers across the land that they too hadn’t a clue how much it cost them to make local and long-distance calls.

Do you know what you pay for a local call? Do you know how calls are charged? Do you know what you pay in line rental every month? Do you consider the cost – and necessity – of a call every time you pick up the receiver? Do you know the range of services on offer that could help you to cut your phone costs?

Telkom offers a number of services that – if used correctly – can help you to manage your phone bill better.

1. Use CallMore Time

Andrew Weldrick, the head of media relations at Telkom, says huge savings can be made with phone calls or internet dial-ups during CallMore Time. CallMore Time is Telkom’s off-peak calling time from 7pm to 7am on weekdays, and the whole weekend from 7pm on Fridays to 7am on Mondays. (Public holidays are treated as ordinary days.) In CallMore Time, it costs you less to make local and national calls to fixed-line numbers.

According to Telkom, the cost of a five-minute local call during standard time would cost you R1.89, but the same call during CallMore Time would cost you only 75.9 cents.

A minimum charge of 56.3 cents applies to all local calls, whether in peak or CallMore Time, to cover the initial set-up cost of the call. However, the minimum call charge buys more than three-and-a-half minutes of talk time during CallMore Time, compared to 89 seconds during peak time. Thereafter, Telkom charges per second: 0.25 cents per second (15.2 cents per minute) for a local call in CallMore Time and 0.63 cents per second (37.9 cents per minute) in peak time.

Long-distance calls are subject to a minimum charge of 99 cents, which covers one minute of talk time during peak time and two minutes during CallMore Time. After that, the rate is 0.83 cents per second (49.5 cents per minute) in CallMore Time and 1.65 cents per second (99 cents per minute) in peak time, Weldrick says.

Note that per-second billing applies as soon as you exceed the minimum call duration, which is 89 seconds during peak time and three-and-a-half minutes during CallMore Time for local calls. For long-distance calls, it is one minute during peak time and two minutes during CallMore Time.

Unfortunately, as you can see, Telkom’s call charging structure is anything but simple.

2. Use BestFriends

If you call the same people regularly, consider the BestFriends package for R9.85 a month on any Telkom line. With this service you can specify up to five landline numbers (local or long-distance) on which you get a 10 percent discount every time you call any of these numbers. The discount applies to CallMore Time, too.

3. Try a Surfmore package

Telkom offers six internet packages, ranging from R154 to R373 a month, designed for internet users at home. «The Surfmore packages limit internet access to a reasonable cost, and include monthly line rental and an answering service,» Weldrick says.

On the cheapest option, Surfmore 10, the package covers your telephone line rental, 10 free hours a month on the internet in CallMore Time, and Call Answer, a free answering service.

Surfmore 10 costs R154 a month, provided you already have an internet service provider (ISP). If you want to use Telkom as your ISP, it will cost you an additional R79 a month.

Call Answer replaces bulky answering machines and is especially useful if you have only one phone line, which will be engaged while you’re on the internet. So, when you’re finished online, you can retrieve your messages.

Surfmore 30 is the deluxe option in the Surfmore range, aimed at serious internet junkies. It includes an ISDN line (a digital service that provides fast data transmission over copper telephone wiring), 30 hours of surfing during CallMore Time and Call Answer – all for R373 a month.

4. Consider ADSL

If 30 hours on the internet isn’t enough for you or you need more or less constant access to the internet, ADSL – or Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line – offers you the convenience of being online continually at a fixed rate per month, so you can budget accordingly. ADSL is a new modem technology available to residential customers at a cost of R680 per month (including VAT). Not only can you receive and send mail or surf the net at a click of the mouse, but you can use your telephone or send a fax while you’re online.

As with some of the Surfmore packages, you will need an internet subscription either from Telkom or from your preferred ISP. If you opt for Telkom, it will cost you an additional R249 a month over and above the ADSL charge. This is for your subscription to Telkom Internet and for the increased bandwidth needed to accommodate ADSL.

Bear in mind that you will have to buy a USB (universal serial bus) modem to use ADSL, which will set you back R1 149, if you buy it from Telkom. Telkom will also charge you R404 to install ADSL.

Remember that there are no guarantees on the throughput. ADSL will not overcome any bandwidth-related constraints on the web.

If you tally up all the charges – excluding the cost of buying a modem and the installation fee – it will cost you close to R1 000 a month for the pleasure of continuous connectivity to the internet. You will still have to pay for your normal voice calls. So it’s vital that you do your sums and work out whether it’s worth it.

5. Go the prepaid route

Telkom’s PrePaidFone may not be the very cheapest option in terms of cost per call, but at least you can be sure you aren’t in for any nasty surprises when you get your phone bill.

The minimum charge for local calls of 56.3 cents is the same as for the standard service, but the per-second rate is 0.72 cents during peak (compared to 0.63 cents normally) and 0.29 cents during CallMore time (compared to 0.25 cents). For long-distance calls, the minimum charge remains 99 cents, but the per-second charges are 1.96 cents during peak time (compared to 1.65 cents on the standard service) and 0.98 cents per second during CallMore time (compared with 0.83 cents normally).

However, with the PrePaidFone, the minimum call charge gives you slightly less talk time than what you get when you call from a standard fixed-line phone.

A prepaid phone is ideal for people on a tight budget and those who are ill-disciplined when it comes to using the phone.

«With a PrePaidFone line you can control your telephone use by buying phone time as you need it. There are no monthly bills, and you buy tokens to top up on your rental and call time,» Weldrick says.

Apart from the obvious benefits of having a prepaid phone, you also get free access to emergency numbers (such as 10111 and 0800 numbers) and free basic voicemail (which takes messages on your behalf).

Recharge vouchers come in denominations of R35, R60 and R100. And ATM-generated recharge receipts are available in R40, R50, R100 and R200 denominations. The recharge vouchers are scratch cards, while the recharge receipts can be purchased from Standard Bank, Absa and FNB ATMs. The receipt carries the information to be keyed into the network from your PrePaidFone line.

Remember that line rental of R50.80 per month or R11.72 per week is payable on the PrePaidFone. You can have the rental deducted from your recharge voucher every seven days or every 31 days. Once your credit is used up, you will have to buy another recharge voucher to maintain your service. If you fail to pay your rental, you will be given a grace period (21 days for the seven-day cycle and 31 days for the 31-day cycle) in which you will be able to receive calls and dial emergency numbers, but you won’t be able to make any other calls. If your account is not topped up within the grace period, your line will be suspended and then discontinued.

6. Make use of BlockCall Plus

You may want to bar your children from misusing the phone, pestering you at work, calling cellphones or making national or premium* rate calls. BlockCall Plus enables you to do just that by blocking your telephone line for all outgoing calls in selected categories, for example, all cellular calls. You select 20 numbers that can be called, at any time, within the restricted categories. At a cost of R34.85 a month, you can rest assured that if there is an emergency at home, your children can call the police or an ambulance, or reach you, a relative or a friend on numbers programmed into your phone. But they cannot chat to their friends for hours on end and run up the phone bill.

«BlockCall Plus offers customers more flexibility to manage their calls and prevent unauthorised calls from their phones,» Weldrick says.

The account holder uses a PIN to administer the service, which is activated by voice-prompted instructions. Another benefit of BlockCall Plus is that you can access, activate and administer the service by remote control that is not only from the subscribed phone. «The remote feature allows parents to open any other number, for example the ISP, should the children have to search the internet for information for a school project,» Weldrick says.

To use this service you must choose, from the following list, which kind of calls to block:

All calls (except emergency and toll-free calls);

National and international calls (except emergency and toll-free calls);

International calls;

Cellular and Telkom Premium Rate services;

Telkom Premium Rate services; and

Cellular, Telkom Premium Rate services and international calls.

* Telkom Premium Rate calls include competition lines (08622 and 08629 numbers), TeleVoting (08621 numbers), Interactive Voice Response Information Services (08671 and 08672 numbers), Live Interaction Information Services (08675, 08673 and 08674) and Fax 2 Email (0866).

7. Monitor your usage

If you’re prone to running up high phone bills, a weekly call to Telkom’s billing enquiry service (on 10210) may help you to keep your bill in check. On any day of the month, a Telkom operator can give you an estimate of your current bill. But, the estimate is for calls only, and excludes line rental and other add-on services.

Itemised billing, which is also free of charge, is another way of assessing your usage. An itemised bill gives you a thorough breakdown of how much you are spending on international calls, national calls, local calls and calls to cellphones. You can also see at a glance what you are being charged for line rental, other services and VAT, and it gives you the time of each and every call, the duration of the call and the cost. But an itemised bill is only useful if you are able to analyse your bill and then change your habits accordingly, by, for example, making better use of CallMore Time.

8. Watch those calls to cellphones

Calls to cellphones are far more expensive than landline calls. Just two two-minute calls to cellphones every day during peak time can easily add a few hundred rand to your phone bill. Calls to cellphones are not based on distance. They cost a set amount for the first minute and for every 30 seconds thereafter.

To call a cellphone number from Monday to Friday 7am to 8pm it costs you R1.84 (including VAT) for the first minute, and then R1.84 for every 30-second period thereafter.

Monday to Friday 8pm to 7am and from Friday 8pm to Monday 7am, calls to cellphones cost R1.13 for the first minute and every 30 seconds thereafter.

As of January this year, Telkom has been charging the same rate for calls to all three mobile operators.

Take note that the rates for cellular calls published in the current telephone directory (May 2003–2004) are not correct.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not always cheaper to make a cellphone-to-cellphone call than to call a cellphone from a landline. The cost of a cell-to-cell call depends on the time of the call, whether the call is to a cellphone user on the same network, and whether the person making the call pays per second or per minute, which is determined by the caller’s contract or the airtime voucher that he/she is using.

For example, a Vodago prepaid user on the 4U per-second billing option, will be charged six cents per second, or R3.60 a minute, to call another mobile number in peak time. Hence, a two-minute call in peak time would cost R7.20. But a Vodacom prepaid user on the Vodago Standard billing option is charged R2.85 per minute to call another mobile in peak time, in which case a two-minute call costs R5.70.

Whereas, to call from a landline to a cellphone in peak time, will cost you R1.84 for the first minute, and then R1.84 for every 30-second period thereafter. So a two-minute call will cost you R5.52.

9. Try WorldCall calling cards

The WorldCall Prepaid Calling Card is the landline user’s equivalent of the cellular prepaid airtime voucher, but better, in that you use it locally or to call South Africa from 63 other countries. You just dial the applicable access number from any tone-dial phone and make your call – at Telkom rates.

The WorldCall Prepaid Card is available in R50, R100 and R200 denominations.

All calls are charged per second. The minimum charge for local and long-distance calls is 80 cents. The local per-second rate is 0.6 cents during peak and CallMore Time. For long-distance calls, the per-second rate is 2.4 cents during peak and CallMore Time. Calls to mobile numbers are billed at R1.90 for the first minute and 95 cents for every 30 seconds thereafter.

The WorldCall Prepaid card is a great budgeting tool. You can lock your phone electronically with BlockCall and provide each member of the family with their own card, each with a relevant credit limit, giving you total control over your phone account.

It’s ideal for students and people in communal homes, who use the same telephone.

It’s also a good emergency tool because you can call from any fixed-line phone, public phone or PrePaidFone, which makes it useful for children at boarding school or as a telephone allowance for children at home.

Calling home while travelling can be awkward and madly expensive.

The WorldCall Charge Card is another option designed for South Africans travelling abroad or business people who travel frequently and need to call home. It works on the reverse-charge principle: wherever you call from, and whoever you call in South Africa, the call is charged to your Telkom line.

The WorldCall Charge Card is issued free, with its own PIN, and different credit limits can be set per card. You can also limit access to certain numbers, to help contain the costs.

Because you are paying Telkom rates, there are no currency conversions.

10. Beware of extra services
All these services and others offered by Telkom are useful and can go a long way towards cutting your bill. But they are useless – and expensive – if you don’t make full use of them.

The InfinitCall plan, for example, costs R48.33 per month (excluding VAT), and caps the cost of all calls within South Africa to R7.87 (including VAT), provided you make them during CallMore Time.

The service is ideal for people who are prone to regular lengthy chats and hours of surfing the net. Many InfinitCall users log onto the internet on Friday nights at the start of CallMore Time and stay online until Monday mornings, just before peak time, because that one call costs no more than R7.

Unless you use the service in such a way, you may be spending R49 a month subscribing to a service that you either don’t use to maximum effect or misuse because you don’t fully understand how it works.

Telkom is not actively marketing the InfinitCall because it is «currently under review».

EXTRA SAVINGS
At the time of going to press, Telkom launched two new calling plans, XtraTime 400 and XtraTime 200, which offer you a monthly saving of R18 on local calls or R23 on long-distance calls respectively.

XtraTime 400 Local offers you 300 local minutes in peak time and 100 local minutes in CallMore time for R120 a month (including VAT).

With XtraTime 200 Long-distance you get 150 long-distance minutes in peak time and 50 long-distance minutes during CallMore time. Plus you get an additional five percent discount on international fixed-line calls, and free Call Answer all for R160 a month (including VAT ).

Minutes are not transferable and must be used during each month. Both packages are on trial until August 2004.

SAVINGS ON THE CELL
Prepaid airtime vouchers are possibly the greatest thing since cell phones – particularly for those of us who love the phone. But while they are the ultimate budgeting tool, the call charges are generally higher than the call charges on a contract. And this applies to all three cellular service providers.

Going the prepaid route gives you more control over your spending. Once you’ve used up the call time for which you have budgeted, you either choose to sit tight until month end or you can top up your airtime with whatever extra cash you have. But even when you are out of airtime, you can still receive calls.

Prepaid vouchers are available in various denominations and with some of the more expensive vouchers, you get some free airtime. But bear in mind that recharge vouchers are only valid for a certain period of time, between a month and a year.

Call charges
Your cost per call depends on a range of factors, particularly whether you pay per minute or per second for your calls, and whether you use your phone most often during peak or off-peak time. In the cellphone industry, peak time is weekdays between 7am and 8pm. Off-peak is week days from 8pm to 7am and all day Saturday, Sunday and public holidays.

«Selecting the correct tariff is key to keeping your costs down,» Moira Sheridan, the public relations and media manager of Cell C, says.

Contract options
Between Vodacom, Cell C and MTN, you have 42 contract options to choose from. The cellphone industry is highly competitive and the service providers’ tariff sheets reflect this. You need to examine them and choose a contract that best suits your needs and your budget.

When you take out a contract, you are bound by the terms of the contract, and regardless of the number of calls you make, you pay a monthly subscription fee (to be connected to the network). Your subscription fee can be anything from R39 to R1430 a month.

With all of Cell C’s contracts, you can opt for a one-month, 12-month or 24-month contract.

Cost savings tips
Apart from being disciplined, calling during off-peak time and keylocking your phone, so that you don’t make accidental calls, there are a few other things you can do to cut your cell phone bill. You can:

1. Check your spending with a balance enquiry from your service provider.
For a balance enquiry, Cell C’s subscribers can:

Go online to www.cellc.co.za and select account information under Cell C Services. There you will find out how many remaining free minutes or SMSes you have, your next debit order amount and your current unbilled amount.

Dial 14302 for an automated service that provides billing information. Calls are charged at R1 (including VAT) per enquiry in peak and off-peak time.

SMS the word BALANCE to 14302. The information will then be sent back you via SMS at a charge of 30c at any time of the day.

For a running total on their phone bill, MTN customers on contract can call 258. MTN’s prepaid customers should dial 555 for their available airtime.

For R10 a month, Vodacom customers can request a daily SMS giving them their latest account balance.

2. Use the «call me» service or dial into someone’s voicemail.
All three service providers offer a «call me» service which allows you to SMS another cellular subscriber and request that the recipient call you back.

Cell C and Vodacom subscribers get five free «call me» SMSes to any cellular number per day, and MTN subscribers get three.

As an alternative, Vodacom and MTN subscribers can dial into the voicemail of a subscriber in their network. Although you will still be charged for a call, you save yourself a lengthy conversation by leaving a message.

Discounted calls
Cell C offers both its prepaid and contract subscribers discounted call rates to four frequently dialled numbers. The Easy Chat «Friends & Family» feature gives all except business users a 10 percent discount on all calls to four pre-selected numbers frequently dialled during off-peak time. A special rate applies to calls during peak time.

Your four numbers can be any cellular or fixed-line numbers (except special numbers, such as premium-rated numbers).

The hybrid option
MTN’s MyChoice TopUp combines the benefits of contract subscription with the control of prepaid. Customers buy a two-year contract, which comes with a variety of free or subsidised phones.

Each month, the contract is loaded with R75 of value that can be used in any way at any time, including voice calls or SMSes. It comes standard with per second billing after the first minute. Once the R75 has been depleted, customers can load Pay-as-you-Go airtime to make calls at the MyChoice TopUp rates, which are cheaper than the Pay-as-you-Go rates.

This article was first published in Personal Finance magazine, 2nd Quarter 2004.