1. Examine your most recent bills and identify which type of calls you make most frequently and which account for the bulk of your monthly costs.
2. Investigate which telecoms company offers the best value for money depending on your usage, e.g. do you talk enough to benefit from a package deal that includes free calls for a set price? Are you a heavy daytime user or are you looking for the cheapest international rates?
3. If you do opt for a package deal that includes a certain number of minutes per month, check if you can carry over unused minutes into the next billing period. (At Eircom, you can, but at Gaelic Telecom, you can't.)
4. Check whether minimum call charges apply and if calls are charged on a per-minute or per-second basis.
5. If you have opted for a deal where calls up to 60 minutes are free but you are still in the middle of your conversation, hang up after 59 minutes and redial in order to save money.
6. Consider blocking certain types of calls, e.g. calls to mobiles. However, check if there is a fee for this service. For example, Smart Telecom charges €2 a month.
7. Investigate whether you are eligible for any discounts or schemes such as Eircom's "low user" scheme, which costs €23.80 for line rental plus €5 worth of calls. (But beware: additional calls are charged at double the standard rate.)
8. Know how your telephone operator defines peak and off-peak times. Not all companies understand the concept of "evening" in quite the same way.
9. Check if companies offering Carrier Pre-Selection (CPS) call services (where customers continue to be billed by Eircom for line rental) are offering good deals, as they may be worth the hassle of receiving two bills.
10. If you can, go online to monitor your call costs for the current billing period. Check if you can make any online savings. For example, Esat BT customers get €5 off every bill if they buy their phone service on EsatBT.com and opt for online billing.
More information is available from the Commissioner for Communication Regulation (Comreg) at www.askcomreg.ie.
