Should I ditch my landline to save money?

If you're paying that dreaded monthly "line rental" charge and not making many calls, it's definitely time to reassess the situation.

Telstra and Optus are encouraging people to hold on to the traditional landline home phone by packaging up deals that include broadband internet and your home phone that could save you money if you currently subscribe to each service separately.

I recently knocked around $40 off the monthly bill by subscribing to one of the Telstra phone, pay TV and internet bundles.

Another way to hold on to the home phone while saving money is make all your calls via the internet.

This technology has come a long way in the last few years, and in many cases you can simply port your existing landline number when you sign up with a VOIP (voice over internet protocol) provider.

Many internet service providers offer good VOIP plans alongside their broadband internet offerings that could see you with internet access plus local and national calls for around $70 a month.

Those options will allow you to keep your home phone, which may be ideal if you need a shared phone for the whole family to use.

Or you can throw away your home phone and use a combination of NakedDSL (broadband internet without the monthly line rental) and a good capped mobile phone plan.

It depends on your personal situation.

For a start visit sites like It depends on your personal situation. For a start visit sites like broadbandchoice.com.au and phonechoice.com.au.

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