Several Nigerians find it difficult to manage some avoidable expenses spent on their utility bills, especially airtime bills, without running into debts.
Mobile phone is arguably the most important gadget seen with almost every adult and younger ones; its usefulness and necessity cannot be over-emphasised and with increasing tariffs and hidden charges, millions of subscribers are paying more than what they bargained for and it is important to adopt some strategies to pay less on expenses made on the airtime.
Financial managers have advised that airtime bills should be kept in check with effective tips below before it created holes in our pockets:
Forget sentiments, choose cheapest tariff bundles:
Using pay-as-you-go airtime for data is extremely expensive. While it is better with calls, when you are using data, it should always be at in-bundle rates. Though, not all bundles are created equal, compare the cost of a gigabyte of data and call tariff always, as some telecommunication firms increase tariff without prior knowledge of patrons.
If you need to download movies or heavy documents, wait till you are somewhere where someone else will pay for your downloads/ uploads. Places like hotels, restaurants, and malls, to mention few, offer such incentives for their patrons
Check out for free wi-fi:
If you have to use a load of data,  for example to upload your holiday snaps to Instagram or check out the latest Game of Thrones trailer, wait until you’re somewhere where someone else will pay for your uploads and downloads. Places like hotels, restaurants, and malls, to mention few.
Switch off unused apps:
Applications like social chat platforms and other forms of communication drain more data on your phone. Change the settings on your data-hogging apps so that push notifications are blocked. This means that you won’t automatically receive updates or messages but have to go into the app to check them. On Android, go into Application Manager, then tap on Download, your apps will appear. Then click on each app and un-tick the Show Notifications box. On iPhone, go into your Settings app, tap Notifications Centre on the left-hand side of your screen, swipe until you see a list of your apps; tap each app, and under notifications, tap on none.
Turn off your mobile data:
You can simply turn off your mobile data unless you need to use it. Of course, you can just turn it on again, but the extra step makes you pause and consider whether you really need to scroll down in your Facebook feed at a red traffic light. Bear in mind that apps like WhatsApp won’t work with data off, so make sure your closest friends and family know how to get hold of you if they need to.
Don’t forget about airtime:
While data makes up the majority of Nigerian phone bills, it’s worth paying attention to the costs of airtime as well. If you are on a contract, make sure that your contract matches your usage. Get a package with the right number of airtime minutes and free Short Message System to support your average use. Your service provider should be able to help you work this out.
If you are on pay-as-you-go, minimise your call time as much as possible. Remember that calling friends on the same network as you costs less; so if you have multiple phones, always make a call from the most cost-effective one-and call landlines from your landline, if you have one. And if you are in a wi-fi zone, use Skype or WhatsApp Call to keep your costs down.
