Ever got a shock bill? Frustrated by the ever increasing telephone bill? It happens to all of us. Take this scenario, suitcases packed, holiday here I come. After the holiday an unpleasant surprise, an enormous operator bill as your iPhone has been synchronizing email or you have been calling friends and family back home. Or remember this situation…..your kids have gone crazy texting (SMS) and phoning with their friends on your mobile?
If you have a smartphone you might be surprised that there are apps on the market that will allow you to make cheap calls, eliminate texting (SMS) cost, and allow you to have free mobile data access. All smartphone apps that will help you save money are sometimes the best-kept secrets around.
1. WhatsApp — Free SMS
The first App that will save you money is called WhatsApp. WhatsApp allows you to never pay for your texting (SMS) anymore. This is a cross platform (iOS/Android/..) allowing you to send instant messages to all of your contacts that also have WhatsApp. WhatsApp is used by >200 million users globally, WhatsApp is a paid app ($0.99). To download the app: www.whatsapp.com.
2. Yelo — Cheap Calls
Roaming, international calls, long distance, phone cards? Your answer to reduce cheap International calling cost is Yeloworld. It is considered the best calling app. With Yelo, users will save up to over 90% compared to leading operators and service providers such as Vodafone, AT&T, T-Mobile, SkypeOut, Jajah, Google Voice and Rebtel. These really cheap calls have great quality so you will never feel like you should pay more for all of your calling needs. With Yeloworld you can make cheap calls to mobile phones and even landlines globally (>200 countries). To download the free app (iOS/Android): www.yeloworld.com.
3. Onavo — Reduce Mobile Data
Onavo is another money saving app. This app will really help you to save on your data usage. Onavo can help you to reduce your data usage (30-50%) by using advanced data compression. As most operators are moving to a maximum data usage (mb) on the mobile data plan, whereby you have to pay for the extra usage, Onavo ensures you get the most out of your dataplan. To download the app: www.onavo.com.
4. Fon — Free Mobile Data
Fon is a must-have app, that will allow you to stop paying for mobile data. Fon gives you free access to 7 million WiFi hotspots across the world. All you need to do is locate a Fon hotspot and you will have free internet. All it requires for you is to become a Fon member by buying a Fon router (Fonera). Fon has been signing deals with BT, MTS, Oi, SFT and other operators, so expect them to get coverage in all major countries in the next years. To download the app: www.fon.com.
5. WeFi — Free Hotspots
The fifth and final app is called WeFi and can be found at http://www.wefi.com/app. This is an app that will again help you to get free data on your smartphone. This app has about 100 million Wi-Fi hotspots in their database. To download the app: www.wefi.com. The above mobile apps will help you to reduce on your mobile cost, while getting the maximum out of it.
A last tip is to always check on how to manually switch off mobile data or calling on your phone when you start your travel or how to switch back to your own operator when returning from travel. Smartphones nowadays are very smart, but somehow not smart enough to ask you whether you would like to switch off mobile data or calling when you are in roaming (not on a network of your operator). Or is this the killing feature for operators to enjoy enormous margins?
