A quarter century has passed since the 1984 breakup of the phone company, AT&T. We now have more telecommunications options than ever.

Dozens of providers compete for our business, and new technologies and calling choices appear each year.

There are big savings to be had — but only for those who can recognize the best options. Best ways to trim phone bills…

Eliminate unneeded telecom services. Analyze every item that you are charged for.

Examples: Many people pay $4 to $8 extra per month for call-waiting that they don’t use… or for voice mail that could be rep­laced by an inexpensive answering machine. Others pay as much as $5 to $10 per month for phone line “insurance” — even though the phone lines outside our homes are the responsibility of the phone company, and the wiring inside our homes is unlikely to fail unless it’s very old.

Eliminate phone lines. Many households have more than one landline — perhaps because of a home office or for teenagers — and one or more cell phones. If you have a cell phone, you might not need as many landlines as you once did. Each landline you cancel could save you $20 or more per month.

Example: If you have a cell phone, you might not need a landline for dial-up Internet access. Instead, you can use your primary landline to connect to the Internet, and while you are online, use this line’s call-forwarding feature (typically a free option) to route incoming calls to your cell phone.

Alternative: Downgrade a landline to a “limited-use plan.” Phone companies in most states are required to offer inexpensive phone lines ($10 or less per month). These limited-use lines might impose a per-minute charge for local calls, but incoming calls are still free. Consider using your cell phone for outgoing calls, but giving out the limited-use landline phone number so that incoming calls don’t waste cellular minutes when you’re home.

Don’t pay for more long distance than you need. Unlimited calling plans usually cost around $25 per month but are appropriate only for those who do at least five to 10 hours of long-distance calling each month. For everyone else…

Choose a long-distance plan that charges low monthly fees and low per-minute costs. The Web sites SaveOnPhone.com and PhoneDog.com can help you explore the options.

Example: Enhanced Communications Group (888-869-1141, www.ecg1.com) offers long-distance service for as little as 2.5 cents per minute with just 59 cents in monthly fees and no minimum usage requirements.

If you have a phone line that you rarely or never use for long distance — perhaps because you use a cell phone for these calls — tell your landline company that you don’t want to have a presubscribed (paying a long-distance fee on a monthly basis no matter how many calls you make) long-distance carrier at all. This could save you several dollars or more each month in fees and taxes.

When you do need to place a long-distance call from this line, you can use a “dial-around” service, also known as a “10-10” service. Just dial the dial-around company’s seven-digit prefix before dialing the phone number you’re calling. The Web site www.10-10phonerates.com tracks many of the leading dial-around options. Avoid dial-around companies that charge a monthly fee.

Example: TelecomUSA’s 10-10-987 charges six cents per minute with a 53-cent connection fee (800-728-6161, www.telecomusa.com), with no monthly fee or minimum.

Switch to “Voice-over-Internet protocol” (VoIP). If you have broadband (cable, satellite or DSL) Internet access, cancel your landline and sign up for an Internet-based phone service, also known as VoIP service, for less than the cost of your landline service.

Downsides: If your power goes out, your VoIP phone won’t work… your call quality will be only as good as your Internet connection… and if your home alarm system is more than a few years old, it won’t work with VoIP.

Among the options…

Vonage (800-968-8720, www.vonage.com) provides a phone line and unlimited domestic calling for $24.99 per month. You would have to pay a traditional phone company at least $40 to $50 per month for similar services. Vonage even includes call-forwarding, voice mail and caller ID. Since a Vonage phone is computer based, you can take your Vonage phone line (your laptop) anywhere that you have broadband Internet access, eliminating the need to have multiple phone lines if you split your time between multiple residences.

Skype (www.skype.com) is much cheaper than Vonage — it costs as little as $2.95 per month for unlimited domestic calls — but requires some computer savvy. Calls are placed from a computer, not from a conventional phone.

Stop using directory assistance. Most phone companies now charge customers $1.75 to $2 per call when they dial 411 to find a phone number. Instead, use a “free 411” service, such as 800-373-3411 or, from Internet company Google, 800-466-4411. These free services can be dialed from either a landline or a cell phone.

CELLULAR SERVICE

Three additional ways to slash cell-phone bills…

Switch to a prepaid cellular plan if you use your cell phone less than 300 minutes per month. Traditional cellular plans lock consumers into long contracts costing upward of $35 per month. Prepaid cellular does not require a contract and can cost $100 or less per year if you don’t use your cell phone very much.

Downside: Unlike traditional cell-phone plans, prepaid plans do not offer unlimited night and weekend calling.

Among the best prepaid options…

T-Mobile Pay As You Go. Rate example: 1,000 minutes of talk time cost $100 (10 cents per minute). These minutes don’t expire for at least a year. (800-866- 2453, www.t-mobile.com.)

TracFone. Rate example: 150 minutes cost $30 (20 cents per minute) and last at least 90 days. (800-867-7183, www.tracfone.com.)

Virgin Mobile Pay as You Go. Rate example: 1,000 minutes cost $50 (just five cents per minute). However, Virgin Mobile minutes expire in as little as one month unless they’re used or additional talk time is purchased. (888-322-1122, www.virginmobileusa.com)

Avoid text messages. Most cellular service providers now charge 15 to 20 cents each time a text message is sent or received, up from five cents to 10 cents a few years ago.

Helpful: If you never use text messaging, call your cellular service provider and ask to have text messages blocked on your phone. This way, you won’t have to pay for any text messages sent to you by spammers.

Escape a cellular contract without a big early termination fee. Cellular service providers typically charge customers $200 per phone when they want to end their service agreements before their contracts are up.

Online cellular transfer services, such as CellSwapper.com and CellTradeUSA.com, offer a cheaper way out. These companies match cellular customers who wish to escape their contracts with other consumers willing to take over the contracts. Taking over existing contracts lets these people avoid activation fees… and obtain contracts already part of the way to their expiration dates, for shorter commitments.

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