1 in 5 Australians would save money ditching their fixed line

According to a new study released, one in five Australian households would be financially better off if they ditched their landline and switched to mobile. The findings, released by independent research company PhoneChoice, show that the average household currently spends significantly more on a landline than they would on some of the latest pricecapped mobile offers available in the market.

According to Reg Robertson of PhoneChoice, even those who make regular long-distance calls could benefit from switching to a capped mobile plan, which in many cases will buy two or three times more long distance or mobile minutes than the same spend on a landline.

"Our research suggests that some capped mobile plans are now so cheap that for nearly one in five households it is more cost effective to make a complete shift to some capped mobile plans rather than keeping a landline, and this is likely to become the case for an increasing number of households as mobile bundles become the norm."

The new price-capped value bundles from Vodafone, which were included in the PhoneChoice study, are among the most compelling reasons for customers to ditch their landline. The Vodafone bundles, called Super Cap, Mega Cap and Night Talker, are available on unlimited monthly (post pay) and will be available in prepay at the end of August. The bundles come with the flexibility of no lock in contract and per-second billing, and unlike other mobile bundles currently in the market also include all standard voice calls to any mobile or landline, voicemail, TXT, PXT (picture messaging), data browsing (GPRS) and calls to Vodafone '123' in Australia.

Robertson adds, "We recommend consumers look for a capped mobile plan that offers per-second billing and does not lock them into a fixed contract. This gives consumers the fairest calculation of how much of the cap they have used, and also gives them freedom of choice if a better deal comes onto the market."