How to Pay Phone Bills Online

Paying phone bills online can be an effective way to make your bill paying more efficient.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Internet Access
• Checking Accounts
• Computers
• Telephone Service

1. Sign up for a checking account with a local bank.
2. Sign up for telephone service with a local carrier.
3. Sign up for Internet access.
4. Go to the telephone carrier's Web site.
5. Enter your telephone number.
6. Request information about payment options.
7. Request that your monthly bill be deducted directly from your checking account.
8. Ask that the sign-up sheet be mailed to you.
9. Fill out the sign-up sheet, entering your checking-account number and your bank's name and address on the sheet.
10. Ensure that your next monthly telephone bill indicates that the balance due will be deducted directly from your checking account.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid giving out your checking-account number online. Ask the phone company to mail you the sign-up sheet.
• Increasingly, merchants are accepting "digital cash," an alternative to paying bills by credit card or through checking-account debits. One product called CyberCash (www.cybercash.com) is catching on. Ask your phone company if it will accept CyberCash or other forms of digital cash.
• Check out Microsoft Wallet (www.microsoft.com/wallet), also a means of paying bills online.
• Avoid giving out your checking-account information online.