Avoiding expensive phone bills?

Last month I was moving so I made a lot of calls to real estate, moving companies, etc.And then I wad hit with a 11,000yen phone bill from docomo. I felt like I was robbed so I decided to find an alternative to making landline calls.

I found this Hangout dialer app from Google (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps....), which claims it can bypass mobile phone carrier's minute plan. You only have to pay at very cheap rate: $0.03/min for mobile phones in Japan and $0.09/mi for landlines in Japan (https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/rates?hl=en&p=hangout).

I wonder if anyone has used this app before and can you tell me if it really works?.
Thanks.

Last month I was moving so I made a lot of calls to real estate, moving companies, etc.And then I wad hit with a 11,000yen phone bill from docomo. I felt like I was robbed so I decided to find an alternative to making landline calls.

First off 11,000 yen is not a particularly high phone bill in Japan, but there are a few option available that may help you keep your bills under control.

How old is your contract? If it is an older pay by the minute plan, consider upgrading to a newer unlimited calls plan. It may be cheaper if you average more than around 2000-3000 yen in calls per month depending on your plan. The downside is that you may have to make a new 2 year contract.

Apps like hangouts are a viable alternative to keep calling costs under control. I use it myself for international calling, and while the app is a little buggy and not super intuitive, the call quality is reasonably good and it is worth considering using for your outgoing calls.

11,000Yen is not particularly expensive but I usually only pay around 6000-8000yen per month. But anyway, thanks for the answer. I will leave Japan in 6months so making new contract would not be a good idea.

Sorry, I don't think I wrote very clearly. I meant to say that 11,000 is not particularly high compared to the average phone bill. But it is high compared to your average, and in your shoes I would also try to do whatever I could to keep it down. Actually we are in a very similar situation, and I happen to use and would recommend the hangouts app as a way to help cut down on calling costs.

No I understand what you meant the first time, that's why I tried to clarify my average payment. In any case, thanks for your help, I think will try out the Hangouts option and see how it goes.

You can use many apps to make online phone calls for free. Skype, hangout, Line, Viber.

Even if you have a limited data plan, a simple phone call normally works even if you are already over your limit and get slowed down.

Also, what I did before was to use Skype and use their paid call service which was much cheaper than trying to call from my provider.