Water taxi company saves with GSM services

A Sydney-based water taxi company claims to have cut communication costs by more than 75 percent by using GSM services instead of fixed landlines.

Pink Water Taxis, which operates around Pittwater on the northern shores of Sydney Harbour, has replaced a single, fixed-line system with a wireless landline service that is estimated to cut peak phone bills from A$1,500 (US$1,137) a month to a flat rate of A$349.

The wireless landline is a GSM phone that emulates a landline, runs on mains or battery power and connects to any landline handset.

The system, provided by Ericsson, includes a hot-dial feature that can automatically call the taxi operator so the customer can be picked up. The wireless landline is network independent.

Pink Water Taxis partner, Rod Smith said the Telstra landline previously used at its Church Point base cost 80 to 90 cents a call, and with a monthly fee of A$40 dollars was a "costly overhead".

"We found the phone was costing us up to A$1500 a month in the busy season, which is far too much," Smith said.

"We get around 14,000 calls a month, have no monthly rental fees and the most we will ever pay is the flat rate of A$349 a month which is a huge saving."

Now, whenever a call is placed to our water taxi drivers it costs only A$0.10 for five minutes with no flag fall, Smith said.