landline phone

[pennywise]

I am with VarTec and received a notice my bill is going up $5 per month. That will put me at $55 for the privledge of a phone in my home. I use my phone for unlimited internet (no I do not want cable. We have no cable Tv and I don't want that again, no more monthly bills in our house!). With this plan I have 30 minutes of long distance per month. I don't care about the long-distance.

How can I shop phone service in my community? How do I find out what all phone companies are available for me to shop?

I am aware of the ploy where I get 19.95/mo and then they add a bunch of fees, so I insist they tell me the fees. AT&T just did this.

Thanks for your help.

[msnln]

Here in NY region, Verizon is the local phone carrier. I disconnected phone line couple of years ago and signed up with Vonage on cable internet. But since middle of last year, I started having disruptions with cable internet and was not satisfied. I called up Verizon to see what other options I had and they told me I can sign up for Verizon Fios DSL service. It's dedicated fiber optic DSL service. It's bit more costly than their regular DSL but technician came out to our house and installed dedicated fiber optic line at no cost and I pay $34.95 per month for this service. As I do not use telephone much, I have Vonage 500 minute a month plan, which is $15.99 ($17 and change with fees). For both internet service and phone, my set up seems cheaper than just your phone service fees.

I don't know if your region has this type of DSL service but I have been very satisfied so far over the past three months. Unlike cable, there isn't slowdown or disruption of service during peak hours (8-10 PM). One of the service disruptions with cable lasted overnight one day and that prompted me to look for alternatives. One downside is that speed is bit slower but not really noticeable over cable internet.

[relaventmeanings]

Have you heard of lowermybills.com? that will find the available services in your area at the least cost!

[budgetmom]

If you look in the front of your local phone book(somewhere in the front reference sections) there should be a listing of all the carriers in your area.

[msnln]

Here is my update on the phone setup since March. As reported above, I have dedicated FI DSL service and am not required to have phone service through Verizon. I decided to ditch Vonage as my usage did not justify paying close to $20 a month for 500 minute plan and signed up for Skype. Skype has Skypein plan where they sell you the phone number (and voice mail) for $12 for three months or $36 for 12 months and you can get incoming phone calls through Skype. They also have Skypeout, which allows you to call regular phone service through Skype.

At this time, PC to phone calls (Skypein and Skypeout) are free. This promotion is until end of the year, at which time, Skype may continue free offer or charge their regular rate of about 3 cents a minute. In order to use my regular phones, I purchased Yealink B2K Internet-VOIP Phone Adaptor on Ebay for around $25. I had this setup for about a month and it has worked well. So, for initial $25 investment, and $3-$4 number charge is all I pay for phone service at this time. Voice quality is comparable to regular landline, although I have experienced a second or two delay on some bad days. Oh, one more thing. As Skype is true VOIP (Voice of Internet Protocol), my PC has to be on all the time to receive calls at home. I guess this add $1 or $2 to my electric bill. For times when I am out, I have Skype programmed to forward calls to my cell phone when call is not picked up within 30 seconds. When Skype does decide to charge for their call, I will be utilizing my cell phone to make and recieve all my calls but I have preschool age children who stay with a nanny during the day and I need to stay in touch with them.

[januarymarch]

I went 100% cellular and am never going back to landline.

[dickyvman]

I too just switched over from landline to VOIP phone service and have been extremely satisfied. I was paying $38/month with qwest and now am paying $8/month with sunrocket, which I got in on a 2 year deal for $199. I also upped my internet speed from 256k to 1.5mb, which only costed me $5/month more. So I am definitely able to save a lot more money.

[Deelip]

Generally if you have a cell phone and a good Internet service in your area then I do not see necessity of landline phone. Almost all has a cell phone and since there is cable internet for Internet then there is no need of landline. VOIP can be used for long distance calls.

[Mikeee]

I don't care for it much, but don't feel like wasting more $ with the DSL and fiber options.

Here in NJ my "Flat Rate Unlimited" costs $8.95 with verizon. By the time the rest of the Fed, state, etc. charges are added my monthly bill is $18.34

I only get local call availability. No long distance. For the rare LD calls I use a low cost phone card.

I just read or watch TV when dialup is slow.

Mike

[kidseatfree]

We now use Skype for all our calls (local and longdistance) in the US. We pay about $60.00 a YEAR for "Unlimited" calling (3000 minutes a month). If we had opted to just have out going calls, this would drop to only $36.00 a year. Incoming calls, or rather, getting a phone number for others to call you on is about $24.00 a year. Skype to Skype calling is free.

See if you can just sign up for internet only (versus tv cable) as a broadband connection is required. Keep in mind that this is NOT a good service for 911 calling as your location and information do not appear for the emergency dispatchers.

Adding Google's GrandCentral Service (free) allows you a free local number you can use to forward calls to up to 6 phones at the same time. So callers call you at your GrandCentral number and your home (or Skype) phone and cell phone rings at the same time. You can then decide which to answer on.

[cptacek]

I would go all cell phone if I got good reception at my house. I can stand outside on either my front or back porches and get reception, but not IN my house.

But, one thing you need to remember, if you have a corded landline phone, it will work in the case of an electrical outage, wonky satellite, hurricane, etc. So, if you NEED a phone for any reason (medical, your job, etc.) you may rethink going only cell or only internet.

[ScrimpAndSave]

I don't have a landline...just use my cell.