The Saving Advice Forums - A classic personal finance community.

phone service

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • phone service

    ok since so many people have been talking about phone service, I figured I'd start a poll.

  • #2
    Re: phone service

    I have a land line but I use a discount long distance service which gives me 1200 long distance minutes for 25 a mpnth. However it seems to becoming unreliable so I am thiinking of alternatives.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: phone service

      responding to my own poll........ I have a (traditional) cellphone only that I pay about $39/month for including taxes and text messaging.

      The reason I will never get a landline...... the first is privacy. I don't want to be listed in a phonebook so anyone could find me (particularly with a non common last name) and I don't think that I should have to pay a fee for my privacy.

      The second is that I am rarely home, and it makes no sense for me to pay for a phone that I will never use.

      The third is I don't have to worry about paying for extras like Caller ID, long distance, voice mail, etc. They all come with my cellphone, and I can talk to anyone on my carrier, and nights (after 9) and weekends are free. I've never gone over my monthly minute allowance. Usually the only phonecalls I make before 9 are business related or very quick personal calls.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: phone service

        Cell phone and land line!

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: phone service

          We have a land line and a prepaid cell phone. I would love to just go with cell phone, but our area is so remote that we have no coverage for cell phones yet. Just 20 minutes away in either direction where DH and I work, there is coverage. So we have the land line for home and the cell phones for work and travel.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: phone service

            cell phones only, I havent felt the need to have a land line in almost six years. I have cable internet so dont need a land line for anything. Many people I know no longer have land lines.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: phone service

              Land line only.

              Cell phone wouldn't work around here unless we go up to the top of the hill to place our calls.

              We also have Hubby's family in England so we need cheap phone rates to the UK. We use a seperate long distance service for that (no monthly charge and less than 5 cents per minute to UK.)

              We are tempted by Vonage but we lose electricity here fairly often and it's nice to have the luxury of being able to call and whine at the power company when the lights and heat are out.

              Lynda

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: phone service


                Vonage for home
                Prepaid cell for wife
                Cell for work (work pays)

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: phone service

                  Originally posted by poundwise
                  Vonage for home
                  Prepaid cell for wife
                  Cell for work (work pays)
                  Ditto!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: phone service

                    two cells, one each....cheaper than land and cell...no long distance no roaming...calls to top 10 numbers are free, plus more than enough included minutes.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: phone service

                      Vonage (although we are switching to SkypeOut/SkypeIn cause it's cheaper!!)
                      Two cells
                      (Oh brave new world that has such people in it! Brave New World, Aldus Huxley)

                      I would whole-heartedly recommend VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) to anyone. It is SO much cheaper than traditional landlines (Skype is free if you call other Skypers). For those who call abroad alot, these services are indispensable; they are far cheaper and better than the traditional calling cards. Plus you have a ton of added web-based features. With Vonage, et al, you don't even need your computer on to use it. It works just like a traditional phone, the call quality is excellent and costs $24.99/month for unlimited national calls. You can even set up phone numbers in several different cities so your loved ones can call you as a local number and therefore saving them from long distance fees too!!!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: phone service

                        Originally posted by lgslgs
                        Land line only.

                        Cell phone wouldn't work around here unless we go up to the top of the hill to place our calls.

                        We also have Hubby's family in England so we need cheap phone rates to the UK. We use a seperate long distance service for that (no monthly charge and less than 5 cents per minute to UK.)

                        Lynda
                        Our situations are almost identical!

                        We use a prepaid cell phone (Virgin Mobile) which only costs about $5/month; unfortunately, it doesn't work at home (have to drive about 3 miles to higher elevation before we get service) or at my job, so Mark just takes it with him to work and we take it on road trips for emergencies.

                        We have a traditional landline mostly because we use it to call Mark's family back in England. The service we use requires a landline phone, or else the rates are a lot more expensive (but moot in our case, since the cell phone doesn't work at home anyway!).

                        Lynda, is your husband originally from England? If so, from where? Mark's originally from Hertfordshire and moved to the US in May 2003 on a K1 visa. We use OneSuite.com for our pre-paid long distance calls, I think it's about 2.5¢/minute to call the UK -- a steal, we can talk for 6 hours and it's still less than $10! What service do you use and what are the rates?

                        ~ Jenney

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: phone service

                          Originally posted by neatdesign
                          Lynda, is your husband originally from England? If so, from where? Mark's originally from Hertfordshire and moved to the US in May 2003 on a K1 visa. We use OneSuite.com for our pre-paid long distance calls, I think it's about 2.5¢/minute to call the UK -- a steal, we can talk for 6 hours and it's still less than $10! What service do you use and what are the rates?

                          ~ Jenney
                          Pat's from Hull. We did the K1 visa for him and were married in 2001. Gosh - I don't miss those applications and adjustment of status forms! Makes an IRS audit look like a Sunday afternoon picnic in the park, doesn't it?

                          We're using Covista for our long distance. It's about 4.9 cents per minute - which works for us since normal calling for him is a 2 hour call, every other month.

                          We're going to keep watching what's going on with Vonage. Their 14.99 plan + normal UK rate would save us a little money - but it would likely be a wash if we got the prepaid cell phone. Thier 24.99 plan includes free calls to UK land lines, be we don't call enough to make that worthwile. I'd also want to test with someone else's cell phone first to see if we can actually find any place on our land where one would work.

                          Lynda

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: phone service

                            Lynda, I have sent you a PM.

                            ~ Jenney

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: phone service

                              I have internet phone but data with text message. I never use the phone minutes because I am deaf.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X