I'm Paying Too Much for in Phone Costs...

Early B.

OK, here's the deal -- I have a HellSouth (now it's AT&T, I suppose) for local and long distance and DSL. I pay about $100/month including all the bells and whistles (call waiting, caller ID, etc.) I have Comcast for cable. I was thinking of going with Comcast for DSL and some sort of VOIP for local and long distance. Is it worth it?

What about Skype or Vonage? Vonage is much more costly than Skype.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Early B.

Oh, forgot to mention -- I also have a second telephone number for a dedicated fax machine. I hadn't researched on-line fax services yet, but are they worth it, too?

avguytx

That sounds about right for the costs in Texas. They rape you for taxes here on phones....it totally blows. Cell phone or land line. One of the big things I hate about it here! lol. I'm with Embarq (Sprint basically) and in the last year that I've had the phone lines and DSL, I have had to call in EVERY month to get something adjusted on it anywhere from $40 to $150 because they just can't seem to get it right. I just have no other choice for phones and I've already been thru the Vonage thing with I had cable. It worked well but if I wanted to switch to it now, I can't roll my numbers over to them because I am outside of the "major" area. I think I pay $44.99 ($29.99 + $15 unltd LD), $24.95 for 1.5mb DSL (don't care about it being any faster) and about $11 for a fax line (access line) that I pay for LD if I have to fax something which isn't too often. So, that's about $80 before taxes then that hit's it up to about $120. It's friggin ridiculous about the taxes. But I have to have them for work.

Ricardo

I pay $70 for local, unlimited long distance and DSL with Cincinnati Bell.
I had Road Runner internet connection before, and switched to get a "bundle" price with Bell. Road Runner is waaaaaaaay faster.

jmwest1970

Early B. wrote: »

OK, here's the deal -- I have a HellSouth (now it's AT&T, I suppose) for local and long distance and DSL. I pay about $100/month including all the bells and whistles (call waiting, caller ID, etc.) I have Comcast for cable. I was thinking of going with Comcast for DSL and some sort of VOIP for local and long distance. Is it worth it?

What about Skype or Vonage? Vonage is much more costly than Skype.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

In Little Rock, Comcast is the VOIP provider. They're offering Cable, Internet, and VOIP phone service for $99 a month.

Early B.

jmwest1970 wrote: »

In Little Rock, Comcast is the VOIP provider. They're offering Cable, Internet, and VOIP phone service for $99 a month.

Geez. The metro Atlanta area is overpriced compared to other areas of the country. Why???? It's the freakin' headquarters for Hellsouth!

engtaz

I am using Sunrocket VOIP. I pick up my messages on any computer anywhere.

Bamadude

i have comcast cable and internet. i use vonage VOIP for my home phone and the bill is $29/month total for unlimited long distance and all the other bells and whistles. i really enjoyed sticking it to bellsouth since they pretty much thought and acted like they were the only game in town until voip started taking a chunk of their revenue. i think competition is the best thing that can happen to a market to keep companies honest and prices low. I can't wait for someone to bring technology to my area that will compete better with cable internet/tv. i'm an advocate for cable deregulation.

i've had two different voip providers in the past 2 years and vonage seems a little better than the first (Lingo). i had some hiccups with vonage at first and overall it's not quite as solid as the conventional land line, but i don't mind the occasional blip since I'm saving so much money. i also have a cell phone so i don't really worry about emergencies. if you're concerned about power outages you can get an inexpensive uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that will run your modem and phone adapter for many hours since they don't pull much current. the worst thing about voip is by far the wait times when you do have to call customer service. but again there's a reason you're saving so much dough.

-bamadude

Bamadude

that is a very cool feature that i enjoy. i also get a text message on my cell phone that tells me when i have voice mail along with the number of the caller.

engtaz wrote: »

I am using Sunrocket VOIP. I pick up my messages on any computer anywhere.

BaggedLancer

I suggest using a cup with a string attached.

dragon1952

I agree....the telephone should be for emergencies only....that's my story and I'm sticking to it :cool: Sheesh, I can get by for weeks without yakking on the phone.

ben62670

You don't have to worry about the internet going down if you have a cell. My mom had Vonage, and set it up with simuring. It works well. You can also get a real cheap fax number added to the vonage so you can do away with the phone company all together. Also check out MetroPcs. I have it, and it is unlimited long distance within the US. I pay $55 no restrictions, but roaming can be a bad thing by the minute if you use a cell a lot out of area. They do have a program that lets you pre pay for roaming fees that isn't to bad. I have been happy with this service. No contracts, and it is way better than Nextel/Sprint in my area. I have my buddies fax line if I need to make a call if the cell service goes out.

Good luck, and look around
Ben

disneyjoe7

Early B. wrote: »

Geez. The metro Atlanta area is overpriced compared to other areas of the country. Why???? It's the freakin' headquarters for Hellsouth!

No longer moved west