Phone options??

[chopped]

Greetings,
Ive been weighing my options on a phone.First I have had a Landline for 30 some years, closing it out and going with a phone service thats through a modem connected to my cable supplier. Problem is im paying more for things I dont want.
I also have a cell phone thats basically useless in the house (low or no signal)
While happy with the modem cable service the price for it is too much. My goal is to just have a phone thats hard wired or not dependant on the cell signal. I really only care to have a phone for 911 or family emergencys.
I found this one thats similiar in that it uses the internet cable.
Unlimited Home Phone Service | Lingo - go talk
Seems like a good choice . I phoned them to get some install info etc but they didnt seem to know what the taxes or fees were.:laughing: let alone how it works.
I also called fairpoint (landline company) who took over from the then verizon, and found they were really terrible in customer sales to me. told me they thought the metered service might be avaliable yet dint seem to care to get my sale.
I think alot of places have lost the service and sales with the net. they just seem to want to say visit www.xxxx.
any ideas?

 

[coreshot]

Have you tried a signal amplifier for your your cell? I used one in the middle of nowhere when I was working in Arizona, and it made a world of difference. I eliminated my land line 5 years ago, and have never looked back.

 

[Dream Farmer]

I have a cell enhancer in my house. it is like a mini tower that utilizes the internet for cell connection..
Shawn

 

[KTurner]

To get your cable internet bill cheaper, look into lowering your bandwidth. Our provider has plans from $35/month to $63/month (not factoring in any promotions), depending on the bandwidth you choose when signing up.

I'm very aggravated with cellular options. Both my wife and I have a phone. We might use 100 minutes a month combined, and our cell bill is about $80/month. We're still using 5 or 6 year old cell phones because we don't want to lock into another contract with the current provider by getting new phones. We'd like smart phones, but they want $30/month additional for each phone due to the data (and a 2 year contract).

I just found a new company, www.ting.com. It sounds promising, but they've only been active for a couple months. You pay for the phone outright, none of these 'free' phones with a 2 year contract. You pay for what you use. If you don't use the phone for a month, you pay the basic $6 account fee, but no minutes/texts/data. Given our current usage, we'd pay something like $18 a month, after buying two phones. I believe the phones will allow calls to be made over wireless internet, if you're within range of a wireless network. If so, you'd still be able to use it at home through your internet (assuming you have a $30 wireless router), even without a cell signal. The company itself has been around for a while, but just started getting into cellular. They use the sprint network. I'll probably give them a couple more months to see how they do and sign up, assuming they get good reviews.

As far as that goes, I'm aggravated with my land line also. $55 a month and 75% of the time the phone rings or is used, it's a telemarketer of some sort (yes, we're on do not call).

Keep in mind that a real telephone provider has certain obligations which phone over the internet does not. Ie, If the power goes out, will you still be able to dial 911?

Keith

 

[uglyboywith11fingers]

Sometimes the particular cell phone you're using can make a big difference.
We had been using an LG flip phone, had terrible signal in the house, if we needed to use the cell when at home, we had to go outside the front door.
Anyway, the phone died, so in choosing a new phone, I did a little research and found a phone that by all reports had great signal reception.
It was a Nokia C3-01. Now we can use the cell anywhere in the house, even in the basement. Same cell company.

Pete

 

[newbury]

I was on our "family plan" for the cell phone and they were charging like $10/month + insurance + fees and it ended up being about $18/month AND it was not the prime phone! I'd only us about 20 minutes a month.

My battery died and it was going to COST for a new battery.

I dropped that for a Best Buy special of $15 for the phone and it came with $15 of talk time at 25 cents/minute. And ran out in 60 days. Refills run out in 30 days ($15 to $30) to $100 for 1 year.

And if I lose the phone, urinate on it or whatever it's only $15 to do it again.

 

[looch]

I have something called a "Rocket Hub". I work in IT for a living and hadn't heard about this until late last year. It's voice and data through the cellular network. I have a device that I plug my regular home phone into and I get a WiFi network for my computers. I added a $100 Yagi-style antenna to my roof and I now get very reliable phone service as well as ~4 mbits/s Internet - which is great for where I live. It costs me about $60/mth, or half of what I was paying before for Internet and phone. The bandwidth limitation does suck, though - 4Gb/mth. No Netflix for me.

 

[tommu56]

ask your cell provider to give you a "Femptocell"

Femtocell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I know 2 people that got them free.

Bad Reception? Sprint May Give You a Free Femtocell to Fix It | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

Sprint addressing coverage problems with free femtocells

it provides cell service VIA the internet

tom

 

[masscity]

This won't help the op. When I retired and moved back to the farm I grew up on, I only had a cell phone.
I can see the tower and get a good signal. When I moved here I had to get Hughes Net for my internet, which I hated.
They finally upgraded the phone lines around here and I got 10meg DSL for $65. A year later they asked me if I would take a free restricted landline.
I can only call within the county, of course I can receive a call from anywhere.
The best part was with the landline they would take $10 off of my DSL bill.
The main reason I liked the idea was that the cell tower has gone out for short periods. My cell phone is my main phone and the landline is my backup so I can call 911 or my brothers when the cell tower is out.