Reducing phone bill

[Tink-n-MrIncredible]

I would like to cut my house phone bill. I do not want to give up my home line because of emergencies. Does anyone have just basic service on their home phone, no long distance, call waiting, caller id, etc? If so how has it worked out with just the basics. DH and I have cell phones so we can use them for long distances.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

I had a basic plan like you described back when I moved into my very first apartment. I paid like 15.00 a month for it with unlimited in and out calls. That is the one thing to be careful of because the emergency only plan is like 9.95 but they limit how many calls you can have. Also you are gonna have to ask for that specific plan. basic in and out only. They dont really want seem to want to sell that plan (obviously) but it is there. They will probably try to bundle it with call waiting and whatnot but just stick to your guns about just basic phone unlimited in and out calls. It worked great I had a cell phone at the time too so just needed a basic phone. That said now we have cell phones only and no landlines at all. Good luck!!

 

[NVDisMom]

We cut our landline to the basic monthly fee and pay a toll for each call made. The ONLY reason we kept it was because, at the time, it was cheaper to keep it with the internet being a lower cost than to go internet without landline. You could easily hook a phone to it for emergency purposes and use your cells, as we do, for everything else. We also have VoIP, but don't really use it either.

 

[ah1126]

We have just a basic package for our phone. I keep it around for emergency's. I used to use it with a phone card to call long distance, but now I just use my cell. We have it bundled with our cable and internet to save money!

 

[MomToOne]

With a child in the house, I want to ensure 911 service with no glitches so I maintain a landline. I pay for the basic unlimited local service, and have a pay-by-the-minute long distance plan with no base monthly charge. I currently have AT&T for both, but shop around periodically and change when there is a better deal.

 

[seashoreCM]

Normally you choose a long distance carrier or if you don't make a choice they assign you to one at random. In some states if you tell the local phone company to remove you r long distance carrier and not select another one then there could be a decvrease of several dollars off of the monthly rate.

What now happens is that if you dial a long distance number it does not go through.

In other states the first long distance call each month triggers the basic charges for long distance service which together with taxes could be six to ten dollars, then any other long distance calls are charged for just the usual rate by the miniute.

 

[Speed Weasel]

We keep a landline for our security system (discount on the homeowner's insurance makes it worth it). In our area (but not in every area that we have lived in) they offer Measured Service. It is a Dial Tone service that allows 50 local outbound calls for free, and then they are something like 10¢ each after that. The line itself is only about $14, we added a $5 for 60 minutes of Long Distance (for faxing) package and then with added taxes our total is $31/month. Still seems high if you ask me. We never go over our allotment because of our cell phone minutes/usage. People think that we are wierd that we don't have Caller ID, but I am not going to pay another $9 per month to know who is calling moments before I actually pick up the phone.

Other ways to econimize and still keep the features include getting a bundle through Verizon FiOS or the Cable company, a Triple play bundle. Usually the added price of the phone service ends up being only about $10 more than the video and broadband services combined. We will probably be moving this direction soon...

 

[sam_gordon]

We have "bare bones" from our phone company... 1 land line. No long distance, no caller ID, no call waiting. Base monthly rate is $16 +$10 in fees! blah! We use cell phones for all LD calls (DW & I both work 1 county over, which is LD, but our cells are local).

There are times I've regretted not having caller ID, but nothing that's made me go sign up for it. Call waiting... blah. We don't get enough calls as it is.

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

We just got an Ooma machine and set up the system the other day. In the process of porting our home number now so I can't say how well I like the service but it had really good reviews. The cost is only taxes. For our area it will be $3.47 per month. Of course there is the initial box purchase but since currently our land line costs $app. $48 per month we will recoup that in a few months.

The thing I liked about it is that you have the 911 service. Just make sure you keep your address up to date. You also have free long distance and caller ID!

http://www.ooma.com/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1J9384DWD8K86GH39T0Z

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

We just got an Ooma machine and set up the system the other day. In the process of porting our home number now so I can't say how well I like the service but it had really good reviews. The cost is only taxes. For our area it will be $3.47 per month. Of course there is the initial box purchase but since currently our land line costs $app. $48 per month we will recoup that in a few months.

The thing I liked about it is that you have the 911 service. Just make sure you keep your address up to date. You also have free long distance and caller ID!

http://www.ooma.com/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1J9384DWD8K86GH39T0Z

 

[sam_gordon]

My problems with these systems (voice over IP)...
* If you lose power you lose phone.
* If you lose your internet connection, you lose phone
* Call quality. I don't think VoIP is quite up on quality yet.

 

[dfchelbay]

I would like to cut my house phone bill. I do not want to give up my home line because of emergencies. Does anyone have just basic service on their home phone, no long distance, call waiting, caller id, etc? If so how has it worked out with just the basics. DH and I have cell phones so we can use them for long distances.

This is what I did: I called my local police departments non emergency phone number, it goes directly to the 911 operator. It's the same person. I told her that I needed to dial 911 from my cell phone, inside my house to make sure my call went to her. She said sure, no problem. I hung up and dialed 911 and my call went directly to her. I told her it was me and my call was routed properly to my local police department, based on calling from my location/my house.

Maybe try this to make sure your cell phone 911 call goes to your local police department when you call from your home address. If so, get rid of the home land line all together.

Also, forgot to mention, back in August, my neighbor, three houses down was out walking, and when she got in front of my house, she noticed the house across the street had smoke coming out of the back of it and dialed 911, the fire department came immediately. She was three houses away from her home and still got the local police and fire.

 

[DawnM]

We got Ooma last December, so we have had it almost a full year.

I am THRILLED with no phone bill! The taxes will be $11 PER YEAR for us.

There is a premium service for $10/mo if you want it (includes multiple lines), but we had it free for 6 months and never used it.

For $199 you get the box, caller ID, call waiting, and voicemail. You never pay anything again, unless you want the premium service.

I ordered through Costco.com.

I hope to NEVER have a phone bill again.

DaWn

We just got an Ooma machine and set up the system the other day. In the process of porting our home number now so I can't say how well I like the service but it had really good reviews. The cost is only taxes. For our area it will be $3.47 per month. Of course there is the initial box purchase but since currently our land line costs $app. $48 per month we will recoup that in a few months.

The thing I liked about it is that you have the 911 service. Just make sure you keep your address up to date. You also have free long distance and caller ID!

http://www.ooma.com/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1J9384DWD8K86GH39T0Z

 

[Golf4food]

We have the bare minimum due to our security system. Miss the call waiting a little, but we can just wait for the answering machine to pick up if we really want to screen calls.

All telephone companies are required by Federal law to offer a base phone option that is around $16 per month.

 

[ragtopday]

My problems with these systems (voice over IP)...
* If you lose power you lose phone.
* If you lose your internet connection, you lose phone
* Call quality. I don't think VoIP is quite up on quality yet.

I have been using VOIP (Vonage) as my home phone for a year now. I have absolutely no complaints about quality. If we lose power or Internet, calls are automatically forwarded to my cell phone (or any other number I specify). And yes, this has happened.

I would go to Google Voice except I really want to keep our home number - that is really the only reason I maintain a landline at all. Next time we move, I'm ditching it.

 

[tinker&belle]

We cut ours down a few years back to the extreme basic, no long distance, no call waiting, no 'insurance' (They said there was a fee so that if someone has to come out we won't pay a fee then. With what we have now IF something happens we will just pay for it as it happens). It has gone up from when we first cut back to around $22/month.

We have two young children and my mom comes over often to babysit and tends to forget her phone or have it charged. It is nice peace of mind to know we can call in or she can call us.

 

[skw444]

We have a basic no frills phone line too. No caller ID, no call waiting, no long distance. But with fees, we still pay almost $30 a month.

 

[kaytieeldr]

We just got an Ooma machine and set up the system the other day. In the process of porting our home number now so I can't say how well I like the service but it had really good reviews. The cost is only taxes. For our area it will be $3.47 per month. Of course there is the initial box purchase but since currently our land line costs $app. $48 per month we will recoup that in a few months.

The thing I liked about it is that you have the 911 service. Just make sure you keep your address up to date. You also have free long distance and caller ID!

http://www.ooma.com/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1J9384DWD8K86GH39T0Z

Available today only - 11/1/10 - as today's Woot at woot.com, refurbished, $119.99 (ends midnight Central time)

eta: not advocating or endorsing this system; I just happened to notice it on Woot

 

[JB2K]

I would like to cut my house phone bill. I do not want to give up my home line because of emergencies. Does anyone have just basic service on their home phone, no long distance, call waiting, caller id, etc? If so how has it worked out with just the basics. DH and I have cell phones so we can use them for long distances.

I used to have a similar setup.

My local carrier is AT&T (former SBC/Ameritech) - for a bare-bones line, the cost was under $20 a month, including the usual taxes.

As phone calls went, there was no long distance (my cell phone served that purpose) and all local calls were 5 cents each tacked on to my phone bill.

Looking back, it really was a good deal...