My Budget - Phone Options?

[mtshastawriter]

Since I am now 100% in charge/control of our household spending, due to DH's passing away, I have started looking to lower our COL as low as possible, without being too disruptive or changing for my teenagers. One reason is that my SSDI income will drop, but it's also because I want to be in a position to save as much money as possible and be able to do things this summer with my kids. We have been pretty much stuck at home for the last few years, and this summer I want to get out and enjoy the area we live in.

Our local AT&T phone service, for our landline, is about $80 a month once they tack on all of the fees and taxes to the $30 basic bill. All I have is call-waiting and caller Id on the line, and make very few long distance calls. I hate, hate, hate talking on the phone and would be more than happy to disconnect it.

I am thinking of reactivating my monthly Smarttalk phone via WalMart for $30 a month. This would give me all of the calling capabilities we need and would be cheaper than the landline. To do this, I would also likely activate one of my teenagers phones as well.

The other option is to use some form of VoIP and use my fast internet connection for phone calls. I believe our wireless internet would be fast enough to be able to use it for phone. But, I don't have any experience in this area. Any suggestions?

I think I am about 100% certain that I want to ditch the landline, but I need a good alternative that I can use when I have to call someone.

[schildi]

mtshasawriter, sorry to hear about your loss.

I agree, $80 seems A LOT for a landline. My suggestion for you is to look into Ooma. Not sure if Costco still sells it. You'd have to make sure that it works with your internet, though. I am not sure if it works with wireless internet.

With ooma, you basically only pay once, something like $200 or so, and then phone service is free (I think they started charing some taxes / fees, like $5 a month or so) a while back. I am one of the lucky ones to pay $0 since two years, with free long distance included.

[constanz22]

Does your cable provider offer phone service? That tends to run about $30 a month for unlimited everything...

[schildi]

Mar 20, 2011 10:12:50 GMT -5 constanz22 said:

Does your cable provider offer phone service? That tends to run about $30 a month for unlimited everything...

Have you seen cable providers offering unlimited international? The phone service offered by cable providers is usually significantly more expensive than Vonage, not even talking about ooma (which is even less expensive).

[mtshastawriter]

We live in the boonies, so we don't have access to cable. We have to use satellite for TV and I use a point-to-point antenna for internet access. We have a small phone company in the area who put an antenna up on our roof and it points to their antenna up on a local mountain. It's kinda unique to our area, but it gives us a very fast, reliable internet connection 99.99% of the time. (Go Cal-Ore Telephone you rock!) I think an option like Vonage would work here, but I am not sure if I should try that or go cell phone instead...

[constanz22]

Mar 20, 2011 10:15:52 GMT -5 schildi said:

Mar 20, 2011 10:12:50 GMT -5 constanz22 said:

Does your cable provider offer phone service? That tends to run about $30 a month for unlimited everything...

Have you seen cable providers offering unlimited international? The phone service offered by cable providers is usually significantly more expensive than Vonage, not even talking about ooma (which is even less expensive).

OP didn't say she wanted or needed "international"...so, no, that's not what was said or intended in my post. Cable phone here includes unlimited local and long distance, caller ID, call waiting, etc. Guess I have to be super specific here...

[Gardening Grandma]

Our local AT&T phone service, for our landline, is about $80 a month once they tack on all of the fees and taxes to the $30 basic bill

Taxes and fees on a $30 bill add up to $50? I'd study that bill line by line and if there was something I did not understand, I'd call AT&T and have them explain it. There is something very wrong with this picture.

Since you seem to have reliable broadband internet, I'd suggest trying Skype. You can talk computer to computer free. For a very low cost (I pay less than $9 for three months) you can have unlimited anywhere in the US and Canada calling from your computer to any telephone. I use it for all my long distance calling. I also use it on my iphone to stay within my airtime, since I'm using the internet, it doesn't count as air time.

One advantage to Skype is that there is no upfront cost unless you don't have a headphone. So it if doesn't work out, you aren't out anything.

[gooddecisions]

"Taxes and fees on a $30 bill add up to $50? I'd study that bill line by line and if there was something I did not understand, I'd call AT&T and have them explain it. There is something very wrong with this picture."

I second this notion. I've had an AT&T land line for several years with caller ID, call waiting, voicemail and unlimited long distance. After taxes it is $42/month. Do you mind sharing the taxes and fees being tacked on? How long has your $30 plan cost you $80?

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Our local AT&T phone service, for our landline, is about $80 a month once they tack on all of the fees and taxes to the $30 basic bill. All I have is call-waiting and caller Id on the line, and make very few long distance calls.

the call waiting and caller ID. That'll probably lower your bill to about half of what you're currently paying.

[schildi]

Mar 20, 2011 10:21:44 GMT -5 constanz22 said:

Mar 20, 2011 10:15:52 GMT -5 schildi said:

Have you seen cable providers offering unlimited international? The phone service offered by cable providers is usually significantly more expensive than Vonage, not even talking about ooma (which is even less expensive).

OP didn't say she wanted or needed "international"...so, no, that's not what was said or intended in my post. Cable phone here includes unlimited local and long distance, caller ID, call waiting, etc. Guess I have to be super specific here...

Yeah, I somehow thought "everything" means "everything", my bad. . Vonage for example does include unlimited international in some plans, so it's a valid comparison.
From my experience, cable providers are the most expensive when it come to VoIP even outside of international calls. Ooma has cost me $140 more than two years ago and includes all the extras (incl. free domestic long distance, caller ID, messages by email, etc ....). That's $5.83 per month to date, dropping lower with every additional month.

[TrixAre4Kids]

Tomorrow, call the business office of whoever is providing your local landline phone service. Is that ATT or Cal-Ore? Heck call them both. They are required by law to provide a low-cost basic rate service (usually measured). It will not have any caller id/waiting/voicemail etc.

You will need to be persistent and PRY this information out of them, they won't offer it unless you specifically ask for it. It won't be advertised on their websites. They don't like people knowing they are required to provide this type of service so they keep it quiet! You should be able to get a bare bones measured phone line for about $15, or $20 with all the taxes and fees. Please let me know how you do.

[schildi]

Mar 20, 2011 12:52:49 GMT -5 TrixAre4Kids said:

Tomorrow, call the business office of whoever is providing your local landline phone service. Is that ATT or Cal-Ore? Heck call them both. They are required by law to provide a low-cost basic rate service (usually measured). It will not have any caller id/waiting/voicemail etc.

You will need to be persistent and PRY this information out of them, they won't offer it unless you specifically ask for it. It won't be advertised on their websites. They don't like people knowing they are required to provide this type of service so they keep it quiet! You should be able to get a bare bones measured phone line for about $15, or $20 with all the taxes and fees. Please let me know how you do.

Good idea, especially if the extras are not needed, and not many phone calls are made.

[Deleted]

I have a landline and pay $32-$36 a month (depends on the number of days, I think), and it does include call waiting, caller ID, and the answering machine part. It's with AT&T.

Is it the long distance that is killing you? I opted for no long distance plan on my phone because there is a monthly fee attached. That means it is EXTREMELY expensive. Get a calling card and put the info on the receiver of every phone. (Mine says, "STOP! Do NOT dial long distance direct. Use this number instead.)

Have you thought about getting a house cell? Something very basic that never leaves the house?

[schildi]

Mar 20, 2011 14:31:47 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

Have you thought about getting a house cell? Something very basic that never leaves the house?

Good idea as well. You can get a prepaid phone with 12 months of service and a thousand minutes for under $100. That's about $8 per month. If you don't go over like 80 minutes per month or so ...

[p8nt]

Contact your provider and see if you qualify for Life Line, discounted phone service. It is very inexpensive.

[philly1]

I have Verizon and my average monthly landline bill is $15/mo. I have local calling only. That saves $10/mo. Get a calling card if you need to make a long distance call. Also drop all the extra's. I also have the pay-per call plan. I think it's like .03 per call instead of unlimited calling for $5/mo.

[qofcc]

If you don't need an internet or texting plan, you should be able to get a basic family cell phone plan for the 3 of you for less than the $80 you spend on the landline. With your boys at an age where they might be working or driving around or even leaving home soon you might find that convenient. When you have multiple phones, a group plan might be cheaper than individual lines. If you really don't plan to use the phone much, you could also see if a friend or relative would let you be added onto one of their cell plans. We added my dad just so he can have a phone when he needs it and it adds less than $15/mo with taxes.

[TrixAre4Kids]

bump. What happened OP?

[motherto2]

I have Vonage and it costs $17 a month. I only have it for emergencies because I use my cell most of the time. I have unlimited incoming minutes but only 100 outgoing minutes. After that they charge extra, but since I never use it I have no idea how much that costs. I'm thinking about dropping it since I can't tell you the last time I used it. Be careful about getting a simple family cell plan. I started out with a very simple plan, and now $200 a month, we have 4 phones with DD and DS having Droid X phones. Crazy. Can't wait til they get their own plans. The other phone is for my parents, and it's only about $15 a month to have them.

[jd2005]

I have Vonage. If you can pay for a year in advance you get a great discount.

[TrixAre4Kids]

OP, I think you are in Cali, this link might help you:
www.cpuc.ca.gov/puc/telco/public+programs/ults.htm