Need advice on cheap home phone plan/equip/deal

[gabbyraja]

nak
Right now we are bundling our phone and internet through the cable company for our avg of $43/month. I'd rather pay around $20 for internet and nothing for home phone. So, Magic Jack-type solutions appeal to me. But I don't have the slightest idea if any of them are truely worth anything.

Now, 2 things. We have only one cell, no plans for a 2nd, and dh takes it with him to work. So we need a home phone. I spend a good part of several days/wk on the phone (unfortunately). Also, we currently pay $25/month for dish network for tv. We were on a 2 yr contract, this month ends the first year and the great rate. We'll go up to $50/month. If we cancel our contract we'll pay $10 for every month left in our contract - $120. We don't have the lump sum, but will in Jan, so we're considering going to cable (basic plan or great deal) then, w/no contract. At that point we can probably bundle tv w/the internet and phone for about 50-60/month. So maybe we shouldn't do anything but wait 'til then...?

Love to hear suggestions/advice.

[Turquesa]

Originally Posted by gabbyraja

nak
Right now we are bundling our phone and internet through the cable company for our avg of $43/month. I'd rather pay around $20 for internet and nothing for home phone. So, Magic Jack-type solutions appeal to me. But I don't have the slightest idea if any of them are truely worth anything.

I don't have a lot of advice for you. On the contrary, I could use it myself and am eager to see what others have to offer.

But enter the search terms "magic jack" and "privacy," then see what you think. I'm more possessive of my privacy than most people that I know, so you may not have a problem with them monitoring who you call in order to tailor ads to you. But personally, I'm not hip on it.

[BetsyS]

We have internet alone through the cable company, and we pay an extra premium for that, because we don't have other services.

Sometimes, it's cheaper to get it bundled (especially if, like in your case, you want the extra services).

[gabbyraja]

yah, it cost like $5 more to get phone, too when we signed up, because of some 6 m,onth deal that also is over this month. Another reason we're looking at other solutions.

sorry, nak again.

[greenmulberry]

We have cell phones with limited plans for cheapness.

DH had to be on a 4 hour conference call, and we have gmail, so he used gmail call phone. It was free and worked great.

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/0...rom-gmail.html

That's the only time we had to use it, so I don't have any further details, but you could always try it out for a while since it is free.

[Mulvah]

I have considered Magic Jack, but I was did not like the negative things I read about it. That said, there are a few good threads on this board about it. The negatives may not bother you and it may solve some of your issues.

I've never used a Gmail phone, but I do have a Google Voice number, which was (is?) free. It doesn't solve this problem, but it does give you a second number for free if needed for any reason.

Originally Posted by BetsyS

We have internet alone through the cable company, and we pay an extra premium for that, because we don't have other services.

Sometimes, it's cheaper to get it bundled (especially if, like in your case, you want the extra services).

This is very true. That said, look at your phone bill to see if you have any features you can do without. Between added features and taxes, land lines can be expensive.

[kotapop]

Don't know if this will help, but I am getting the Dish installed this Thursday, and they said both myself & a friend would get $50 off of our bills if you have a referral code? PM me if you want to try that ; )