home phone options

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stockrex

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Greetings!
Now that I have comcast coming over on Sunday, I want to term/dump my ATT landline and carry over the # to a home telephone service. I am paying $50 a month for unlimited nationwide with caller id.

I need you input to what the options are out there.

1. Straight Talk Wireless - I like this as it is wireless and it is independent of the wired internet. Cons is that there is a monthly charge.

I need to be able to fax once in while too.
 
Land line? Whats that?

Get a 5S with unlimted talk and text and 2G of data from a good carrier that works like Verizon or AT&T.

Fax? Scan and email documents, or scan and text with phone. I have not needed to fax in years.
 
Last edited:
If you need to fax, just go to the local FedEx-Kinkos or whatever. Or find a friend with a fax machine and buy them a coffee/beer.
 
Why didn't you just sign up for a triple play with Comcast? It would probably wouldn't have been more than another $10-$20/mo with them for everything than just TV and internet. Don't even consider those silly cellular home phones. To me that defeats the purpose of a landline. And if you are going to use a VOIP phone, use one provided by your ISP because it then gets a dedicated line, in other words if you are running your internet connection at full tilt, it won't affect voice quality.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R
Why didn't you just sign up for a triple play with Comcast?

Will Comcast VOIP give him reliable faxing capability? I've heard mixed stories on this one.
 
I use Vonage at home. It has many nice features like it transcribes voicemails and sends them to my email, which I can see on smart phone.

You can also bring the Vonage box with you if you go away and the place has wired ethernet. I know people have brought the Vonage box overseas.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R
Why didn't you just sign up for a triple play with Comcast? It would probably wouldn't have been more than another $10-$20/mo with them for everything than just TV and internet. Don't even consider those silly cellular home phones. To me that defeats the purpose of a landline. And if you are going to use a VOIP phone, use one provided by your ISP because it then gets a dedicated line, in other words if you are running your internet connection at full tilt, it won't affect voice quality.
+1-for my TWC bundle it is actually CHEAPER to include phone in a bundle than it is to get Road Runner & cable separately!
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Nick R
Why didn't you just sign up for a triple play with Comcast?

Will Comcast VOIP give him reliable faxing capability? I've heard mixed stories on this one.


By and large yes, the modems support faxing. My Arris TM502G does at any rate, just sent one earlier today. I get plenty of people that just have a home phone for fax with twc.
 
I really can't comprehend why anyone would need or want home phone service. Most cell phone plans are nearly unlimited minutes these days. Most people use their cell phone number as their main number. When I call somebody and their kid picks up the home phone and they have to go find dad...I think they must be living in a cave! Even if AT&T ran a dedicated phone line to my house for free with any number of my choosing...I can't imagine what I'd ever use it for? It's only an inconvenience to have to use the "home phone" instead of the cell phone I always use...

Edit: lots of internet fax options, too.
 
Originally Posted By: Number21
I really can't comprehend why anyone would need or want home phone service.

There are places where cell coverage sucks. If you need clear and reliable connection at home because you use it for business, sometimes a dedicated landline or at least high quality VOIP makes sense.
 
I only have one because it's cheaper than paying for an unlimited cell for my wife (and because the bundle is cheaper with it). Now, if I can ever get an ISP that can provide enough reliable speed to stream reliably & use a cheap VOIP at the same time, then I would think about it.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

There are places where cell coverage sucks. If you need clear and reliable connection at home because you use it for business, sometimes a dedicated landline or at least high quality VOIP makes sense.

Most (all?) of the major carriers have a device that you plug in at home, and attach to the internet, that acts like a mini cell phone tower for your house. Sort of a VOIP thing I guess. Some of the new options like straight talk are just cellular phones that aren't portable. I think AT&T offered me cellular home phone for $20 extra with my cell phone, unlimited minutes. I guess that is cheap but I still don't know what the purpose is?

The most benefit I could see from a plain old fashioned land line is calling 911 and being sure they can find you. But that goes away with VOIP and other options.
 
Originally Posted By: Number21
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

There are places where cell coverage sucks. If you need clear and reliable connection at home because you use it for business, sometimes a dedicated landline or at least high quality VOIP makes sense.

Most (all?) of the major carriers have a device that you plug in at home, and attach to the internet, that acts like a mini cell phone tower for your house. Sort of a VOIP thing I guess. Some of the new options like straight talk are just cellular phones that aren't portable. I think AT&T offered me cellular home phone for $20 extra with my cell phone, unlimited minutes. I guess that is cheap but I still don't know what the purpose is?

The most benefit I could see from a plain old fashioned land line is calling 911 and being sure they can find you. But that goes away with VOIP and other options.



Not VoIP provided by cable companies. Those have e911 same as a regular landline home phone.
 
Get an obihai or ooma

device cost 40-100$ or so.

monthly cost= 0$ with obihai
upto 9$ a year if you want 911 service.

ooma about 3$ a month fees 12$ a year for 911 service.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Number21
I really can't comprehend why anyone would need or want home phone service.

There are places where cell coverage sucks. If you need clear and reliable connection at home because you use it for business, sometimes a dedicated landline or at least high quality VOIP makes sense.


Good Morning,
I did not sign up for comcast triple play as I want to keep my phone line independent of the internet provider.

I need a land line for my business and faxing documents which I not able to take to kinkos due to federal privacy laws.
I do have unlimited on my cellphones but I have keep a backup landline.
 
Well I mean, if you go with vonage/etc those rely on your internet service anyway, but without a dedicated service like a VOIP through your ISP. Or a cellular home phone, which again to me defeats the purpose. Or stick with ATT for $50/mo.
 
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