landline providers?
Nov 7th 2011, 7:44 pm
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 174
landline providers?
Good morning!
As Im starting to settle a bit, Im looking at telephone providers for a home line (not cell)
However, I got a bit of a "shock" when I saw the prices (pretty much all starting from $40 and more) not even including international calls
I guess my questions are:
1/can anyone recommend me a good provider with reasonable rates?
2/do you have a all included or do you pay by minute?
3/if you pay by minute, do you also get charged when someone call you ? (I have that with my mobile phone pay as you go contract)
4/ we are in california, do you recommend a line that does free "local calls" and then pay for anything on the top of it
I guess I was expecting to have like BT or skype, either pay for the line and then all the calls on the top of it (so around £10/£11 pm landline), or pay for all included sort of deal for about £18 ish
thank you very much for any help!
Laety
As Im starting to settle a bit, Im looking at telephone providers for a home line (not cell)
However, I got a bit of a "shock" when I saw the prices (pretty much all starting from $40 and more) not even including international calls
I guess my questions are:
1/can anyone recommend me a good provider with reasonable rates?
2/do you have a all included or do you pay by minute?
3/if you pay by minute, do you also get charged when someone call you ? (I have that with my mobile phone pay as you go contract)
4/ we are in california, do you recommend a line that does free "local calls" and then pay for anything on the top of it
I guess I was expecting to have like BT or skype, either pay for the line and then all the calls on the top of it (so around £10/£11 pm landline), or pay for all included sort of deal for about £18 ish
thank you very much for any help!
Laety
Nov 7th 2011, 9:10 pm
#2
Septicity
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 23,762
Re: landline providers?
How are you getting your Internet?
Nov 7th 2011, 9:29 pm
#3
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 174
Re: landline providers?
with the cable company (although I dont pay the cable as its included within my rent/building)
So i cant get a "bundle"
So i cant get a "bundle"
Nov 7th 2011, 9:35 pm
#4
Septicity
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 23,762
Re: landline providers?
If you're on the phone anything other than a lot, buy your own ATA and use Callcentric.
Nov 7th 2011, 11:45 pm
#5
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2007
Location: Lake Forest, CA
Posts: 298
Re: landline providers?
Good morning!
As Im starting to settle a bit, Im looking at telephone providers for a home line (not cell)
However, I got a bit of a "shock" when I saw the prices (pretty much all starting from $40 and more) not even including international calls
I guess my questions are:
1/can anyone recommend me a good provider with reasonable rates?
2/do you have a all included or do you pay by minute?
3/if you pay by minute, do you also get charged when someone call you ? (I have that with my mobile phone pay as you go contract)
4/ we are in california, do you recommend a line that does free "local calls" and then pay for anything on the top of it
I guess I was expecting to have like BT or skype, either pay for the line and then all the calls on the top of it (so around £10/£11 pm landline), or pay for all included sort of deal for about £18 ish
thank you very much for any help!
Laety
As Im starting to settle a bit, Im looking at telephone providers for a home line (not cell)
However, I got a bit of a "shock" when I saw the prices (pretty much all starting from $40 and more) not even including international calls
I guess my questions are:
1/can anyone recommend me a good provider with reasonable rates?
2/do you have a all included or do you pay by minute?
3/if you pay by minute, do you also get charged when someone call you ? (I have that with my mobile phone pay as you go contract)
4/ we are in california, do you recommend a line that does free "local calls" and then pay for anything on the top of it
I guess I was expecting to have like BT or skype, either pay for the line and then all the calls on the top of it (so around £10/£11 pm landline), or pay for all included sort of deal for about £18 ish
thank you very much for any help!
Laety
Nov 8th 2011, 12:07 am
#6
BE Site Lead
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: MA, USA
Posts: 92,170
Re: landline providers?
Probably depends on local location as to who serves you, so you probably don't have much choice.
Could just use calling cards on top of basic phone, if you even need a land line, or go with a VOIP option if the cable is half decent....or just go with Skype.
Could just use calling cards on top of basic phone, if you even need a land line, or go with a VOIP option if the cable is half decent....or just go with Skype.
Nov 8th 2011, 12:50 pm
#7
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2008
Location: Seattle
Posts: 96
Re: landline providers?
We use Ooma, which is a VOIP provider similar to Vonage, except you only pay regulatory fees / taxes each month - mine is $3 plus change.
You have to drop a bit of dosh on the box (around $170) but for that you get a rather spiffy looking VOIP gateway.
Included in this "free" service is unlimited (subject to AUP, of course) US calling, voice mail and a couple of other things. I think it's pretty good value and it has already paid for itself in the savings I've made from cancelling my Charter Home Phone service.
For international calls we use Google Voice. 2c / min to most of Europe and free calls to Canada, ey.
Needless to say you need a decent internet connection for this to work properly, but that's no different to Vonage etc.
You have to drop a bit of dosh on the box (around $170) but for that you get a rather spiffy looking VOIP gateway.
Included in this "free" service is unlimited (subject to AUP, of course) US calling, voice mail and a couple of other things. I think it's pretty good value and it has already paid for itself in the savings I've made from cancelling my Charter Home Phone service.
For international calls we use Google Voice. 2c / min to most of Europe and free calls to Canada, ey.
Needless to say you need a decent internet connection for this to work properly, but that's no different to Vonage etc.
Nov 8th 2011, 1:16 pm
#8
Septicity
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 23,762
Re: landline providers?
We use Ooma, which is a VOIP provider similar to Vonage, except you only pay regulatory fees / taxes each month - mine is $3 plus change.
You have to drop a bit of dosh on the box (around $170) but for that you get a rather spiffy looking VOIP gateway.
Included in this "free" service is unlimited (subject to AUP, of course) US calling, voice mail and a couple of other things. I think it's pretty good value and it has already paid for itself in the savings I've made from cancelling my Charter Home Phone service.
For international calls we use Google Voice. 2c / min to most of Europe and free calls to Canada, ey.
Needless to say you need a decent internet connection for this to work properly, but that's no different to Vonage etc.
You have to drop a bit of dosh on the box (around $170) but for that you get a rather spiffy looking VOIP gateway.
Included in this "free" service is unlimited (subject to AUP, of course) US calling, voice mail and a couple of other things. I think it's pretty good value and it has already paid for itself in the savings I've made from cancelling my Charter Home Phone service.
For international calls we use Google Voice. 2c / min to most of Europe and free calls to Canada, ey.
Needless to say you need a decent internet connection for this to work properly, but that's no different to Vonage etc.
The Obi110 seems to be a regular ATA with Google Voice integration, so should give you what the Ooma does at a cheaper price. No practical experience with whether it works well, but the reviews on Amazon are good.
Nov 8th 2011, 2:19 pm
#9
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2011
Location: California
Posts: 471
Re: landline providers?
We use VoIP. We have a VoIP phone with plugs into our router (cost $107), we have a US and a UK number which will cost us 40p (+VAT) a month from December (it's free at the moment). It costs us 0.55p a minute to call UK numbers and 0.67p to call US numbers, but we don't have any inclusive minutes (at the moment we don't have many people to call in the US so mainly use our mobiles). If people call us it comes out of their inclusive minutes (if they have any) and it doesn't cost us anything.
But I am married to an IT expert who set it all up
But I am married to an IT expert who set it all up
Nov 8th 2011, 8:37 pm
#15
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 174
Re: landline providers?
thats great thanks for all those names! Im checking them at the moment, but its not very clear if you still need to pay for a phone line or I just need a normal phone and thats all.. im not very technical as you can see!