ladygwennie

So i was wondering if anyone had come across this. We have had a landline since hubby moved to Indiana, which was originally with SBC and since, SBC has become AT&T. Originally when he got the line, he was asked if he wanted long distance service (it was no extra charge unless a LD call was made) so he got it just in case. Well since, started to notice there is now a charge of $2 plus tax for just being able to make LD calls. Since we never ever use the service (we use our cell phones for any long distance calls) we decided may as well get rid of it and save a lil money lol. So husband called last night to cancel that and call waiting (since that jumped in price and we never use it) no problem cancelling the call waiting, although they tried to persuade him to get other services. When cancelling the long distance, we were informed that it would cost $10 for them just to remove it :scared: :scared: How hard can it be to just stop a service? I don't know but it just seems AT&T get greedier and greedier, decided to cancel it anyway but still don't like thought of having to pay to get rid of an option. Has anyone else come across this or similar?

franc11s

That's when you tell them you are switching carrier and to please disconnect the entire service. Amazing how quick they refund the $10

Sophia_S

we used to have AT&T and noticed that the prices were becoming ridiculous!,so changed to MCI for a while until the prices seemed to be rising!,then went to Verizon,until their prices went up,now switched to Mediacom package ...Digital cable TV, phone service and cable internet service basic charge for all three together is $117 per month,extra when I call the UK...had no problems with them so far....might be worth checking out if it's in your area......Sophia

Bob

Yeah, ATT and Verizon are both a bit of a joke..cheeky buggers think they can get away with anything, and for the most part, they do..

blaze

[QUOTE=Sophia_S]...Digital cable TV, phone service and cable internet service basic charge for all three together is $117 per month,extra when I call the UK...




My god you're getting ripped off there kiddo, that is very expensive if you have to pay for your British calls on top of that! Is Illinois an expensive state?

fatbrit

If you have a high speed Internet connection, consider using a VoIP home phone instead.

ladygwennie

We looked into that, only thing is the bloody cable is good but not always great (comcast and frequent outages). Looked at vonage and comcast voice, got some info about vonage that was not so great (know some1 who works for em) and comcast voice is a rip off. hell comcast is a rip off in general, cable bill is about $150 for digital tv(hbo,hddvr and basic cable in bedrooms) and internet, the voice is another 30 odd bucks. When we move or buy a house will definitely look at changing providers for a lot of things.

paddingtongreen

If you're calling overseas, check out 10-10-297. 39 cents to connect and 3 cents a minute plus taxes and fees.

http://www.1010297.com/1010297_index.asp

fatbrit

Personally, I gave up with US TV a long time ago. For my telly fix and communication needs at home, I have just Cox HSI and Lingo. All in with taxes and surcharge crap, they cost me around $80/month.

For telly, I download using bit torrent. I mainly watch uknova stuff, but if someone tells me a US series is good, there's no problem watching that, too. I also watch some live European TV over the Internet and the local PBS using rabbits ears. Really couldn't see the point in subscribing to cable TV -- they send me a begging letter every week, though.

Lingo VoIP is great once you've set it up right. All the bells and whistles and unlimited talking to Western Europe and North America. Would never go back to the idiot local telco despite the begging letters I also receive.

angelman

If you have cable I highly recommend ditching the stupid telco. Tell AT&T to stick it where the sun doesn't shine!
Get VOIP and a cell phone. I use packet8 which is cheaper but less known than vonage. They have better features and its all free (the features that is). I have never had any problems really. occasionally I had to reset the little box of tricks. I just plug a normal wireless phone into the box which is plugged in the router. You can take the litlte box with you to england and have a US number!
VOIP really is the only sensible situation for anyone that makes international calls. All US calls are free. You get free voicemail caller id. etc. IT will forward any phone calls to any number of other phones too and email you any voice messages left.
An even cheaper and also excellent VOIP company is called sunrocket www.sunrocket.com
www.packet8.net
You can see reviews of all these at www.dslreports.com
Even if you do get your internet through the phone its still cheaper to use VOIP.
Screw the cable company and shit american TV. use bit torrent for english tv get a subscription to netflix and youre away.. unless you watch sports of course.
I don't even know how anyone can watch tv here.. I timed it the other day 5 minutes of programme, 3 minutes adverts, 4 minutes programme 3 minutes adverts, 8 minutes of programme and 4 minutes of ads! I coudlnt believe how they show the simpsons with so many breaks!
People in UK moan about paying the licence fee.. thats cheap for what it is compared to the junk that is cable here! At least there are no ads.

ladygwennie

Big sports fans here, need our various sports packages lol. We had the blockbuster version of netflix for some time, but cancelled since we werent using it as much as we used to, and some dvds would take forever to become available. Do the torrent thing on occasion, can't say ive done it yet for british tv. I think comcast is a complete rip off, but we have the hdtv which means digi cable for lots of hd channels (altho still waiting for more) and hubby wont compomise on internet (has to have cable, unless verizon fios or similar came to town).

Bob

our package is about $105 with enhanced cable, basically more crap for an extra $5...and still have to pay international calls at 8c a min, but don't really use the phone so doesn't bother me....

Sophia_S

[QUOTE=blaze] I'm sure we are being ripped off!...trouble is it's THE only option for cable in our town,don't even get comcast here!,calls to the UK are 7cents a min.,expensive but I don't call that much,usually just chat on msn messenger,or skype.....thats the downside of living here in the middle of nowhere!!!......Sophia

Bob

I know that feeling, was much like that in Maine *l*

blaze

[QUOTE=Sophia_S]

Well that bites! Mind you, when we lived in South Dakota we had the same problem, not enough providers in the area so no choice.