Holy! $42 for a *basic* home phone w Verizon???

[Jeremy + Kristy 0]

I have the bundle with all three services from Comcast. With two DVRs, HD Channels, and HBO, now that the introductory periods are over, my bill from Comcast is approximately $212/month. I was kind of looking at alternatives, but I had a telemarketer call me from AT&T the other day, and when he asked me what I currently have and I told him I have every phone service plus unlimited long distance to US and Canada for $40-some / month, he said, "uh, sorry, we can't beat that," and then he hung up.

[L_n_O 3]

The thing that scared my about Vonage is there's something in the Contract Agreement online that says they can charge you $150 if they so chose... (online)

So I backed out of signing up online when I read that..

but obviously that's just legal #######

[Kathryn41 3,205]

well, here is a different perspective. We got vonage when I was still in Canada and it was fine at first but then it started to get really bad. It dropped calls fairly regularly but the quality of the line was horrendous - distant and echoing and a long delay between when I spoke and when they heard it. It got to the point that my friends in Canada said "don't call us to talk on that line - call, then hang up and we will call you back - we can't understand you when you are on vonage!'. So, we had been hearing about the COMCAST bundle (cable/internet/digital phone) deal for $99 a month. We were really hesitant after our experience with Vonage, but they had a money back guarantee so we tried it. It is wonderful! The quality of the voice line is excellent - just as good as when we just had a land line and in the 9 months that we have had it we have not had a single dropped call or problem. The only problem is that if the cable goes out - which does happen occasionally - we are without phone or internet. For that we have cell phones.

I would strongly recommend anyone who has access to the COMCAST bundle to check it out. We didn't expect it would be as good as it is - and it beats VONAGE hands down!. (We didn't sign up for any of the extra channels or stuff like that - there is far more available than I ever get a chance to watch to begin with so our basic bill for all three is the $99 plus taxes).

Edited December 16, 2007 by Kathryn41

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Check the Comcast bundles Liz - we have that and pay 119/month for phone (LD included) cable and internet. And after the offer of 1 year expires... we will so switch he he

[Emancipation 2]

I hope this doesn't sound like a really dumb question but, how does Vonage work? Don't you have to have a landline anyway through your local phone company? I'm all for ditching Windstream (formerly Alltel here in this part of Georgia) and going with another company but I'm guessing I'd still need my landline to have internet....unless Vonage has that capability as well....

Nope you don't need a land line. With the Vonage package they give you a phone adapter/router that you use to run to your computer and to your phone. Your phone plugs into it and you are connected. Sometimes you get a message when you pick up your phone that says "your Vonage device cannot be connected" and you have to reset the router, but that's no biggie, even I a technophobe can do that!

Flames is right - if your cable internet goes down, then so does your Vonage line. And we've experienced that happening from time to time for an hour or two at a time. During those times we have our cell phones, so it's not a big deal. We just keep remembering it's 30$ a month. Do we get bad connections sometimes? Sure, but My mother has the same problem in Canada with her land line as well.. it's communication after all and there are glitches now and then. Hubby's had his Vonage account now for 1.5 years and has no complaints and no hesitations in recommending it. It has been a lifesaver for me while I've been here in the US, knowing I can call home anytime and not have to worry about the time of day or the cost of long distance.

We forward our Vonage phone line to our cell phones when we travel so we don't miss a phone call, and with your online account you can check messages from work or when you are away!

[PlatyPius 5]

Well, we just got a sale thing from Insight (our cable company). We can upgrade to "Digital 2.0" cable (we have Basic right now), get unlimited phone service, and 10MB internet (which we already have) for $90.00/month for 12 months. I'm not sure what it goes up to after that.... $120/month, I think. I think we might do it. We're paying $60/month right now for internet and Basic cable.

[Krikit 1,163]

I waaaaant bundled phone service toooooooo!!!

[derekkj 0]

OK, I am bit late jumping on this thread, but FWIW here's our experiences in Northern VA. When Derek first moved down we used Skype which I liked, but the intermittent delays in service ticked Derek off. Dunno if Vonage is any better, but another important fact to consider is that it's usually only as good as your internet connection. Slow connection = worse service. Which was probably what hung our service up once in awhile since we have a pretty slow DSL.

Anywho, we get cable included in our rent, but we do have basic Verizon for our land line. And by basic, I mean the Economy Message Service that's about $16.00 a month with taxes and fees depending on how many local calls we make, which usually isn't very many since we often use our cell phones. Then, we also have Verizon DSL for $21.99 a month, so our total Verizon bill is usually around $35-$40.

Finally, we have Pioneer for our Long Distance and I love them! Something like .03 a minute to Canada anytime. I don't think our bill has ever been more than $7-8 a month since we signed up in the summer. And since it's not VOIP, no interruption of service, delays, outages, etc. Their website is http://www.pioneertelephone.com/ if you want to take a look.

Edited December 17, 2007 by derekkj

[Udella&Wiz 325]

We have Vonage and Cox but as soon as AOS is done we are prob switching to Verizon FIOS so I can have my full digital TV. (Don't want to change the emails addresses right now) Vonage works great. I must say the service has gotten much better lately too. Ours is $30 but we also have a local line for the Canadians so they don't have to dial long distance to call us.

Edited December 17, 2007 by Udella&Wiz

[Flames9_RN 358]

We would have stuck with verizon if they had FIOS!! But rhey have no clue when it is coming to my area!! Once they do will probably switch back.

[L_n_O 3]

I took the plunge!

Signed up with vonage.. I should be receiving the package soon

i HOPE!

[Joyce 0]

Hey all..

We've got:

Comcast for our Cable & Internet

Verizon for our home phone & cell phones.

Just got the Verizon home phone bill and it's $42 for a BASIC LINE.

When we signed up, it was supposedly $16.99 for a basic line and all the rest is surcharges and fees and bullsh!t!

For this much, we should at least be getting long distance in the US and Canada.. BUT WE DON'T HAVE THAT!!!!

Is Vonage good? Does it cover everything without all the ####### fees??

What about Comcast? or will we just run into the same fees with them?

Hi! sorry to hear that your having BS deal....I am using vonage 24.99 amonth plus tax something like, that and end of being $30 amonth...unlimited call free call in canada and there some other country are free too.. you need to have a broadband internet, one thing that I dont like in VOnage is when I talk on the phone while at the computer my internet connection on the PC disconnect.. but that is rarely happen...

[Earmuffs 1]

$55 for internet in Dallas

[N400-2011 24]

I am in NY and I use TimeWarner for high speed internet and cable. I pay about $140 because I have a DVR, HBO & Showtime packages. I used to have their digital phone service until I got an invitation to try out a new VOIP product called ooma. I got the ooma hub and one ooma scout for free, and I haven't looked back since. Ooma charges $399 for the hub right now - after that, there are no further charges unless you need to make international calls. I call Jamaica and I have to prepay (through ooma's website) to make calls. $10 gives me 80 minutes for Jamaica (12.5 cents/min). Ooma has no monthly charges so I figure, even if I had bought the device for $399, I would have spent that much in phone calls over a year, and since I didn't buy it, pretty good deal. I don't have a landline, and ooma works as long as my internet is up and running. The best part is, that when I move, my number (assigned to the ooma hub) will be moving with me.

[Marilyn. 340]

Vonage costs us about 28 bucks a month including taxes... no hidden costs

and you can call anywhere in the US, Canada and Mexico for no extra cost... plus you get all the features, like call waiting call display, voice mail etc at no extra cost....

Vonage rocks.. we have had no problems with it so far and we have had it for over a year now