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fatmanskinny @ 17th Feb 10:20AM:
Re: Home Alarm Systems

My home alarm works over Comcast Digital Voice. A simple rewiring took care of that. So you don't necessarily have to be tied to POTS landlines anymore for home alarms.
--
Satan is always busy. He makes bad things look good and good things look bad! Watch that Devil.
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Camelot One @ 17th Feb 10:29AM:
Re: Um....

Keep in mind, on both the $5 and $10 plans, you still have all of the "extra" landline fees. Taxes, surcharges, USF, FCC Line fee, etc.
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Intel Q6600 @3400Mhz/GA-EP35-DS3P/2x 2048Mb G.Skill/Seagate 750.10/EVGA 8800GT's SLI/Silverstone 850W/Custom water cooler
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patcat88 @ 17th Feb 10:39AM:
Re: Um....

said by Camelot One :

Keep in mind, on both the $5 and $10 plans, you still have all of the "extra" landline fees. Taxes, surcharges, USF, FCC Line fee, etc.

Yep, $5 plan just became $30 a month. Prepaid is still cheaper.
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patcat88 @ 17th Feb 10:40AM:
Re: I wouldn't mind that plan

said by Eat Me :

I've been thinking about getting a POTS line for emergencies.

Offer caller ID for $1 extra or free and we have a deal.

My Caller ID is $11, my line is $9 (message rate). Go figure.
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patcat88 @ 17th Feb 10:42AM:
Re: They finally get it

said by Dolgan :

This is just smoke and mirrors for the investors, so they can pretend they are trying retain/get new customers and is doomed to fail.

"Wow, $5, this a great deal, Vonage is a rip off. Honey lets sign up for it with auto payments on the credit card and no paper bill." :D
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Bill03 @ 17th Feb 10:43AM:
Re: Admission of greed?????

said by wentlanc :

Aside from 911, it seems worthless to me.

You could use it for a dedicated inbound fax line I suppose. Though as Bobcat pointed out, his regular pots line is $21.95 ($10.00 plus the fees and taxes). Might as well throw in the other $10.00 and get the regular line so you could send faxes out amd make calls.
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n2jtx @ 17th Feb 10:44AM:
Wonder What The Idiot Got

I wonder what the idiot that dreamed this joke up got. Probably got a nice bonus and a pat on the back for coming up with this wonderful solution to people running away from Verizon landline service. As has been pointed out, the cost will probably come to $30 after taxes, fees and other add-ons they will throw in. No thank you. I am planning to dump my Verizon line shortly for Optimum Voice. They have finally reached the price of monthly OV service without any LD service or calls. Just for a dialtone.
--
I support the right to keep and arm bears.
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patcat88 @ 17th Feb 10:48AM:
Re: Admission of greed?????

said by wentlanc :

Aside from 911, it seems worthless to me.

cw

Its for the soccer moms that worry about the cable VOIP going out during the next yearly natural disaster (hurricane or tornado, pick your favorite American annual natural disaster, if your Canadian, pick the annual ice storm), so when the local news says that Comcast is going to take 2 months to restore service, you'll still have POTS for when a pedophile serial killer breaks into your house to kidnap your 1st grade beauty pageant winner daughter, and he has a cellphone jammer in his white windowless van.
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MrMaster @ 17th Feb 10:49AM:
Re: Useless Offer Either way

said by Eat Me :

said by EPS :

Some people are so self-centered. "It doesn't serve me, so it's useless for everyone!"

On the flip side some selfish people say, "If you want FiOS, move!!!"

I'm trying dammit!
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real_goose @ 17th Feb 11:09AM:
POTS line costs versus VOIP

There are certainly ways to cut the cost of POTS lines now. My ATT Call Plan 50 service gives me 50 free local calls and unlimited inbound for $13.63 + $5.37 Federal Access. Other taxes and fees are about $3 for $22 month. I would consider changing, but even at $5 the other fees mean the total would likely be about $13 per month.

We do have a carefully selected for our calling patterns Global Crossings reseller for long distance which is a backup to VOIP long distance. So for $9 more a month I get a backup method for my wife to call long distance. If ATT copied the Verizon plan my savings would be about $4/month.

I want to use VOIP for all long distance calls. The VOIP caller ID is set to my POTS line. I do not pay for any VOIP DIDs, but do have 2 US numbers and 2 European numbers from various free plans. I would not want to rely on any of these to replace POTS. If Grand Central ever comes out of beta there may even be some charges to use it.

Just as our cell phones are pay as you go, all our VOIP providers are pay as you go so I have no monthly expenses for VOIP or DIDs beyond ATT. It works out well for us. As much as I'd like to delete the POTS line, it is a reliable backup to Comcast Internet and really helps the 'wife acceptance factor'. The unlimited inbound and 'real 911' make it cost effective for me.
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Mellow @ 17th Feb 11:12AM:
Re: Home Alarm Systems

Works good until your net goes down. Been there, done that.

I like the fact that if the power goes out I do not have to rely on the comcasts emta's battery pack to hold out.

Not to mention I wanted to get rid of everything comcast when they tried to hike up the bill for tripleplay after my 1 year. And not to mention they charge MORE for their phone service than I am currently paying.
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SurfingOC.com / GsdPhotography.com
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Millenniumle @ 17th Feb 11:35AM:
Tracfone

For $10/month I have a Tracfone with 100/minutes per month. Minutes rollover. Phone goes where I do. There are no extra or surprise fees. Just ~$.80 in local sales tax.

Zero minute landline for $5. Why? :D
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wifi4milez @ 17th Feb 11:45AM:
Re: Um....

said by patcat88 :

said by Camelot One :

Keep in mind, on both the $5 and $10 plans, you still have all of the "extra" landline fees. Taxes, surcharges, USF, FCC Line fee, etc.

Yep, $5 plan just became $30 a month. Prepaid is still cheaper.

Maybe not quite $30, but definitely low $20's after all is said and done. Keep in mind that you arent even getting a dialtone with that price!
--
When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat.
-Ronald Reagan-

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voiptop @ 17th Feb 12:21PM:
Re: Um....

Really nothing special... It will be 20$ minimum with taxes and landlines fees.
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My site »voip-top.com
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Richard Reed @ 17th Feb 12:25PM:
OOMA anyone?

Why pay $5 or $10 for their service? They should include their phone service for FREE when ordering broadband service.. See OOMA for example, you can get dialtone for free from OOMA.
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mod_wastrel @ 17th Feb 01:01PM:
Not necessarily a bad idea...

given all of the "outgoing" calls some people--such as myself--make that are really incoming--such as from using GrandCentral, and they want that "real" 911. Of course, how much are those additional fees, taxes, and surcharges? (This basic line costs $6.50 now, so $5.00 is something of a savings.)
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toadlife @ 17th Feb 01:21PM:
Re: Um....

That's not always true. In my area measured rate service is $7.28 a month, and all of the fees together total about $5.50.
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anon @ 17th Feb 01:45PM:
Sounds like a perfectly good deal to me.

I'd sign up for that in a second. We went all-cell five years ago, and kept our old landline number (as a $10/month add-on phone in a CellSocket) mostly so we could continue to receive calls from our relatives on our old phones.

Of course, this area has a dinosaur monopoly telco (The Death Star), and the idea of them ever offering even minimal service that could compete with cell prices is laughable.
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anon @ 17th Feb 01:46PM:
A LOCAL Cellular PLAN is MUCH Better

If you get a local cell plan, it'll be either $17-19, call unlimited locally. $5 with all the "taxes" charges, etc.. IS NOT worth it. You couldn't even use a calling card on it, which I can use on a cell.
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Madness @ 17th Feb 03:28PM:
One Idea....

Could be a good use for one of those vintage, "non-dial" telephones that were originally used for manual service, "way-back-when." Hey, is anyone good w/ pulsing out "911" using the switchhook? :D :D

But in reality, yeah, call waiting, CID & voicemail (which are included w/ a cheap PAYG cellphone plan, even) add at least $15 more to that $5 plus $10-12 more for the taxes & fees.
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ebubman @ 17th Feb 03:59PM:
Re: One Idea....

to verizon i can only say: BFD. this is precisely the haughty attitude that caused us to boot the verizon landline out the door about 7 years ago. the only---and i do mean only---regret is that we had not done it sooner.
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BuzzDar @ 17th Feb 04:00PM:
I have MagicJack

i have magic jack what works out to be 1.66 a month at 19.95 per year
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ebubman @ 17th Feb 04:02PM:
Re: Home Alarm Systems

ummm, mellow...i'd strongly suggest that you check out nextalarm.com. we've not had a verizon landline for over 7 years but have had nextalarm intrusion & fire detection for over 3 years---works perfectly on our existing cable broadband. very strongly recommended. bub
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Anonymous_ @ 17th Feb 04:16PM:
Re: Admission of greed?????

said by patcat88 :

said by wentlanc :

Aside from 911, it seems worthless to me.

cw

i pick earthquake
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wierdo @ 17th Feb 04:30PM:
Re: Home Alarm Systems

said by Mellow :

Only reason I have a home phone line is for my alarm system, having to pay $25 month just to have a stripped down phone line

I'm paying $4 a month for wireless monitoring.
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It's wierdo, not weirdo. Yes, I know that's not the 'proper' spelling of the similar english language word. ;)
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Eat Me @ 17th Feb 04:43PM:
Re: I wouldn't mind that plan

It's like text messaging!
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chsteiger @ 17th Feb 05:04PM:
Only if it's really 5.00

So is this one of those services that cost 5 bucks a month and when you get the bill is 21.54 because of the taxes and fees add to it?

I don't understand why the government sees such a tax opportunity in service that have been deemed necessary NOT a luxury....
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BF69 @ 17th Feb 06:05PM:
Re: Um....

said by wifi4milez :

said by patcat88 :

said by Camelot One :

Keep in mind, on both the $5 and $10 plans, you still have all of the "extra" landline fees. Taxes, surcharges, USF, FCC Line fee, etc.

Yep, $5 plan just became $30 a month. Prepaid is still cheaper.

Maybe not quite $30, but definitely low $20's after all is said and done. Keep in mind that you arent even getting a dialtone with that price!

Not sure where you live but all the extra taxes and fees would be under $10 a month extra. People like my mother( 62 years old ) who insist on keeping a landline, even though they never use it, this is a way of saving some money. can't quite convince her that since she uses a cell anyways she's just pissing $500 a year away on that POTS line. She's always making the excuse of "just in case" that's a hell of a fee for "just in case" in my book.
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Fox McCloud @ 17th Feb 07:32PM:
Wonder

how much it is after regulatory fees, surcharges, and taxes.

GrandCentral+computer dialer+this landline = free incoming and 'outgoing' calls (since they call you first, then it calls out).

the reliability of a landline for dialing 911 and free incoming calls from anywhere and free 'outgoing' calls to anywhere in the US and Cananda for only $5 a month.

in any event, awesome deal if this doesn't total more than $10 once everything is said and done.
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kieranmullen @ 17th Feb 07:54PM:
when they do...

When they actually do come out with it could someone update this thread? Thank you
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Automate @ 17th Feb 08:44PM:
Re: Home Alarm Systems

Do you mean $4 extra? From which provider?
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Tarheels Fan @ 17th Feb 09:43PM:
Re: Um....

$500 is not that big of price tag for "just in case". Look at what you pay for other "just in case" expenditures, ie: insurance, meds, etc... Not defending it, just putting it in perspective.
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Taylor Brown @ 17th Feb 10:30PM:
Acanac

Funny, I get everything with Acanac for 10$ a month.
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anon @ 18th Feb 06:51AM:
Re: Admission of greed?????

Does this white van have florida plates?
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BF69 @ 18th Feb 01:14AM:
Re: Um....

said by Tarheels Fan :

$500 is not that big of price tag for "just in case". Look at what you pay for other "just in case" expenditures, ie: insurance, meds, etc... Not defending it, just putting it in perspective.

Except that insurance actually pays for stuff if something happens. Considering she's always bitching about her bills, I'd say that cutting $500 would go a long way towards her not bitching about bills anymore.
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wierdo @ 18th Feb 07:09AM:
Re: Home Alarm Systems

Yes, $4 extra. It's from a local place.
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anon @ 18th Feb 08:24AM:
Part of this is generational change (and VZN's clueless)

I think that our POTS (unlimited local) is around $25/month after all taxes. We keep it since we're on copper DSL ... and don't have CATV or Dish.

This is the local absolute minimum - no options at all. There's also no long distance monthly package as we use a third party carrier we found years ago who charges us $0.04/minute and it is pay-as-you-go: no minimum monthly fee. We usually initiate 2 hours of long distance month, so our long distance is $5/mo.

Granted, we could chop this expense out if we were to be better about using our cells for making calls, but at this price point, its not worth the bother..

And of course, we're now also looking at changing over our Verizon Cellphones to pay-as-you-go's, and saving 66% on that bill.

Insofar as FIOS, I'd like to have the speed, but not at the prices they want.

OTOH, I'd miss having fun when the FIOS salesman visits. He knocks on our door and claims "I can save you money!" We then torture the poor guy ... particularly when he gets to FIOS television - - and we lean forward and point to the antenna on our roof and say "Um...can you beat FREE?".

-hh
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stufried @ 18th Feb 08:33AM:
Maybe for Second Properties

If it included free calls to 800 numbers, it wouldn't be a bad thing to include in rental property, cabins, cottages, etc.
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albie @ 18th Feb 09:02AM:
$5 Phone line

A luddite's dream come true. Verizon makes it possible to go back in time. Simplify the phone, no touch tone keypad, no dialer, no need for one.
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graycory @ 18th Feb 03:10PM:
Re: Acanac

how do you manage that? where you a bell customer before?
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axus @ 18th Feb 07:02PM:
Re: A LOCAL Cellular PLAN is MUCH Better

I've got a $7/mo local plan from Verizon with my DSL service, like the one described here for $10. Funny, I just got a telemarketer call for home financial services right after I started this post, those have been very infrequent with the "Do Not Call" registry. It's kind of useless, but its a cheap option for the alarm system.

With the fees/taxes, its been about $15/mo for the phone line.
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Simba7 @ 18th Feb 11:14PM:
Hmm.. What about multiple $5 lines?

Hey, with $5 per line, would BBS's make a comeback?

I mean if a SysOp can get 10 lines for under $100, that wouldn't be a bad thing.
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cableties @ 19th Feb 07:27AM:
More greed...

Hey. Who thought of this one?

If its not bad enough that the copper lines the POTS runs on is decaying/corroding, they still want to milk that dying cow.

I know seniors that went to cellphone or VoIP because it was CHEAPER and they could talk ALL they want (about nothing).
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Weeeeeeee!
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xim0 @ 20th Feb 12:03AM:
Landlines: an over-priced security blanket.

Verizon VoiceWing is over-priced, too.

It use to be, you had a landline, and that was your phone bill. Your only one. The fees were not accounting for it to be some cute security blanket you threw on top of your comforter, just in case the heat in your apt. broke one night. Example: you had a job interview and were paranoid of dropped calls.

Most utilities adjust their prices _before_ customers bail as demand falls exponentially. Their line investments for landline calls is, from what I understand, mostly the costs of _removing_ pay phones over the past decade.

For $160, I can get a wireless extender for my basement apartment. The only people who even consider landlines who are under 30 are people who live in basements. It's a lot cheaper to simply walk outside.

And if I could afford to drop down $160 to avoid running outside every time the cell phone rang while at home, why would I not live in a higher floor to begin with? None of the pricing for these things make any sense.
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