cell phone advice needed

Hi Everyone,

Being a frugal Dutch girl who makes her own chicken stock, I am looking for more ways to cut costs. I don't currently have a cell phone, just a landline and DSL, both through BellSouth. My landline, even though I hardly use it, is ridiculously expensive. DSL is about $40, and the combined bill is about $150 per month: more than I can afford. To economize, I would like to switch to a cell phone and keep the DSL. I don't have cable and don't want a cable/cell package. Got all that?

Ideally I'd like a bare-basics cell phone and to keep my $40/month DSL, all for $100 a month or less. I'm wary of signing a long-term contract and getting scammed. Do any of you have experience with this and can advise me?

Thank you for your help.

Sonja

I use Cricket now as there is no contract and I pay $50 a month for unlimited everything including long distance.

Hi Everyone,

Being a frugal Dutch girl who makes her own chicken stock, I am looking for more ways to cut costs. I don't currently have a cell phone, just a landline and DSL, both through BellSouth. My landline, even though I hardly use it, is ridiculously expensive. DSL is about $40, and the combined bill is about $150 per month: more than I can afford. To economize, I would like to switch to a cell phone and keep the DSL. I don't have cable and don't want a cable/cell package. Got all that?

Ideally I'd like a bare-basics cell phone and to keep my $40/month DSL, all for $100 a month or less. I'm wary of signing a long-term contract and getting scammed. Do any of you have experience with this and can advise me?

Thank you for your help.

Sonja

Sonja,

We got rid of the landline a couple of months ago. Currently have AT&T DSL ($39 mos.) and FOUR cell phones on the family plan ($110 mos)...That's still a buck cheaper than what you are paying. You should be able to get DSL and a (single) cell phone for less than $90-100 a mos.

[Robin Garr]

We got rid of the landline a couple of months ago. Currently have AT&T DSL ($39 mos.) and FOUR cell phones on the family plan ($110 mos)...That's still a buck cheaper than what you are paying. You should be able to get DSL and a (single) cell phone for less than $90-100 a mos.

Wait! Help me out here, Steve ... I thought you had to have at least one landline to carry DSL. Not so? This changes everything!

We got rid of the landline a couple of months ago. Currently have AT&T DSL ($39 mos.) and FOUR cell phones on the family plan ($110 mos)...That's still a buck cheaper than what you are paying. You should be able to get DSL and a (single) cell phone for less than $90-100 a mos.

Wait! Help me out here, Steve ... I thought you had to have at least one landline to carry DSL. Not so? This changes everything!

Robin,

Yeah, I was under the same impression...for years. Turns out the phone line into your house is more or less just a transmission wire/cable and you pay for what services are ran through it. Our home phone and DSL was through AT&T and ran us roughly $82 dollars a month. On the advice of a friend and after months of receiving nothing but telemarketer ("Are you paying too much for credit card debt") calls, I called AT&T and yep you CAN cancel your phone but keep your DSL. So I did. I know receive a bill from AT&T for $39 a month for just DSL service and we use our cell phones for all telephone calls.

[Robin Garr]

my son has DSL thru insight and he's never had a land line. technology is amazing these days.

Something's not quite right there, Annemarie. Insight is cable, a different technology. DSL (actually ADSL) is sold by the telephone company (and resellers like Iglou.com).

[Robin Garr]

Interesting, Steve, thanks!

Actually, we get our ADSL from Iglou.com, but it's resold from AT&T. Iglou gives awesome customer service. AT&T, not so much. I'd like to keep Iglou, but I wonder if this nuance would alter the equation.

We've also got three landlines (and five phone numbers) given that we run a small Internet business here, and I'm not sure I could figure a way to lose them all. Dedicated fax, separate office lines for Mary and me, yada yada. But I sure would like to reduce the number of phones - and, concurrently, the bills ...

Yeah, I was under the same impression...for years. Turns out the phone line into your house is more or less just a transmission wire/cable and you pay for what services are ran through it. Our home phone and DSL was through AT&T and ran us roughly $82 dollars a month. On the advice of a friend and after months of receiving nothing but telemarketer ("Are you paying too much for credit card debt") calls, I called AT&T and yep you CAN cancel your phone but keep your DSL. So I did. I know receive a bill from AT&T for $39 a month for just DSL service and we use our cell phones for all telephone calls.

We've also got three landlines (and five phone numbers) given that we run a small Internet business here, and I'm not sure I could figure a way to lose them all. Dedicated fax, separate office lines for Mary and me, yada yada. But I sure would like to reduce the number of phones - and, concurrently, the bills ...

There might be some other options for you, Robin. Online services like onebox and RingCentral come to mind, that consolidate multiple incoming lines as extensions and include fax capabilities. Depending on how you set things up you could actually ditch your landlines for a combination of one of those "virtual PBXs" with a cell phone or two and realize some real cost savings.

I use Google Voice, which is still in beta but should be available to the general public soon. This service provides most of your voice requirements and some really neat addons like voice to text and it's free. Unfortunately though, they do not include fax capabilities.

If you'd like help with this, feel free to PM me. They don't call me coachgeek for nothing.

[Robin Garr]

hi robin, i meant to say he has whatever insight offers, high speed internet service, and no home line. did i say it correctly? heck all this technology goes way over my head. i'm not tech savy here.

It's not a big deal, Annemarie! The phone company (and resellers) sells ADSL, which is one form of high-speed internet access that's transmitted over telephone lines. The cable company sells another high-speed access technology which is transmitted over the cable system.

The end user can't see much difference, though, so it's only a techie distinction.

It is my understanding that you can only get "naked" ADSL directly from AT&T. Iglou would not be able to resell you the DSL service unless you kept a phone line.

I've been waiting for Google Voice to open back up for 3 or 4 months. I wish they would hurry up already!

If you need to run a server or services that cable or other DSL providers won't let you run check out speakeasy.net. They aren't as cheap as cable or most DSL providers, but they will do "naked" DSL and you can run just about anything you want on the circuit. They call it OneLink DSL and looks like it's available at my address in the Highlands.

We've used them for connectivity at work for 8 or 9 years and our business class ADSL circuit has been as reliable as the Qwest T1 we have for Voice over IP. Tech support has also been first rate. We'd use them for VoIP in Jeffersonville, but they cannot provide E911 service that is a requirement to install so we're looking for a new VoIP vendor.

HTH-Doug

Interesting, Steve, thanks!

Actually, we get our ADSL from Iglou.com, but it's resold from AT&T. Iglou gives awesome customer service. AT&T, not so much. I'd like to keep Iglou, but I wonder if this nuance would alter the equation.

We've also got three landlines (and five phone numbers) given that we run a small Internet business here, and I'm not sure I could figure a way to lose them all. Dedicated fax, separate office lines for Mary and me, yada yada. But I sure would like to reduce the number of phones - and, concurrently, the bills ...

Yeah, I was under the same impression...for years. Turns out the phone line into your house is more or less just a transmission wire/cable and you pay for what services are ran through it. Our home phone and DSL was through AT&T and ran us roughly $82 dollars a month. On the advice of a friend and after months of receiving nothing but telemarketer ("Are you paying too much for credit card debt") calls, I called AT&T and yep you CAN cancel your phone but keep your DSL. So I did. I know receive a bill from AT&T for $39 a month for just DSL service and we use our cell phones for all telephone calls.