I hate ATT

[Buckrub]

Wife will NOT let 'us' get rid of home phone line. Long story.

I called trying to A) lower my costs, and B) remove the most insidious, worthless, RUDE feature ever invented......CALL WAITING.

A) They gave me a whopping $3.00 discount for being cute.

B) To remove Call Waiting, I have to delete my package of 15 'features', add back Caller Id and Unlimited Long Distance ONLY, and lose 14 features............which costs $9.50 per month MORE!!!! Bundles suck.

These jerks suck. They've sucked since I had to deal with them daily while working.

(Speaking of which.........man O' man..........Sprint is hitting bottom of barrel with these new commercials. They cannot be long for the Earth. What idiocy!! Maybe a bad omen, but I got some pamphlet in the mail with legal mumbo jumbo having to do with "what happens if/when the corporate retirement plan goes bankrupt........so I smell my pension going out the window some day, maybe soon. Just what I need!)

Oh, and the guy I talked to was "Earl". Yeah, right. He was a Mujibar from New Delhi, thankyouverymuch.

I'd give my left pinky to get rid of home landline. Everyone else does it. Wife won't have it. Wants the 'security' and she 'can hear the grandkids and can't hear them on the cell phone'. Everyone else can, but not my sweet, deaf, wife.

I hate AT&T. Did I mention that?

[BarryBobPosthole]

Have you tried one of those mobile hubs for your home where you can use the same inside wire as you have now, its just a wireless hub that brings the dial tone to your house. I'd imagine you're using VOIP anyway so it's pretty much the same idea.

I hate 'em too. I remember the says of predivestiture when we'd have 150 number hunt groups that would mysteriously stop working. We'd call in a ticket and escalate immediately of course and then they'd mysteriously come back up and we'd get the old 'came clear while testing'. This was the days before ACD and our trouble desk was a 10 line key set.

BKB

[Buckrub]

I ain't gonna use VoIP, sorry. If I do anything, it'll be lose the landline entirely and go 100% wireless. If I go VoIP I'll do $20.00 one time and get a Magic Jack, but I doubt I do even that. If I have a landline, it'll be PSTN. I ain't about to pay anyone $35 a month or more for something I can get for $20 one time.

"Trouble looks good leaving here"............

[airbud7]

Yes^ MagicJack plus....Works great.

[Chicken Dinner]

My wife is the exact same way, but it's Blood sucking Verizon (no offense) whose steeling my money. Oh well, it's not an argument I'm going to win.

[Big Muddy]

Day'um, break out the whiskey, Buckney and I agree on something !!!!! ;)....ATT does suck !!!.....I'm paying $75 bucks a month, just to hear that phone ring about 5 times a month and to use the fax....cell phone is used for everything else.

Now, can someone tell me about this Magic Jack Plus thingy ???

Is it really worth fooling with???

[Buckrub]

It allows you to make calls over the internet, using your phone. Cable companies charge about $30 to $40 a month for the privilege. Magic Jack, costing $20 last I checked (?), is a one time charge for a device to connect your phone to your internet connection, and call anywhere you want. Google it for detailed info.

I know 3 folks that have it, and they use it to make outbound long distance calls on their home phone, 'free'.........and they love it.

[Thumper]

My ex-wife and her hubby have Magic Jack. That's all I know ... never asked 'em if they like it. Other than them, I don't know anyone else who uses it.

[Captain]

Bucky or Posthole (and maybe others) can probably answer my question related to this topic...
We have a land line mainly because we get our DSL connection from the phone company.
Is there a way to drop our home phone service and keep the DSL from the phone company? Or are they gonna say if we cancel phone service they will not provide DSL service!
This may be a simple question but one I don't know the answer too.
We do not use the home phone at all. We don't answer it. Ringers are cut off and an answering machine picks up the calls.
I can see us totally doing without a land line and just using out cells for phone. Don't even think we would need a Magic Jack as we have total unlimited phone and internet on our cells....

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[Thumper]

Ditto for me Cappy. I'm on DSL and we don't answer the home phone. Anybody who knows us, knows our cell number. We check our voicemail (on the home phone) about every 3-4 months or so. Nothing but frigging sales calls on the home phone.

[Buckrub]

Cappy, the people I know that use Magic Jack do so because they have NO cell coverage where they live. They live in remote areas, or down in big valleys. If they could use their cells for LD, they would, but they can't.

I don't know who your phone company is, but I'm betting it might be Windstream. I don't know their rules or marketing. Sometimes they don't 'allow' customers to do what is technically possible. It's just their 'rules', not truly reality. I don't know if they would. Call 'em and ask that question. I see no reason why you can't have them as your internet ISP without home phone service connected..........you can certainly do it the OTHER way, so why not that way? But I can't answer what they'd allow.

[Captain]

Thanks Bucky, so I guess it's sorta a company by company option.... Yes we are with Windstream, who bought up (or something) AllTel who we were with forever...
I really have no need for a landline and hate paying for it for no reason.

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[Buckrub]

Cappy, I went to Windstream website, put in your home phone number and asked the "Virtual Chat Person" (Whatever that is) the question "Can I have Internet service without having a landline phone?" and "Wendy" said the following:

Solo plans are High-Speed Internet plans which do not include a traditional phone line; an emergency line for 911 calls and alarm systems is included

So, I'd say the answer is yes, you can have DSL internet without a phone line. You are going to GET a phone line that you can make 911 calls (only) on, or which will connect to an ADT or such system, but you can't use it for traditional phone service. That's my take on this. I could be wrong.

[Buckrub]

Windstream is the landline phone part of what Alltel used to be. Alltel was both at one time, wireless and landline. They split off their landline, and it is called Windstream. Later, Verizon bought what was left of Alltel, which was/is the wireless service. So, there is no more Alltel. There is a Windstream.

[Buckrub]

http://windstream.com/High-Speed-Internet/High-Speed-Internet-Plans/