We just moved to McKinney and got a "metro" line with AT&T. So far, we're pretty unhappy about their calling area. Basically, I can call my brother in Cedar Hill for free but it's long distance to dial a number in Denton. Are you kidding me? Plus, I can't call my parents near Seagoville without dialing long distance too. Even THAT is closer than Cedar Hill!!
My question is, do any of you use those VOIP services such as Vonage or Phone Power? And if you do, have you found any drawbacks etc? I'm tired of paying $50/month to only be able to call next door.
Thanks!
Deb
We got a deal where we bundled the phone and internet. We pay 95 (I think) a month, but we can call ANY number in Texas for free. This ended up saving us quite a bit of money. I'd have to look up the details for you if you are interested in it.
We have 4 ATT hard lines throughout our house. We bill them separately each bill has 2 lines on it and the 1st is around $85 (very basic w/ exception of call forwarding on main line) the other is $65ish (no features)
As a family of 3, we all have ATT Iphones and truly do not need the home lines. We downscaled to what we have now simply to keep the numbers we have.
As for long distance..........EVERYTHING is through our cell phones. We actually use the cells as primary phones. If someone calls my home #, I automatically know it is a 2 in 3 chance of being a solicitor. Most of the time, the home line is unplugged.
In the past, I know I was charged some metro charge of about $10+ a month to be able to call within the area at no extra charge.
My suggestion.....use the cells...
TF
I find it interesting all these different plans ...
Here's what I have: AT&T Unlimited Long distance. I didn't see the point of paying for a metro line so other people in Dallas can call me without dialing 1. I can call anyone long distance for "free". For Dallas numbers, sometimes I dial a 1, sometimes not (I can't really figure all that out). I use my cell a lot but to call my parents, etc, I don't want to use my cell minutes for an hour long conversation. My phone bill is $59 (but I think it's going down for some reason $10) and that includes DSL internet which I am happy with their service. We also have AT&T Dish Network so I think having all 3 bundled services helps to give me a bit of a price break. We've had this service for about 4 years in Allen, Houston, and now Frisco.
We use AT&T Call Vantage, it is a VOIP and is only $26 a month (that includes tax, I think). We have free long distance nationwide and have never had am issue. The service has so many features. You can check your voice mails online, they have a find me feature so if you are expecting an important call it will forward it to your cell, your work, etc until it finds you. You can also take your phone with you on vacation and still get all of the calls just like you were at home. We have a Brinks alarm and it works great with it as well, just in case you were worried about your security system. If the power goes out and reboots the system it always verifies that you are the same address for 911 services, so that is not an issue either.
Great service, check it out!! AT&T Call Vantage
We have had vonage for 5 years now and love it. About a year after we had it they even lowered the price $5.00 per month. I can call any where any time and my bill is the same. It's about some where around $34.00 per month including taxes. There is a start up fee but it's worth it. We have At & T for or internet service and that is around $50.00 per month.
Lonie
We have had Vonage for about 4 years and love it. We primarily use our cell phones but when the kids are home alone, it is nice to know that they can call out if they haven't charged their cell phones.
