Received a promotional offer to switch to Sage Telecomm vs. SBC. Has anyone switched to Sage? They're relatively new in the area, but seem a lot less than Ameritech SBC. Any other recommendations? We use our cell phones more than home phone and our monthly phone bill is mysteriously always at least $80/month! Doesn't make sense and we're ready to switch. Whether Sage or other reliable phone companies (local & long distance ideally), please suggest. Would prefer not to have an Internet and/or Cable phone carrier--I hear that it may disrupt the Home Alarm system/calling system....? Open to any suggestions. Thanks
Thank you for all your great advice! Will revisit the responses below once again, but the good reports on Sage interest me. There was also good advice about slimming down any services--we don't use that many, other than caller ID, but I'll take a closer look. Thanks to everyone! G.
Hi G.,
We used Sage Telecom in Ohio, and we didn't have any problems with it at all. It was a lot cheaper than everything else. Bill would never be over $36/month. We wanted to use it here in IL, but my husband wanted to use a company that had the internet and cable with the phone too.
Hope this helps!
A.
Do you need a home line at all?? We've been doing only cell phones for about 3 years now and are very happy with it. We just switched to a cell phone FAMILY plan. We have 3 phone lines (mine, husbands, and extra to keep at the house)and pay just under $100/month. Some I understand need a land line for the internet. We do our internet through comcast, so we pay the same for internet and cable tv as we would for just a land line, we figured out. Just an option in case you haven't looked into something like that.
I switched from sbc to Clear Rate Communications. They are based out of Michigan. I have unlimited local and long distance with Caller ID, Call Waiting, Call Waiting Call Id and my bill is $46 monthly (includes all taxes) If you're interested please PM for more info.
Also in response to McLeodUSA... I actually worked in their customer service center and I would NOT ever use them... regardless of what they offer... BEWARE....
I had Sage for awhile but they changed the free local long distance service and I think they allowed something like 300 minutes free and then you had to pay so much a minute for over that amount. If you use the Internet and use a number that isn't in your area you could go broke, that's why i cancelled my phone service to AT&T.
It's true. Your alarm, as is, needs a landline to function properly. However, you can buy a "radio" for your alarm system (available thru the alarm co.) I actually prefer to have my alarm transmit this way because if someone cuts your phoneline- YOU HAVE NO ALARM. So the purchase price of the radio and the extra 9 bucks they charge me to use radio signal was saved in the first year alone by using cell phones as our only phones. To me, the landline is just obsolete.
If you must have a "Home Phone"' as long as you have high speed internet you can enjoy the ever so cheap Internet phone service. It's cheap, reliable and it has tons of cool fuctions. Good Luck!
M.
Hi G., we use McLeod USA and they are great. Our bills are only $30 per month. Web site is www.mcleodusa.com. I can't stand SBC with their hidden charges. Good Luck
if you use your phone alot switch maybe the answer but i actually just switched to sbc from talk america but i took the basic of basic option just a line charge which was $9 month with .05 a call local and $1 for long distance at .07 a min. it comes to $20 a month. maybe lower the coverage. we didn't all the extras.
Hi,
I tried to switch to Vonage about a year ago and it was a pain in the tush. We now have our phone through Comcast (our digital cable provider) and unlimited local, LD, Caller ID for about $40/month. Whatever you choose, make sure you look carefully at their 911 service. The Vonage service didn't work the way I was comfortable with. And if power goes out, you lose phone. Not cool. The Comcast digital modem comes with a battery back up. We used McCleod at work and talk about hidden charges!! It was a scam!
Don't know if this helps but we do AT and T and ours is about 50.00 a month. I know they are the same company though. We just have basic service.
Don't go with a phone service bases on your internet connection unless they can assure you of the 911 issue. If you call 911 with these companies and cannot speak, they dont' knwo where you are. This is the only reason we keep the landline. And if you go with only cells, you have the same issue, plus the unreliable aspects of cell phones.
