Telcom Expenses Survey

OK, I just got my phone/internet bill and I'm going through the roof here.

We have 2 voice lines (I often work from home, need the spare voice line), and on one of those lines I have 1.5MB/512K DSL service (slow!).

I have "Flat Rate" calling - no minute charges for any calls.

My bill this month was $162.00. I think that's absurd.

But I have no comparative data.

Before anyone tells me to get Vonage or some such - don't. I can't get 2-way cable Internet, VoIP on 1.5MB DSL is useless. I looked into "dry loop" DSL - it's $89.00 a month - which is MORE than the $49 they charge for DSL when it comes with a dialtone.

I also have - through work - the Verizon BroadbandConnect service (which is FANTASTIC) - but since I don't pay for it, I avoid seeing the whole with tax bill. I think it's like $100 a month all in.

So...what do you pay all in for phone + internet?

Mine is cable, 2M internet, digital cable, and phone service (with unlimited long distance) for $99/month. Cable modem which does the internet and phone has a small battery in it and will run for a couple hours as well.

I pay about $100/month for one line w/ unlimited calling plus DSL (3355 / 863 Kbps according to the modem). IIRC, when I dropped the second line and dial up in favor of DSL I broke even.

I'd love to drop the land line and go 100% cell phones but my wife does a lot of chatting during the day and doesn't like to use her cell for that for some reason. She'd probably use a lot of minutes that way anyway.

I recently regraded my broadband to a slower speed to save some money as I really didn't need the 20Mb/sec Cable DSL connection. The 10Mb/sec connection is currently costing around $30/month. But this is only for the first six months then it will go up to $43/month.

Phone calls are run over a VOIP capable Cable router (Draytek Vigor 2100VG) using Draytel VOIP Pay As You Go telephone service. Most family and friends are signed up to Draytel so phone calls are free with call charges to PSTN landlines only amount to around $20 over the last 3-4 months. International calls rates to PSTN lines for most countries cost around $0.018/minute.

http://www.draytel.org/

I have backup cell phones coverage using 3 different service providers, Vodaphone, T-mobile and Virgin Mobile all using their Pay as You Go mobile services. Can't remember when I last had to top up each phone as I use these phones just to receive incoming calls and as backup to the VOIP lines.

I'm looking into a Wireless 3.5G Broadband internet connection at the moment but it is still very expensive. Typically a 5 Gbyte download/month contract over 18 months costs around $27/month. Typical speeds are between 2-4 Mb/sec with a 'free' USB wireless modem.

http://www.three.co.uk/personal/products_services_/mobile_broadband_/price_plans.omp?id=1184

I have essentially what Eugene has.

I expected the cable VOIP to be much less reliable than the SW BELL/ATT service but have found the opposite to be true. The cable service still can be terrible but the phone system has proven to be very reliable.

I found my internet phone to be much more reliable as well. I've had high speed cable internet since the late 90's and have many times reported either my land line or power off via the companies web sites. I went from ~$65/ month for just internet when I had warner + whatever for cable, $40 for land line and whatever for long distance. When warners customer service slid down to AOL levels I switched to wide open west and combined internet and cable for ~$80 plus $40 for land line phone and whatever for long distance. When I moved a couple months ago I dropped the land line for the $99 for all 4 services with faster internet and moving up from analog to digital cable.
The modem for my internet/phone even has its own battery in the side.

I used to have two standard phone lines. Each runs $14 to $17 a month depending on how, the taxes on the phone companies, capital funding and corrections run.

To cut costs I got rid of one of these lines. The one I maintained gets is used almost exclusively for internet connection at 28.8KBps to 31kbps. It's slow, frustrating to download large files or video with, but it works well enough for most of what I do. The telecom connection goes through a local ISP that charges another $12 a month.

For voice I have shifted to using a prepaid cell that at my rate of use runs me $100 to $125 a year depending on how talkative I am. All told I figure it averages out at about $37 a month, or $444 a year.

I looked into going entirely wireless through cell phones, and/or using cable but, as you point out, there are issues getting 911 service and in some cases there are also significant equipment or start up costs. Also while the costs were manageable for some introductory period these costs rise precipitously once the introductory period is over.

In the end a simple hardwired telephone line and prepaid cell phone was the way to go.

Everyone here probably knows this but it should be mentioned that you don't need a cell phone provider to dial through to 911 on a cell phone even if you don't have a contract with a cell phone service provider. This means you can give a child or elderly person living alone a cell phone and as long as the phone is charged they can get through to 911 without having to carry any fees.

Without a service agreement they won't be able to dial any other numbers but being able to get through to 911 operators during an emergency is, in my book, a pretty significant advantage.

I use Digis in Utah and it costs me $64.80/mo and I've had it for a year and love it

I get
"unlimited local and long distance"(my wife needs local phone)
"unlimited Internet Access"

and 4 cell phones thru Sprint $120.00/mo

so all told $184.80/mo

Mike

In my case, I have a VOIP box that has a backup battery. It does work during a power outage. Granted, in the event of an extended power outage, I might lose service. However, where I live, if the power goes out for that long, the AT&T phones would also go out. A few years ago, SW Bell told my 80+ year old neighbor that she would have to wait 18 days for them to get around to fixing her phone after a big rain storm. My cable VOIP never went down. Sadly, around here, this isn't uncommon. The local phone company service is not very robust. The neighbor learned to use a cell phone.

Also, my VOIP box is plugged into my home's phone wiring. I use the same phones as I did with AT&T. The voice mail indicators on the phones also work just as they did with AT&T. A caveat is that the cable company says they won't support devices like fax machines or alarm systems that use phone lines.

Since my service is bundled, I don't pay an additional 911 fee but I can't recall how the cable company told me they relay address information to emergency phone centers. I'll have to ask them about that again.... I don't think it's an issue here though.

After paying hundreds a month for phone/cable/satellite/internet service, I decided to take a perspective step backwards to the 80s. I no longer have a landline phone at home. My company issued me a dingleberry that I've been using for 4 years now and had to replace once, all at their cost. I don't have internet service at home, I have basic satellite, which I am giving up on my move to Denver at the end of the month (if the wife needs that much tv, she can pay for it). I use internet at work for all of my business now.

The kids have t-mobile accounts until my contract expires. After that, they get pre-paid phone service, and an allowance.

I figure I will be saving about $350 a month once I make the final move, and my t-mobile account lapses. That's a car payment.

We can all learn to do with less. I remember a time when my only contact with friends that weren't nearby was a once a week phone call or a letter in the mail. When was that ever enough?