How can I cut costs on internet and home phone?

[Anonymous]

Help! We are paying so much for so little.

I have called Verizon to ask for the least expensive home phone plan, and it's still $57 a month! I'd like to cancel and use Vonage, but for that I need high speed internet, and it seems like Verizon is my only choice, back to the high price for stand alone, non package service . . . Just internet and home phone alone is as expensive as a "triple play" bundle with tv -- but we do not have cable tv and really don't want it. I just want to save some money.

Has anyone found their way out of this mess? Are there options I am not thinking of? We are in FFCounty.

[Anonymous]

Why do you need a home phone?

If you have internet, I'm sure it's high speed and you can use Vonage.

[Anonymous]

We have Verizon fios but no phone or cable TV service. Think that is $72 a month or thereabouts.

We had vonage but got rid of it because we didn't use it. Work provides me with a cell phone and that's good enough.

[Anonymous]

I avoid Verizon - great service but they charge too much.

I have $50 a month Cox Internet. I don't have a home phone.

[Anonymous]

We have comcast high speed internet for $45. We don't need phone or cable.

[Anonymous]

I'm one of those that won't let go of the landline and have been in a similar situation as yours.

The issue is that with all of the taxes and fees added on, there's not much of a price difference with their lowest package that offers more.

I made the change anyways.

I forgot what it's called but it's supposed to be that you can only call in the local area and I think charged 10 cents a call.

I added on caller id, which I think is $3 to $4 on top of that. And I think my bills are close to $40 a month. It's about a $10/month after Verizon raised their rates on the other package. But I figure, it's still about $120 savings per year.

Here is the plan on the Verizon page:
http://www.verizon.com/home/phone/#callingplans

Scroll down to where the tab says Freedom Essentials and Local & Regional. And the plan I'm referring to is the Local & Regional plan. But as mentioned there are a lot of taxes and fees, so it's not as cheap as you'd think or I was hoping for.

[Anonymous]

Oh and actually I just reread the original post and thought you were trying to keep a landline.

Maybe shop around for other internet providers as well. Such as Cox or Comcast. I'm not familar with what's available in your area.

[RedTailHawk]

I just logged on to post a very similar message. We are paying $104.99 plus taxes (so ~$120.) a month for 15/15 FIOS internet plus land line. We do not have reliable cell phone reception at home so use the landline. I am not opposed to switching to Google Voice or other phone option but there doesn't seem to be a price break with Verizon for dropping phone.

We are in Rockville so cable could be an option but given that we don't want TV there doesn't seem to be a price advantage there.

I called Verizon and they are offering to up our speed to 50/50 for the same price if we sign a 2 year contract. (We are month to month now.) We don't need faster service.

I tried to explore my options with the sales rep and she was not helpful at all. Verizon's new customer rates are significantly lower so I asked about cancelling service and then signing up as a new customer. She said we would have to be without Verizon service for 30 days to get the new customer rate.

We have friends that split their internet bill by sharing wi-fi signal with their next door neighbour. Is that the only way to cut internet costs?

[Anonymous]

RedTailHawk wrote:

We have friends that split their internet bill by sharing wi-fi signal with their next door neighbour. Is that the only way to cut internet costs?

That's actually an interesting idea that sort of crossed my mind before. (ie maybe not necessarily with my neighbors knowing)

But I would think that the logistics would be kind of tricky. ie how much bandwidth you all use. What happens if a router or modem needs to be reset and the person isn't home. The person with the router can control and potentially see what sites you go on. Same thing with how you all could potentially see each other's computer on the network, etc.

Some of it you could probably work around or setup security settings.

I'm sure it would be awesome cost savings though if you could work it out.

[Anonymous]

Are there competitors in your area? I'm thinking of doing the switch game and switching every 2 years FIOS to Comcast

[Anonymous]

We just switched. We got magic jack at target for the phone. It's pretty good, sometimes just ok. It has 911 service for a fee. Then, we shut off our old fios in my husbands name and got a basic phone internet package. It is about $70 a month. The cable sucks as it has few good channels but only $15 more than Internet alone and better than antena.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there competitors in your area? I'm thinking of doing the switch game and switching every 2 years FIOS to Comcast

Actually, pull the phone off through a viop and then switch it by changing the name. We just did that. Used magic jack and o port our home phone so we did not lose the number and shut off my husbands account and opened a new one in my name.

[Anonymous]

RedTailHawk wrote:I just logged on to post a very similar message. We are paying $104.99 plus taxes (so ~$120.) a month for 15/15 FIOS internet plus land line. We do not have reliable cell phone reception at home so use the landline. I am not opposed to switching to Google Voice or other phone option but there doesn't seem to be a price break with Verizon for dropping phone.

We are in Rockville so cable could be an option but given that we don't want TV there doesn't seem to be a price advantage there.

I called Verizon and they are offering to up our speed to 50/50 for the same price if we sign a 2 year contract. (We are month to month now.) We don't need faster service.

I tried to explore my options with the sales rep and she was not helpful at all. Verizon's new customer rates are significantly lower so I asked about cancelling service and then signing up as a new customer. She said we would have to be without Verizon service for 30 days to get the new customer rate.

We have friends that split their internet bill by sharing wi-fi signal with their next door neighbour. Is that the only way to cut internet costs?

You can have your spouse set up the account in their name so it's technically a new customer.

[Anonymous]

Regarding: Some of it you could probably work around or setup security settings. - I'm sure it would be awesome cost savings though if you could work it out.

In this case, our very computer and network skilled friend gives his neighbor $20./month cash plus provides the tech support when there are router problems. The neighbor with the router didn't have a very secure set up to begin with and is thrilled to have the technical help and extra cash. For all they know, other neighbors might have also been using the unsecured wi-fi. Our friend is happy to get internet so cheaply and likes that that he has the access to configure it the way he wants. Both households had low bandwidth needs (e.g. email, occasional kindle download, periodic web surfing).

I don't think I'd be comfortable using a neighbor's wi-fi without their permission because that would mean it was very unsecure and I sometimes shop online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there competitors in your area? I'm thinking of doing the switch game and switching every 2 years FIOS to Comcast

Actually, pull the phone off through a viop and then switch it by changing the name. We just did that. Used magic jack and o port our home phone so we did not lose the number and shut off my husbands account and opened a new one in my name.

Oh, that sounds interesting, but I didn't quite follow. Can you explain again?