Tell me why

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 15, 2007 Posts: 1

I currently have a phone bill of about $17-18/month. It is there primarily for the DSL service. Our cells phones get the most use - and we never go into excess charges there. We are not phoneaholics. As I understand Vonage, the phone connection would still need to be there for the DSL connection. I know that I could go Cable but that would double my DSL costs - or aprrox. be equal if I add DSL and phone line costs together.

So no matter how I look at it Vonage is an increase of $15.00(Basic) with no obvious plus.

What am I missing - if anything?
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Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 15, 2007 Posts: 6

You are right, you may not save any money, however you will get many more feature, such as caller ID.

You should call your DSL provider (not the phone company). To see if you can get DSL without a phone number.

I have Verizon Fio, and the service is bill to my credit card. I do not have phone service with verizon.

Posts: 1179 · Member of the Week Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 1179

I agree with red_dog in that financially speaking, you are correct in that you will most likely spend more money to get Vonage under the 500 minute plan unless you change your cell phone plan or get rid of your landline etc.

The main reasons for getting Vonage is for those who use their home phone for calling long distance. This is the most common reason why people switch to Vonage b/c even on a very basic 400 minute of long distance plan, I was paying almost $60/month for my phone and this is without any dsl etc. At this time I also had cable internet already so it made it a very easy deal.

But in your case, since you say that you use your cell phone most of the time, I would not think it is useful or necessary.

The features are great though especially call forwarding which I used on a number of occasions when we traveled as a family.

In my case, on occasion, I have had to make international calls which are a whole lot cheaper than my local telco's rates. I would not even consider making these calls on my cell b/c of the outrageous rates.

In the end, if you do the math and the figures are higher with Vonage, it would make no sense.

In my area, the most basic of plans from our telco is around $15/month before taxes but after taxes and fees, I think it gets closer to $22-23/month.

Vonage in my area is $19/month with all taxes etc.

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 8:11 pm Post subject:

You might want to see if your phone co/DSL co will do "naked DSL", where you only receive (and pay for) DSL service and not a local phone line. If you're lucky, they'll offer it, although most phone cos don't.

Posts: 58 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 19, 2007 Posts: 58

Yes i agree with VonageTPA.......u can go for the Dry loop connection with the DSL.......Dry loop is nothing but simply a regular phone line, without any phone service activated. It allows a user to get an DSL connection and perhaps a service of IP. You can refer to the service as standalone, dry loop, dry line, ... You also can utilize your DSL’s high-speed connection with a Voip

Posts: 162 · Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:56 pm Post subject: Re: Tell me why

chartsmalm wrote:

I currently have a phone bill of about $17-18/month. (...) What am I missing - if anything?
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Yes you are.