Save Money on Your Landline Phone

There was a time when I paid $40 a month for a phone in my home. That didn’t include features like long distance, caller ID, voice mail, and call waiting. They were all extra charges. Millions of people are still paying traditional phone companies $40 or more. In these tough economic times, doesn’t it make sense to look for cheaper alternatives? What would you do with another $20 a month? Here are some options that I considered before settling on my $15 a month plan with Vonage (which included all the features that my old phone company had – and more).

• Call Your Phone Company – You may be able to simply call up your phone company and negotiate cheaper rates. I would simply say that I like their service and reliability, but there are options out there that provide great service at a better price.
  Pros:
  • Don’t have to have high speed Internet
  • Don’t have do any paperwork to change your number
  • Emergency Services like 911 work as you expect them to.
  • If you lose electricity to your home you may still have a working phone

  Cons:

  • You may not get a discount
  • If you do get a discount, it might be only for a limited time. Then you are back to paying high rates like before
• Get Phone Through your Cable / Internet Company – It seems like Comcast is offering to be my phone company every 10 minutes. They offer package deals that are a good savings over what my old phone company had to offer.
  Pros:
  • Likely cheaper than your current phone company
  • One bill for your cable, Internet, and phone access
  • Use your standard phones easily
  • Bring your landline phone anywhere

  Cons:

  • Potential issues with Emergency Services (911)
  • Have to transfer your phone number or get a new one
  • Requires you to get and pay for high speed Internet
  • If you lose electricity you won’t be able to use your phone
• Get Vonage – I’ve had Vonage for 4 years now and I couldn’t be happier with the service. I only pay $15 for the 500 minutes a month. I haven’t come close to using up the minutes because I have cell phone. The catch is that you have to have a high-speed Internet connection. For a lot of people this isn’t much of a catch.
  Pros:
  • Cheaper than the above options
  • Can use your standard phones easily
  • Bring your landline phone anywhere

  Cons:

  • Potential issues with Emergency Services (911)
  • Have to transfer your phone number or get a new one
  • Requires you to get and pay for high speed Internet
  • If you lose electricity you won’t be able to use your phone
• Skype – Skype is software that allows you to make phone calls over the Internet. You can call other Skype users for free. If you want to call landlines, you can buy Skype credits (about 2.1 cents a minute) or sign-up for “unlimited” landline calling for $2.95 a month (actually only 10,000 minutes as if you’ll need more). A whole year of Skype is the price of many people’s monthy bills.
  Pros:
  • Cheaper than the above options
  • Potential for free calls to others using Skype
  • Bring your landline phone anywhere

  Cons:

  • Potential issues with Emergency Services (911)
  • Have to transfer your phone number or get a new one
  • Requires you to get and pay for high speed Internet
  • If you lose electricity you won’t be able to use your phone
  • Using your regular phones may require an additional adapter (I use a headset that I bought for $25).
• MagicJack – MagicJack is a USB device (like a thumb drive) that allows you to call to landlines in the United States and Canada for free. While they claim “no monthly bills ever”, there is a $20 a year fee. The product won a PC Magazine Editor’s Choice award.
  Pros:
  • Cheaper than the above options. It’s around $15 cheaper than Skype, so it will take you more than 2 years to make up the initial $40 cost of the device.
  • Works with regular phone lines.
  • Bring your landline phone anywhere

  Cons:

  • Potential issues with Emergency Services (911)
  • Have to transfer your phone number or get a new one
  • Requires you to get and pay for high speed Internet
  • If you lose electricity you won’t be able to use your phone
  • Potentially have to deal with some problems, including: advertisements, an F rating with the Better Business Bureau in the past, and difficulty in removing the software.

Emergency Services (911)

When I mention above that there might be issues with emergency services, I mean that phones that use the Internet (the last four options here) have to be told where you are. It’s a great feature that I can keep my Boston number out here in San Francisco, but I had to remember to tell Vonage that I moved.

Choosing the Right Discount Phone Service

Being the frugal person that I am, I eliminated the traditional phone company option. I’m Lazy too so I don’t want to be calling them every 6 months threatening to cancel if they don’t give me a cheaper rate. That’s never a fun call to make anyway. The choice between Comcast and Vonage was easy for me. The Comcast option was more money and had the same feature set.

I’ve considered moving to Skype. I currently pay Vonage about $180 a year ($15 x 12 months). Skype would be around $36 a year – a savings of a $144 a year. Some of that initial savings would have to go towards buying some hardware that connect my current phones to my Internet connection. I don’t know if that hardware exists for Skype. You might either have to use a computer or their Skype phones. Even if I was prepared to make that leap, I don’t know if I could ask the same of my wife.

That brings us to the MagicJack. I find the idea very intriguing. I don’t think it’s a fit for me because we mostly have laptops. That’s not good for USB and a phone line plugged in at all times. The desktop computer we have doesn’t have a reliably stay on our WiFi network and it’s too far to hard-wire to our Internet connection. We wouldn’t want to miss phone calls because it chose not to stay connected. We’d have to leave that computer on all the time too, which isn’t free or environmentally friendly.

Photo Credit: Swansea Photographer