Callwave just sent me an email and said I have to pay $2.95 a month if I pay a year ahead, or $3.95 a month on a month-by-month basis to keep the service. They are throwing in the Caller ID for “free”. Does anyone know if there are any free services left? I think putting up with that damm banner that I have to move several times every time I go on is enough. I don’t want to pay for it. Everyone is blaming these charges on “hard times” which I think is a crock.
All I can suggest is that you do a Google search for “Internet Call Waiting Caller ID” and see what’s out there.
Been there, done that. You have my deepest sympathies. 
A few weeks ago they gave me (us) a trial of the ID service and said that longer messages were also possible. If I continued it would have cost $6.95 a month. I didn’t do that and am still using the regular service and have gotten no messages about anything else. Hope you got mixed up for both of our sakes.
I clicked on New Thread by mistake so everyone is going to be reading this. Damm.
Dear Suzanne,
As America’s leading alternative to expensive phone lines, CallWave has worked hard to help you save money and enjoy the peace of mind knowing you can hear who’s calling while you’re online.
Up until recently, advertising revenue has allowed us to provide your CallWave service for free except for the cost of Call Forwarding (this is the fee you pay your local phone company). Unfortunately, due to tough times, our advertisers can no longer afford to fully support the cost of the CallWave service.
In order for us to continue to provide our award-winning service, we have no choice but to add a small increase to the price our customers pay. The price increase is $3.95 per month or $2.95 per month if you buy an annual subscription in advance (this charge is in addition to what you are currently paying your local phone company for Call Forwarding). Whichever plan you choose, we will add the charge to your phone bill as a 1-900 charge. By clicking below, you agree to the CallWave Terms of Service and you must be at least 18 years old.
Because we understand many of our customers will be disappointed by this change, we have decided to throw in our newest feature, Caller ID, free of charge if you act now. Please click on a payment plan today, and enjoy Caller ID at no additional charge for the life of your service.
I choose the $2.95 per month annual plan, with Caller ID!
I prefer the $3.95 month-to-month plan, with Caller ID!
We hope you’ll agree that CallWave is still a great service at a fair price. CallWave is still much less expensive than any other solution, and remains the only service that lets you hear the voice of your caller immediately.
We hope you’ll stay with us. Now, with CallWave + Caller ID, you’ll know who called when you’re on-line even if they don’t leave a message. With these new plans, we will also give your callers a little more time to leave a message, by increasing the maximum message length from 30 to 45 seconds.
We’ll be in touch in about a week with more information about this change to your service. Until then, if you have any questions or if you are considering canceling CallWave, please do not hesitate to contact us at Care-P2A@callwave.com and we will get back to you immediately.
Sincerely,
Dave Hofstatter
President
CallWave, Inc.
P.S. All of our customers are extremely important to us!
If you just cannot afford to support CallWave financially, we don’t want you to start missing calls again. Please don’t think that you have to get rid of CallWave. If you have only very few calls each month, or if you qualify as a senior, disabled, or new subscriber, we offer a FREE Lifeline service. Click here to apply for CallWave’s FREE Lifeline service.