Almost all phone companies have a basic “lifeline” service. The thing is they don’t advertise it. It’s usually hidden on their website.
Just call Verizon and tell the least expensive service they have, only to be used for minimum. They will be happy to give you plans to keep you on as a customer.
Perhaps the problem was at the other end if you have good internet - not a lot you can do about that. But you can also use Skype over the phone, including many cellphones, both for calling to and from phones.
I’ve had Vonage for years, and haven’t had a “real” land line for about five years. Vonage has always been crystal-clear for me. I’m paying about $20/month for mine with a ridiculous number of minutes (I don’t recall how many, at the moment). I’d been dating someone for almost a year and a half who lived on the other side of the country, and we spent hours on the phone every day. So I think I can say with some experience that you’d find this to be a more cost-effective method for your needs. The service, by the way, includes all of the traditional phone features (call fowarding, call waiting, voice mail, etc.), and you can use your existing telephone equipment with it.
I frequently see ads around from Boost Mobile; they apparently offer unlimited calls for $50/mo sans contract.
I’m frightened by Vonage’s lack of real emergency dialing. I’ve only had to phone 911 once due to a real, present emergency, and it sucked majorly as I was using a cell phone. We couldn’t get a hold of the cops for almost twenty minutes! Ridiculous! By then the assailant had long gone, and we were equipped with nothing more than a very vague description of the perp. This happened, perhaps if it’ll amuse you, by the ever-ghetto-fabulous Shatto Lanes. Ah gods, that place was terrible.
I will readily admit that I’ve never had cause to dial 911 from a Vonage phone. But unlike a cell phone, Vonage forces you to register your address with them for 911 purposes when you sign up, so I’ve always operated under the assumption that they know what they’re doing. I am fairly certain I know someone who has had occasion to dial 911 on multiple occasions from her Vonage line without any trouble. If I can verify that, I’ll report back.
Having bowled at Shatto recently and having, in my long ago youth, lived right down the street from there at 4th and Virgil at the only home I’ve ever had burglarized, I am amused but not even a little bit surprised.
You already have Comcast internet - why don’t you just get the digital voice bundled with it? They do a triple bundle (cable tv, internet and voice) for $99, so if you bundle internet and voice, it’s gotta be cheaper than what you’re paying now?
I’m on Fido’s iPhone bundle with a couple of extras. This was a three-year contract (yay Canada!) that is up in July. At that point, I have the option of going month-to-month or signing up to to a new three-year contract.
I bought an unlocked iPhone straight from Apple so that I could have the freedom to jump at the end of my contract, but the iPhone does not support the AWS (1700-MHz) band that Wind Mobile’s 3G service uses, so I probably won’t jump to them. However, there are still Rogers, Telus, Bell, and Virgin Mobile to consider…
I have a super-secret non-advertised Cox internet rate that I was told by a former roommate to ask for, I see no reason there shouldn’t be that sort of thing out there for phones. It’s not quite as fast as the more expensive ones but plenty fast enough for me.
I haven’t had a landline in four years and don’t miss it; I’m not on the phone much either but I really like having my cell with me and saw no reason to pay for two phones.
My cell bill is about $40 a month, with the minimal minutes and I never use them all.
A lot of cell providers offer a plan where you can set 5 or so numbers to be unlimited numbers. Since that handily covers all the people who would call me instead of text/email/Facebook me, it’s awesome. In my particular plan, it also includes long distance numbers!
When I moved, I ditched my landline in favor of VOIP from GalaxyVoice. I bought an adapter from them that connects my old wireless phone base station to the router. The free plan gets you 60 outbound minutes a month; $5 gets you 200 minutes. You get all the services the Empire likes to charge you for at no extra cost (3-way calling and so forth), plus you can access your voicemail on the website and/or receive it by email.
I’ve been quite pleased with it so far.