Thanks everyone. I am thinking I will try Vonage. It looks pretty simple to set up (a priority 
). . Will be $14.99 the first 6 months then $24.99 with the adaptors etc. free. Quite a bit cheaper than our land line. I can carry the number over which I like. Guess I’m not quite ready to let go of having the land line completely. It says not to contact the current company to cancel the number cause it must be active to transfer. So I guess I wait till it transfers then cancel my ATT?
I am going to look into the whatsap also. I think a friend in England told me about it. The people you call have to have the app also, correct?
I going through our monthly recurring expenses and am a bit horrified by what we spend on some stuff. Going to have a purge!
Yes…you both need what’s AP.
Just like you both need FaceTime.
I just had a very easy (and free) chat with a relative in Australia this week…via FaceTime. Easy peasy…no extra equipment to set up.
How does you internet bill? Mines a package, with the LL. And last I asked, no discount (or a pittance) for internet only. Just check, if you need.
We also kept our landline as it was cheaper to have it than to have just internet and tv with the bundle. I still prefer to hold a real phone when I am taking than have to carry my cell from room to room as we have one phone on each floor. Now if we were to drop tv at some point, I guess we would drop the phone also.
When you are talking about the “landline” as a package with TV and internet, in most cases that’s still a VOIP phone. A true landline phone is one where you plug a phone into a wall without the assistance of cable/satellite/DSL. A landline phone from AT&T will cost at least $40 a month generally with a zone package and nationwide/international packages, which for most people is way too costly compared with other options.
Change the tv to Sling.
My package is LL and web. Of course, it plugs into the wall. And my lines from the street are digital. So, in effect, sure, calls are carried over the digital network.
But OP’s question relates to cost savings. As it stands, I’d save little or nothing by dropping the LL. Otoh, I saved about $900 annually by going to internet tv.
I’ve set whatsapp up on my husband’s &my phones and we played around with it a bit. You’re right, It is easy. Need to get my kids and my brother I England to get set up on it. Don’t know if my brother will. He’s worse adopting at New fangled things than I am.
@ProfessorPlum168 - I already but the bullet on vonage. After a year i can check again
from a quick look at sling, I don’t think our TV is compatible. I need to look more into it though.
We have an Ooma device. It’s VOIP and after setup works just like a regular phone. We only pay $5/month and those are required taxes (mostly cover 911 service I think). There are no Ooma based fees.
@swimcatsmom You can stream Sling (I use YouTube TV) with a small device like a Roku stick. It plugs into one of the HDMI ports on your TV. Here are the devices that work with Sling https://help.sling.com/en/support/solutions/articles/33000218990-what-devices-support-the-sling-tv-app-
I have an Amazon fire little box thing. Maybe that works (I thought it Jonathan Stephenson fire tv (if such a thing exist)
Ooma is an excellent choice. The big difference with a true landline with its own independent wiring and using an internet based service is that when the power goes out (or your internet) you lose phone service. That’s where the cell phone at home can be a backup (we have 10 cents a minute cell phones with T-Mobile which we leave off when home).
Once you buy the Ooma device it can be less than $5 per month. H caught an online sale on the Ooma device- it is hooked up to our modem. Excellent phone quality on handsets we already owned. The only catch is to have the base phone physically hooked up, therefore close to the modem. The rest of the handsets are all over the house. We actually have two base stations (to get more handsets) that both hook up to the Ooma.
In the past had heard of Vonage quality issues and that sounds expensive.
Call us frugal or cheap- you choose.
I’ll have to look into the Ooma once the year is up. Looks like I moved too fast (unusual for me)
Just checked- Best Buy has the Ooma on sale for $80 instead of $100. Think of the money saved by not waiting a couple of months…
Well the year of Vonage will cost me $189.88 (there was a $50 Amazon gift card with the offer) so a saving of almost $1000 vs the ATT LL. I’m happy. Will revisit the LL issue in a year. Need to check into Ooma. Though if we can get used to whatsapp and get family using it the LL may go after the year - just not ready to go cold turkey even though we barely use it). Can’t believe I didn’t do it earlier.
Also kicking myself for not doing the whatsapp earlier. A friend in England told me about it a couple of years back then I didn’t think of it again. It would have been great to have for my trip to Africa this summer to talk to my husband - especially when I got injured. Though I may have had a meltdown and been all teary if I had talked to him instead of roughing it out (and enjoying trip despite it). So maybe good I didn’t have it.
Now need to make decision on cell phone plan. Then on TV/internet (tried to log into our account to check what we have now and if I want to change it but H could not remember password and we got locked out).
We have a lot of recurring charges some large some piddly (like netflix). But they add up - even the piddly ones. H pays the bills (he’s retired but I still work so he has more time) so I haven’t paid enough attention (I’m probably the guilty party for most of the piddly ones - and we don’t probably use them most of the time).
@wis75: With the multiple bases and handsets, Ooma does not somehow assess this situation and add in a surcharge for additional (hard) phones, does it?
@swimcatsmom: Do you have the option to have multiple phones (same number/line) running through your home without being assessed any additional fees?
(Hope this question is not too weird.)
Not weird at all. That was one of the first things I checked. From reading the FAQs on Vonage, we plug the home phone (wired one) into the adapter that is plugged into the router. Then the cordless ones connect to the main phone just the same as they do now.
No extra charges for extra handsets, even when so many we have two base stations. Both sets are plugged into a double jack so only one wire goes into the Ooma from both sets. Same phone number. Just like having extension phones. The bad part is that despite being the same models the two different base stations need their own clock changing and phonebook listings- that has nothing to do with the phone service provider.
I was leery of using Ooma when H suggested it, I’m not an early adapter. His sister had it and I agreed to the purchase. Excellent decision.
Go for it!!!