v30.0: Break Free from Telephone Services

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

If you own a telephone and subscribe to a monthly telephone bill, this musing is for you.  We have spent too much time and money on a service that should be virtually free.  In fact, I would like to see these companies that bundle Internet and Cable together include the telephone at no additional charge.  In fact, let's analyze something for a minute.

-slurp-



Chances are you bundle your phone service already with your cable and Internet.  In fact, most areas now have the phone line attached directly to your Internet connection.  There are two major service providers of Cable/Phone/Internet in my area and both of them use my Internet connection as a medium for phone service.  Now this system connects to their central server and then attaches to a regular phone signal.  Right now I'm running all three services through my Internet connection and I've had to upgrade my "package" already because the Internet was just too slow.  No, not that kind of package, I had to upgrade the amount of bandwidth I'm allowed to use from 1.5Mb to 5.0Mb.  I know, 1.5Mb is nothing these days but I thought it was sufficient with the amount internetting (I'm going to copyright that word!) we do at my house.

-slurp-

So what are your options?  If you're going to be paying for Internet anyway, why not pay the extra few bucks to pay for your phone too?  Here is a quick break down on how much phone service is costing me.  It may be similar in your area as well.

Company 1

Internet/Phone/Cable Bundle: $99 (for 3 months) $119.95

Internet/Cable Bundle: $100.45

Phone/Cable Bundle: $79.95

Internet/Phone: $79.45

Company 2

Internet/Phone/Cable: $95 (for 12 months) $???

Internet/Phone: $44

Company 2's website was a bit confusing and their package deals are quite dynamic giving customers a chance to pick and choose what they want.  Overall, the prices at Company 2 are much cheaper, but their service is slow.  Basically, that price includes the most basic features which means you can call your neighbor but if you need to call friends or family out West, be ready for a huge bill.

Basically, on average, people spend between $30 and $100 on telephone services per month when going with a traditional telephone service provider.  This means you're looking at an additional $360 to $1,200 a year for just having a telephone.

-slurp-

What else can you do?

Thankfully we live in a technological age where we are no longer bound by traditional telephone services.  The Telephone companies know this and they hate it.  There are many (almost) free services out there that people can sign-up for and use; in most cases you can keep your existing telephone number.  Take Vonage or Primus or (insert other cheap telephone provider here) for example, they use your existing Internet connection for phone service and they can cost a lot less than you're paying with your bundled service.  It works just like your existing phone service and in some cases they will even ship you the special device that simply hook up to your Internet connection for free.  Typically their cheapest plans are between $10 and $20/month and include a lot of the common services (like call waiting, display, etc) for free.  What is the catch?  No catch, this is a prime example of companies that have seen the need to break free from the bonds of overpriced telephone services and have come up with a product made for the 21st century.  Still not a free service, but getting a lot closer.

-slurp-

But you want to talk for free!  You don't want to worry about bills or cutting conversations short because of cost, you just want to pick up a telephone, dial a number and speak to someone on the other side of the globe for absolutely nothing.  Well, you "can" do that today, but it isn't an easy task (yet).  There are many ways that we can chat with anyone in the world for the cost of a simple Internet connection.  We can use applications like Skype or Google Talk and have a video conference with anyone else using the same application.  Unfortunately, the technology falls down at the application layer because not everyone knows about these applications and has little to no idea on how they work.  Telephones are convenient because almost everyone has one; the same can't be said about Skype or Google Talk.

-slurp-

Let's talk about Skype for a moment, this application is widely known and has a fairly large user base.  You can talk to other people who use Skype (Skype-to-Skype) for free.  You can also dial out to land lines for approximately $0.02/minute on a pay-as-you-go plan.  They also have a service where you can get an external phone number and "Skype-In" to your computer.  Let's say I have a phone number, 555-1234, and you call that on your telephone.  My computer will "ring" informing me I have a telephone call and I can choose to press a button on my computer and answer that call and either talk to you through a headset or hands free using speakers and a mic on my computer.  The only downside to this service is you need a computer and you need to have it on and running all the time.  Also, there is a huge disclaimer on their site that says you cannot place emergency calls with Skype (911) and it shouldn't be used as a replacement for a "regular" telephone.  Other applications like Google Talk work much the same way and again, can't be used to place 911 calls and are not good replacements for telephone services.

-slurp-

There are also other services out there like Google voice (only available in the US at the moment) or Gizmo5 which allows you to do telephone forwarding and they provide you with a phone number in various locations.  Of course at the end of the day the telephone is still much more convenient and some people are not willing to sacrifice the convenience of a telephone over a computer.  If you truly are serious about breaking the chains I urge you to check out Skype or Gizmo5 and see what they have to offer.  Then if you're lucky enough to have access to Google Voice, I urge you to try them and create a phone number to forward to your Skype or Gizmo5 number.  Then you can use the two services to dial in and out with for free from your computer.

-slurp-

Well folks, these are some basic ideas and thoughts around alternatives for telephone service.  I plan on taking my own advice here and checking into these services to see if I can eliminate my telephone service completely.  If I'm successful, I will make sure to tell you how I did it and what I did to accomplish it along with details on how much money I'm saving and any inconveniences I've experienced.

-slurp-

Stay tuned...

Al