Right now Vonage has a special, $9.95 for 3 months. I tried them out a few years ago for a FAX line, and recently changed my landline over as well.

You can save about 20% if you prepay 12 months in advance, which I intend to do once my special rate is over.

I have enjoyed great service, but I have always had a very good broadband connection. I used to have Road Runner, now I have Fios. I expect your service will be as good as your broadband connection.

They have some nifty features standard that the telcos don't offer unless you open your wallet wider.

I haven't regretted changing at all, in the 5 years I've used them.

Rick

3u telecom

Great rates and no surcharges or minimums.

Regards, Vince 

We travel a lot and have a cell phone with No Roaming, etc.

This is a God Send compared to the days we had to find a pay phone to make a call.

Finding a pay phone was one thing but finding a pay phone in a place where I could park the RV was a challenge, along with finding a pay phone that worked and did not smell like an outhouse in the middle of Kansas in August.

We have Alltel and our plan offers humongous minutes on the week ends.

The wife camps on the call phone calling her weird relatives every weekend.

My kin are normal so we only have to talk to one another on special occasions, such as funerals.

After reading this post, about being cheap, I decided I didn’t really need the Long Distance (LD) service I was getting from QWEST that was costing me $1.99 plus tax just to have it available. Not only did I not like the tax thing on phones, I occasionally used the damn phone for a call that resulted in a LD charge of 10 cents, plus tax.

So I called QWEST and got a real good looker on the line. Us old guys can tell just by the sound of the voice. She was young, thin, and pure as the driven snow. I almost felt ashamed talking to a #10.

The main thing I wanted to know was that if I dropped by LD feature I could still dial a 1-800 (AKA Toll Free) number. This way I could use a calling card in a pinch.

She allowed as I could do that.

Now comes the rub.

This QWEST lady told me it would cost me $5 to get my LD disconnected!

I was suspecting some underhanded ploy so I kept her on the line with dumb ass questions. Why do they want $5 to disconnect me but they did not want a thin dime to connect me and start charging me for LD service?

Is this fee just to discouraged folks from disconnecting the LD service?

Well, this fat broad had all the answers and was well trained.

She countered every accusation I made. I can just see the warts on her face!

I suspect I got a call center in Iowa and she trains between pork chops.

PS:

Please do not recommend another cell phone service to me. I have had Alltel for 85 years and they know me by name.

My cell phone is the last of historic vintage.

It is so big that an elephant could dial 911.

Rossby

Use your computer and make your calls for free.

Use Skype    http://www.skype.com/

Buy a cheap internet camera and can see each other as you speak.(not required)

Works great, costs nothing.

I talked to one of my daughters in Denmark at school from the US almost everyday

for four months and spent NOTHING!

Try it, it will cost you nothing to try it also.

Good Luck!

Even better than Skype........... Magicjack   www.magicjack.com

I am in the "testing" phase right now, but this little device might just be the greatest thing ever.   It is like Skype (voip), but you use your phones.   Like Vonage, but ridiculously cheaper.

The unit (basically a USB thumb drive) costs about $40, and gives you free local and long distance calling in the US and Canada for a year.   An additional year is $19.95, and if you extend it to 5 years it is only $59.95.   Heck.... my phone portion of my bill is that much per month right now.

I actually purchased mine on Amazon for.... I think $32 + $6.95 shipping?   ....but I signed up for their credit card and got $30 off my order.... so it will cost me less than $10.

So far I'm really pleased with it (only been 3 days).   There are some drawbacks (must leave computer on, main phone needs to be at computer.... unless you do some tricky rewiring, etc..), but I'm looking at some huge saving here.   Still have my landline until I am sure I am comfortable dropping it, but.... you just can't beat the price.

I use Skype. The other person does not need a computer. YOu can call a landline or a cell phone. I use it all the time to call Europe and it's very inexpensive 0.017 per minute. No initial investment for equipment. All you need is a computer.

Jeannette

I have been using skype 3 years and very happy with it. Saved lots of $$$ so far. In some cases perhaps you don't need cell phone either.

1. You can an account for Wi-Max service from clear wire and use your computer with the help of blue tooth enabled ear phone and microphone to make calls. In this way you have internet service both at home and to go as well.

or

2. Buy a Wi-Fi phone, download skype application and make calls (free calls skype to skpye or very low fees to landline/cell phones all over the world) where ever you can get free or subscribed Wi-Fi.

 Anatole

Jeannette10:

I use Skype. The other person does not need a computer. YOu can call a landline or a cell phone. I use it all the time to call Europe and it's very inexpensive 0.017 per minute. No initial investment for equipment. All you need is a computer.

Jeannette

Skype also has unlimited calling plans. I signed up  for the US/Canada/Europe plan; it is $100/yr, and they complain only if you go over 10,000 mins/month. I use it for work. It's great. I don't know if this plan can be used for cell phones in Europe - never tried it.

If you use Skype credits, i.e., pay per minute, then calls to cell phones in Europe are expensive; almost 24 cents/minute, calls to landlines are very inexpensive.