Fed up with ATT

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IlliniDave
Posts: 2388
Joined: Fri May 17, 2013 7:09 am

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by IlliniDave »

Just a follow-up. I went with magicJack and so far it has been flawless.
Don't do something. Just stand there!
LongerPrimer
Posts: 903
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2014 10:01 pm

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by LongerPrimer »

I HATE bundling. I don't mind that a company needs to make money. Just give me a price that makes them money and provides me with the service(s) that I want. I once complained to the Office of CEO for one of the communications company. :twisted:
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Leif
Posts: 3705
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:15 pm

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by Leif »

IlliniDave wrote:Right now I have a land line and DSL through ATT. My bill continually creeps up every month until I call and complain, then it will go back down and immediately start creeping back up.

I don't really need a land line but I like having it so I have a number to give out to people I don't really want to talk to (banks, insurance people, etc.)
I have felt your pain with ATT. extremely poor customer service, IMO.

I have a suggestion for you. Get Google voice number. It is free. You can give that out and have it filter your calls. You can set it up to forward text transcripts of any messages left. Oh, and did I mention it is free?

P.S. I just checked other messages. Many suggest GV. I guess I can just say +1.
Angelus359
Posts: 846
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:56 pm

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by Angelus359 »

At my house, our house phone is a straightalk wireless home phone. It runs on Verizon.

16.80/mo including tax
Systems Engineer
hersfelder15
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2015 7:40 am

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by hersfelder15 »

To those who are considering any type of VOIP telephone service, I would consider this: If the power goes out you will lose your phone service. If a UPS or uninterpretable power supply is added, you will keep your service until that battery power supply goes dead. Normally that will not happen, but in a long power outage it can. Here is the big one: once you give up your copper wired old land line you become totally dependent on your internet gateway in your home. If that hiccups or dies and you are on vacation you lose your answering machine and any means of calling your home. AT&T could send out a repair team to diagnose your wiring in the past, but not with VOIP. They require that someone be in the house in order to diagnose the system. Do you REALLY want that? Maybe that's O.K. with you, but if you spend a lot of time on the road or vacation I would be very careful about switching.
testing321
Posts: 295
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2014 6:46 pm

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by testing321 »

Over time, my wife and I have been switching people to using our cell numbers. I would dump the landline if it wasn't bundled with Uverse. With family, we often do video calls over Skype.
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siamond
Posts: 6008
Joined: Mon May 28, 2012 5:50 am

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by siamond »

anakinskywalker wrote:I live in a NYC highrise already "wired" for FIOS.

Does anybody have experience with whether the huge FIOS box is needed? I am surprised that Verizon came up with such a nasty solution. In this day and age expecting people to allow them to set up a mini-fridge sized box in their apartment just for internet access is ridiculous. I wonder where that huge box came from: an old mainframe factory?
You certainly need an ONT box for FiOS. And yeah, such optical technology isn't (yet) very compact. I live in an individual home, and said box went in my basement, and isn't a problem. For high-rise buildings, things might be a bit different as it might be possible to locate a multi-port ONT in some shared closet in the building. I am not sure what is the exact practice from Verizon in such a case though, and this may depend on the preexisting cabling of the building. Be very specific about your questions to the support/sales folks about the fact that you are in a high-rise building, this should avoid confusion. Hopefully!
pshonore
Posts: 8212
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 2:21 pm

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by pshonore »

IlliniDave wrote:
Sriracha wrote:
IlliniDave wrote:I don't really need a land line but I like having it so I have a number to give out to people I don't really want to talk to (banks, insurance people, etc.). I just have an answering machine hooked up to it and return legitimate (non-marketing) calls. That keeps most of the irritation calls segregated from my cell phone. ....
IlliniDave, I was in that position too for a while and finally just decided to ditch the ATT land line completely. So far, I haven't been bothered by the waste-of-time calls on the mobile phone. It has really been a joy to be free of the land line (and its inflated expense.)
That's really what I should do, but I'll probably wean myself gradually. The solution I'm gravitating towards is magicjack/Republic Wireless. I'll have an upfront cost of about $200 then save around $60-65/month on an ongoing basis, provided my DSL bandwidth is up to it. Comcast really gouges for high speed internet imo. Hopefully I wont have to upgrade because it will eat $15-20 of that savings and add to the up-front costs as well.

I'm coming to realize the best move for my quality of life is to ditch the internet at the house, as it winds up being a vehicle for time wasting. I could just dump DSL and landline and be $85/month ahead. Actually, it would be $93/mo because I'd dump my netflix subscription too.
As of yesterday, Republic dropped the Moto G price to $99 and added the Moto E (2nd Gen) at $129
veena9111
Posts: 96
Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2015 5:54 pm

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by veena9111 »

We have Majic Jack Plus. We paid somewhere around $99 for 5 yrs and are quite pleased with the service. ATT I think takes advantage of a lot of people because many don't question them .
Browser
Posts: 4857
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:54 pm

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by Browser »

Obihai VOIP device = $38
Google Voice Phone Number = $0
Cost to port existing number to Google Voice = $20
Unlimited local + long distance service = $0/month

Total Lifetime Expense = $58
We don't know where we are, or where we're going -- but we're making good time.
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VictoriaF
Posts: 20122
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:27 am
Location: Black Swan Lake

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by VictoriaF »

Browser wrote:Obihai VOIP device = $38
Google Voice Phone Number = $0
Cost to port existing number to Google Voice = $20
Unlimited local + long distance service = $0/month

Total Lifetime Expense = $58
The Lifetime expense may increase if Google Voice stops supporting OBi.

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
Hefph
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:59 am

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by Hefph »

I actually just renewed my contract with ATT. We have Uverse internet and cable. Our bill went up $70 a month, so I called them to get the promotional rates reapplied. They swore up and down that the lowest they could get me was still $30 more a month than what I was paying. So I told them I wanted to cancel and get new service set up in my wife's name since the promo rates for new customers was what we were paying for the same service, plus a $250 rewards card. Well I must have hit a nerve because I kept my plan and the same bill, and they gave me a $100 rewards card.
Browser
Posts: 4857
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:54 pm

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by Browser »

VictoriaF wrote:
Browser wrote:Obihai VOIP device = $38
Google Voice Phone Number = $0
Cost to port existing number to Google Voice = $20
Unlimited local + long distance service = $0/month

Total Lifetime Expense = $58
The Lifetime expense may increase if Google Voice stops supporting OBi.

Victoria
Didn't we just go through that? I even switched to PowerPhone a year ago because GV was supposed to go away. Paid something like $30 for a year service with them. When GV came back to Obi (actually they never left), I went back to that. Apparently, the PowerPhone thing was an automatic annual renewal thing -- nothing about that when I signed up though. When they tried to charge $30 for annual renewal they found out my credit card was no good anymore (one of the those breach things, you know). Now they keep threatening to sic the dogs on me. Don't even think about dealing with these guys.
We don't know where we are, or where we're going -- but we're making good time.
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VictoriaF
Posts: 20122
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:27 am
Location: Black Swan Lake

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by VictoriaF »

Browser wrote:
VictoriaF wrote:
Browser wrote:Obihai VOIP device = $38
Google Voice Phone Number = $0
Cost to port existing number to Google Voice = $20
Unlimited local + long distance service = $0/month

Total Lifetime Expense = $58
The Lifetime expense may increase if Google Voice stops supporting OBi.

Victoria
Didn't we just go through that? I even switched to PowerPhone a year ago because GV was supposed to go away. Paid something like $30 for a year service with them. When GV came back to Obi (actually they never left), I went back to that. Apparently, the PowerPhone thing was an automatic annual renewal thing -- nothing about that when I signed up though. When they tried to charge $30 for annual renewal they found out my credit card was no good anymore (one of the those breach things, you know). Now they keep threatening to sic the dogs on me. Don't even think about dealing with these guys.
Thank you, Browser, for the warning about PowerPhone. I started using OBi with GV recently and don't have my own war stories yet. I hope that the OBi-GV partnership persists in the foreseeable future, but the word "Lifetime" in your post seems a tad optimistic.

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
Browser
Posts: 4857
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:54 pm

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by Browser »

VictoriaF wrote:
Browser wrote:
VictoriaF wrote:
Browser wrote:Obihai VOIP device = $38
Google Voice Phone Number = $0
Cost to port existing number to Google Voice = $20
Unlimited local + long distance service = $0/month

Total Lifetime Expense = $58
The Lifetime expense may increase if Google Voice stops supporting OBi.

Victoria
Didn't we just go through that? I even switched to PowerPhone a year ago because GV was supposed to go away. Paid something like $30 for a year service with them. When GV came back to Obi (actually they never left), I went back to that. Apparently, the PowerPhone thing was an automatic annual renewal thing -- nothing about that when I signed up though. When they tried to charge $30 for annual renewal they found out my credit card was no good anymore (one of the those breach things, you know). Now they keep threatening to sic the dogs on me. Don't even think about dealing with these guys.
Thank you, Browser, for the warning about PowerPhone. I started using OBi with GV recently and don't have my own war stories yet. I hope that the OBi-GV partnership persists in the foreseeable future, but the word "Lifetime" in your post seems a tad optimistic.

Victoria
Just whose lifetime are we talking about here? If it's mine, there is little optimism involved.... :) :(
We don't know where we are, or where we're going -- but we're making good time.
User avatar
VictoriaF
Posts: 20122
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:27 am
Location: Black Swan Lake

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by VictoriaF »

Browser wrote:
VictoriaF wrote:
Browser wrote:
VictoriaF wrote:
Browser wrote:Obihai VOIP device = $38
Google Voice Phone Number = $0
Cost to port existing number to Google Voice = $20
Unlimited local + long distance service = $0/month

Total Lifetime Expense = $58
The Lifetime expense may increase if Google Voice stops supporting OBi.

Victoria
Didn't we just go through that? I even switched to PowerPhone a year ago because GV was supposed to go away. Paid something like $30 for a year service with them. When GV came back to Obi (actually they never left), I went back to that. Apparently, the PowerPhone thing was an automatic annual renewal thing -- nothing about that when I signed up though. When they tried to charge $30 for annual renewal they found out my credit card was no good anymore (one of the those breach things, you know). Now they keep threatening to sic the dogs on me. Don't even think about dealing with these guys.
Thank you, Browser, for the warning about PowerPhone. I started using OBi with GV recently and don't have my own war stories yet. I hope that the OBi-GV partnership persists in the foreseeable future, but the word "Lifetime" in your post seems a tad optimistic.

Victoria
Just whose lifetime are we talking about here? If it's mine, there is little optimism involved.... :) :(
Your lifetime, of course. To be clear, I am bullish on your lifetime and bearish on the OBi/GV lifetime.

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
testing321
Posts: 295
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2014 6:46 pm

Re: Fed up with ATT

Post by testing321 »

Today's special, Ooma Telo VoIP Home Phone System $69.99 +$5 shipping
http://electronics.woot.com/
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