Land line alternative

[Camas Lilly]

I finally broke down and purchased an iPhone last month. Now DH and I both have new phones.

Now I am looking at our land line and DSL package. We are in the boonies and have been pretty much stuck with CenturyLink, max speeds out here of “up to” 10 mbps. That is not enough for TVs, Roku, iPads, two iMacs, Phones, etc. I am working from home (in Graphics) and when DH sits down to watch TV, it puts a load on my work devices, but I am getting by.

Recently two neighbors have switched to T-Mobile’s Hotspot Internet and are really happy. Total all in cost is a flat $60/month, unlimited data. My Centurylink bill is roughly $30 for the Internet and Land Line and $60 in taxes, fees and other charges.

Now, what to do about the land line. I like having it around because it is a good 3rd line. We don’t have to give out our cell numbers when we don’t want to, and it catches all the robo calls via the answering machine. So far, unwanted calls on the cell phones are very rare. Also there are a lot of people that do not have our cell numbers too. We thought about using a spare flip phone for a third number, but I don’t believe we would be able to keep the land line number.

Anyone have any input on alternatives?

 

[ERD50]

You should be able to port your landline # to a cell phone, I'm not aware of restrictions on that.

Or, with a VOIP adapter and service you can keep some old style "land line" phones. We do that, I find it convenient to have extensions all over the house all charged and ready to go.

-ERD50

 

[tulak]

I would port the landline to Google Voice. That’s what I did many years ago because I didn’t want to lose the number. Has worked great.

 

[USGrant1962]

You should be able to port your landline # to a cell phone, I'm not aware of restrictions on that.

Or, with a VOIP adapter and service you can keep some old style "land line" phones. We do that, I find it convenient to have extensions all over the house all charged and ready to go.

-ERD50

We moved our landline number to a cell number and have a little box that acts as a cell phone base station into which we plug our wireless phones. I think the line costs $20/month and the box cost $40. Verizon Wireless Home Phone T2000 is the device.

 

[RetireeRobert]

You could port your old landline number to a service such as Ouroldnumber.com.

Service forwards landline calls to your cell phone, keeps your old landline number AND listing in phone books, and acts to screen junk and robo calls. Can set you up with a message that answers and asks "If you want to speak directly with JoeSchmo, press 1", "If you want to speak with "Mrs. Schmo, press 2", "if you want to leave a message, press 3", or any combination of options you care to set up. Costs $10 month.

 

[pb4uski]

We ported our landline to Ooma and have been very happy with the service. Unlimited phone calls in the US for only taxes and fees... less than $6/month in our area. Costco has an Ooma Telo and 3 phones for $110 or you can buy just a Telo for $80 and plug in your current wireless telephone.

Your T-Mobile internet connection should easily be able to handle the Ooma.

We also have a Solis hotspot. When it connects to T-Mobile I get ~30 mbps up and down. They offer a $49/month plan but it is 20GB high speed data and reduced speed after that and you can buy additional high speed data for $6/GB. But it sounds like perhaps you'll need more than 20GB so T-Mobile unlimited for $60/month may be better for you.

USA Unlimited Subscription

Get 30 days of unlimited connectivity in all 50 states. High speed data up to 20GB, slower after. Data resets each period. Need more than 20GB of high speed data this month? You can always top-up for $6 per GB. No contracts, cancel anytime. Available in the Solis App or Online Portal.

$49 per month

 

[ERD50]

...

Your T-Mobile internet connection should easily be able to handle the Ooma.
.

For VOIP, you also want to test the ping times (the round trip time for a response). A phone call really doesn't need much in terms of bandwidth ("speed"), but long, inconsistent ping times ( > ~60?) will result in annoying delays and choppy audio.

-ERD50

 

[Ready]

We used Google voice with an Obitalk VOIP device for many years. Other than the $40 for the device there were no monthly fees and unlimited calls within the US. But after a while the devices became obsolete and needed to be upgraded.

It became more of a hassle than it was worth. The final straw for us was when IPhones began to support WiFi calling if our cellular signal was weak. Once that became reliable it just became more effort than it was worth to maintain a VOIP landline so we shut it all down and just rely on the cell phones.

 

[Camas Lilly]

Thanks for the input. I'll start looking into some of these. Whatever it is, I need it to be EASY.

I had T-Mobile for my old cell phone and cellular signal was usually one to two bars, if I got any at all in the house.

I bought both of us new iPhones last month and then joined DH on Total Wireless (Verizon) which I originally chose due to DH travels through Wyoming and Nebraska. That was the only service that didn't have wide areas of blackouts in those states. It also gets reception in our remote place in Southern Idaho.

Anyway, now to get the Internet and land line up to snuff.

 

[wolf]

We ported our landline to Ooma and have been very happy with the service. Unlimited phone calls in the US for only taxes and fees... less than $6/month in our area. Costco has an Ooma Telo and 3 phones for $110 or you can buy just a Telo for $80 and plug in your current wireless telephone.

Your T-Mobile internet connection should easily be able to handle the Ooma.

We also have a Solis hotspot. When it connects to T-Mobile I get ~30 mbps up and down. They offer a $49/month plan but it is 20GB high speed data and reduced speed after that and you can buy additional high speed data for $6/GB. But it sounds like perhaps you'll need more than 20GB so T-Mobile unlimited for $60/month may be better for you.

I have the same set up. Been using Ooma Telo, purchased from Costco, many, many years ago. Setup confusing, back then. Could not get the
"wireless" feature to work, so just pluged it into my router.

But once working, very reliable and cheap.

Also, this year, switched to T-Mobile home. $50 month, unlimited.
Got tired of Xfinity, and every year, trying to "get" a good deal!

 

[OldShooter]

... Recently two neighbors have switched to T-Mobile’s Hotspot Internet and are really happy. Total all in cost is a flat $60/month, unlimited data. ...

One thing to watch is speed. There is only one data pipe to/from the cell you're on, and everyone uses it. So at busy times or as T-Mobile adds customers you may see a speed deterioration. I use speedtest.net but ideally there would be an app that tested speed periodically and reported trends. Maybe someone knows of one?

Re landline, we ported our number to Ooma a year or two ago and have been very happy. Twenty or thirty bucks gets you their "Telo" box on eBay. There is an activation code printed on the bottom, so you just go to their site and use the code to activate, then you are in business. We are on the $10/month plan. I don't remember the details of the tradeoff but I think we are getting better spam call management. One thing I like is going on line to review voice mails and the call log. I am slowly adding our regular callers to the Ooma directory, planning at some point to reject all calls that come from numbers not in the directory -- just route them to VM. Most of the spam callers do not leave VM, so that will be peace and quiet.

 

[Camas Lilly]

I have the same set up. Been using Ooma Telo, purchased from Costco, many, many years ago. Setup confusing, back then. Could not get the
"wireless" feature to work, so just pluged it into my router.

But once working, very reliable and cheap.

Also, this year, switched to T-Mobile home. $50 month, unlimited.
Got tired of Xfinity, and every year, trying to "get" a good deal!

Just went back and looked. I stand corrected, it is $50/month, so I could almost cut my phone and Internet bill in half. I like that!

 

[pb4uski]

I think if you went T-Mobile Internet ($50/mo) and Ooma for phone ($5/mo) that you'd be ~$55/month.

 

[Camas Lilly]

One thing to watch is speed. There is only one data pipe to/from the cell you're on, and everyone uses it. So at busy times or as T-Mobile adds customers you may see a speed deterioration. I use speedtest.net but ideally there would be an app that tested speed periodically and reported trends. Maybe someone knows of one?

Re landline, we ported our number to Ooma a year or two ago and have been very happy. Twenty or thirty bucks gets you their "Telo" box on eBay. There is an activation code printed on the bottom, so you just go to their site and use the code to activate, then you are in business. We are on the $10/month plan. I don't remember the details of the tradeoff but I think we are getting better spam call management. One thing I like is going on line to review voice mails and the call log. I am slowly adding our regular callers to the Ooma directory, planning at some point to reject all calls that come from numbers not in the directory -- just route them to VM. Most of the spam callers do not leave VM, so that will be peace and quiet.

Sounds great! Like I said, my neighbor works for CentlryLink and knows a lot about all this stuff, so I'll followup with her on speeds, etc. before I do anything. As I read more on the Internet, Ooma and T-Home Internet looks like a good choice. Also I can keep our existing phones throughout the house. I am still a little confused where the phone signal comes from and how do all the extensions plug in if there is no more phone on the phone line.

 

[Camas Lilly]

I think if you went T-Mobile Internet ($50/mo) and Ooma for phone ($5/mo) that you'd be ~$55/month.

Well I'll settle for ALMOST half. I am still about half the cost of my TV service now that we are streaming too. Sometimes this stuff just gets so expensive you have to wonder if it is really worth it. I could think of a couple of stocks I could put this money towards each month instead. I am not the TV watcher in the house if you can't tell.

 

[OldShooter]

... I am still a little confused where the phone signal comes from and how do all the extensions plug in if there is no more phone on the phone line.

The Ooma Telo box is connected to your internet router; that's where the phone "signal" comes from.

All the phones in your house are connected to two wires that come from your current wireline connection at a place called the "d-marc" -- the point of demarcation between your stuff and the wireline carrier's stuff after it comes through your wall. Those wires must be disconnected. at the d-marc.

The Telo also has two wires to connect to the phones. It's a jack marked "Telephone." The connector is the standard RJ-11 used for telephones. Installing RJ-11 connectors is a little fiddly and a special crimper is almost mandatory. So the easiest route is to buy a jumper with RJ-11s on both ends, plug one into the Telo and one into any of the RJ-11 jacks that your phones plug into. If you need it, you can buy a "Y" adapter that plugs into the wall plate and has two RJ-11 jacks -- one for the phone that was previously connected direct and one for the wire from the Telo.

The wire from the Telo to your router is standard Ethernet jumper -- RJ-45 plugs on both ends. Maybe one even comes with the Telo; I don't remember.

Our Telo is right next to the router and connected with a 12" RJ-45 jumper. The telephone side plugs into a wall jack nearby, maybe 6 feet of RJ-11 jumper away. Very easy.

 

[pb4uski]

What we did was to just plug our Ooma Telo into our router and then the base unit for out 5 handset cordless phone system plugged into the Ooma Telo... we had dial tone to all 5 phones.

There is a way to connect the Telo to your home telephone wiring system but you need to make sure that you have isolated and disconnected the telephone line coming in the house from the phone company... that setup was more complicated than what we needed so we didn't bother with it.

 

[Camas Lilly]

The Ooma Telo box is connected to your internet router; that's where the phone "signal" comes from.

All the phones in your house are connected to two wires that come from your current wireline connection at a place called the "d-marc" -- the point of demarcation between your stuff and the wireline carrier's stuff after it comes through your wall. Those wires must be disconnected. at the d-marc.

The Telo also has two wires to connect to the phones. It's a jack marked "Telephone." The connector is the standard RJ-11 used for telephones. Installing RJ-11 connectors is a little fiddly and a special crimper is almost mandatory. So the easiest route is to buy a jumper with RJ-11s on both ends, plug one into the Telo and one into any of the RJ-11 jacks that your phones plug into. If you need it, you can buy a "Y" adapter that plugs into the wall plate and has two RJ-11 jacks -- one for the phone that was previously connected direct and one for the wire from the Telo.

The wire from the Telo to your router is standard Ethernet jumper -- RJ-45 plugs on both ends. Maybe one even comes with the Telo; I don't remember.

Our Telo is right next to the router and connected with a 12" RJ-45 jumper. The telephone side plugs into a wall jack nearby, maybe 6 feet of RJ-11 jumper away. Very easy.

So the Telo connects to the router which connects to the phone jack in the wall. The modem comes out of the chain then? How portable is this if I need to move it? I move the whole package to another phone jack?

 

[pb4uski]

No... if you have a separate modem and router it is modem>router>Telo>telephone*

* this could be a base unit for a cordless telephone system or to your home's telephone wiring (after disconnecting the wire coming in from the telco).

 

[Camas Lilly]

No... if you have a separate modem and router it is modem>router>Telo>telephone*

* this could be a base unit for a cordless telephone system or to your home's telephone wiring (after disconnecting the wire coming in from the telco).

Got it! Thanks.

 

[Camas Lilly]

What we did was to just plug our Ooma Telo into our router and then the base unit for out 5 handset cordless phone system plugged into the Ooma Telo... we had dial tone to all 5 phones.

There is a way to connect the Telo to your home telephone wiring system but you need to make sure that you have isolated and disconnected the telephone line coming in the house from the phone company... that setup was more complicated than what we needed so we didn't bother with it.

Makes sense, thanks.

 

[pb4uski]

Also see https://support.ooma.com/assets/pdfs/Ooma-Telo2-QSG_White_EN_v1-4.pdf

What I described above is how mine is set up... you can also set it up as modem>Telo>router with the telephone also plugged into the Telo but I prefer it the way that I have it.

 

[Camas Lilly]

And THEN we add T-Home Internet, which I assume can sit in any window, as long as it has good signal to the router?

 

[Camas Lilly]

Also see https://support.ooma.com/assets/pdfs/Ooma-Telo2-QSG_White_EN_v1-4.pdf

What I described above is how mine is set up... you can also set it up as modem>Telo>router with the telephone also plugged into the Telo but I prefer it the way that I have it.

Oh, thanks! Pictures! I like pictures.

 

[Golden sunsets]

We do the same thing as PB, but we use Magic Jack. Cost is $44/yr Inc. tax. The first year you have to purchase the dongle but it is inexpensive. It has worked flawlessly for over 2 years.