Deb and I have been paying $50 a month for our Time Warner phone service....and 90% or more of the incoming calls were telemarketers. It was really annoying hearing the phone ring 20, 30, 40 times a day and those calls being calls that we did not answer. The people who do call to talk to us generally call our cell phones.
We sat down and talked about it over. Deb has a Tracphone that she got for free through the SafeLink program...a federally funded program that provides cell phones to disabled folks. She gets 256 minutes of air time FREE each month. I just bought a new Tracphone to replace our original Tracphone that we bought back in February 2005. I buy a card once every three months....about $10 a month is what it cost me to run my phone. And this new phone came with Double Minutes for life...so when I buy a 120 minute card, I get 240 minutes...so now I have will have twice the minutes available as before...not that I am will use them as my phone calls are short and to the point.
Tina, my sis-in-law, and I had discussed the possibility of Deb and I taking over the Verizon cell phone that my late father-in-law had. It is part of Tina's Verizon package. A nice flip front phone, unlimited calling to other Verizon phones and to the 10 numbers called the most outside of Verizon, unlimited texting too. $10 a month. Deb and I will be taking that phone and using it as our home phone.
For those times when we need to make longer phone calls to numbers not covered by the Unlimited Minutes part of the Verizon package, we will make those call through Gmail. Yes, GMAIL. Any number in the United States and Canada...for free. I already had a microphone for talking to folks via Skype, but I picked up a decent set of headphones with a built in boom mike (sort of like what pilots wear) to make things easier for Deb. $5. They actually have really good sound...so I can use them for my flight sim when I do not want to disturb Deb with the roar of radial engines.
All in all, we will be saving $40 a month, be able to make and receive all the calls we want, no more telemarketers. It's a major Win Win situation all the way around.
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I have used the Gmail phone call feature a few times already...and it works rather well. I called my brother in Indiana and talked to him for nearly an hour. A few times I did get an odd Fish Tank sound, but it lasted for just a few seconds and cleared up. Granted, we can not receive incoming calls through Gmail....but that's okay.
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OBIO
We sat down and talked about it over. Deb has a Tracphone that she got for free through the SafeLink program...a federally funded program that provides cell phones to disabled folks. She gets 256 minutes of air time FREE each month. I just bought a new Tracphone to replace our original Tracphone that we bought back in February 2005. I buy a card once every three months....about $10 a month is what it cost me to run my phone. And this new phone came with Double Minutes for life...so when I buy a 120 minute card, I get 240 minutes...so now I have will have twice the minutes available as before...not that I am will use them as my phone calls are short and to the point.
Tina, my sis-in-law, and I had discussed the possibility of Deb and I taking over the Verizon cell phone that my late father-in-law had. It is part of Tina's Verizon package. A nice flip front phone, unlimited calling to other Verizon phones and to the 10 numbers called the most outside of Verizon, unlimited texting too. $10 a month. Deb and I will be taking that phone and using it as our home phone.
For those times when we need to make longer phone calls to numbers not covered by the Unlimited Minutes part of the Verizon package, we will make those call through Gmail. Yes, GMAIL. Any number in the United States and Canada...for free. I already had a microphone for talking to folks via Skype, but I picked up a decent set of headphones with a built in boom mike (sort of like what pilots wear) to make things easier for Deb. $5. They actually have really good sound...so I can use them for my flight sim when I do not want to disturb Deb with the roar of radial engines.
All in all, we will be saving $40 a month, be able to make and receive all the calls we want, no more telemarketers. It's a major Win Win situation all the way around.
____
I have used the Gmail phone call feature a few times already...and it works rather well. I called my brother in Indiana and talked to him for nearly an hour. A few times I did get an odd Fish Tank sound, but it lasted for just a few seconds and cleared up. Granted, we can not receive incoming calls through Gmail....but that's okay.
_____
OBIO
A few more TV commercials and cables gone too.
