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Experiences with Alternate Local Phone Companies?
chasmosis asks: "In the last few months, I've moved about 25 minutes outside of St. Louis and discovered that the local baby bell charges exorbitant rates (at least in my view). I've explored alternate local carriers like Sprint and others who have had uncompetitive prices, poor customer service records, or were unclear on things like 'specifically what exchanges can I call that are still considered local calls'. Right now I'm on SBC's Metro plan where I can call to and from much of the St. Louis local area as a local call instead of a toll call. I'd dump my landline entirely and get another cell if I didn't need it for dial up internet, since I live in the sticks and there is no cable, no DSL, and the top speed for dialup is 28.8. What are other people using for alternatives to their local telephone provider? What are your experiences, good and bad?"
I'd get the cell for all the voice calls and just keep a very cheap, basic landline service with no long distance plan just for your internet access (assuming your ISP is a local call).
This ought to be setting off alarms for people using MCI. It seems (to me, at least) that they simply don't care enough about a single customer to even try to keep them. The good thing about smaller companies is that they need your business, so chances are you'll get better customer service than with a larger telco.
use your cellphone unless you talk as much as a girl & have to have a landline.
I know some folks are lazy on here, but is the comment really too big to read fully?
I'd dump my landline entirely and get another cell if I didn't need it for dial up internet, since I live in the sticks and there is no cable, no DSL, and the top speed for dialup is 28.8.
ok in what world is cable more reliable than DSL?
I can't honestly speak for anywhere but my locale, but here you recieve a static IP with DSL, you have a fixed guaranteed bandwidth rate up and down, it considered a business class connection with equivelent response and support, and it costs the same as cable.
Cable internet on the other hand, has NO guaranteed bandwidth at all, it's 100 people on a t1 and all 100 are told they have a 1.544mbps connection, if you read the fine print, the cable company doesn't guarantee your speed at ANY rate, not even 56k. They also consider it theft if you use a router and nat your connection! It violates their terms of service. You have agreed not to run a server of any kind. You have a capped upload speed that is slower than your down speed. And for this I'm going to pay about $5/months more than DSL???
Is my area an exception or do you really think of a shared consumer grade connection as more stable than a guaranteed business class connection?
(The term is "line powered".)
ISDN is not line powered, but it's still attached to 911 service. That said, there's a difference between "life line" and "911" service. And if your house is on fire, the first thing you should do is leave; call for help from somewhere else.
Get the first one take-out, and tip 'em so they'll remember. They'll deliver after that.
This is not my sandwich.
I come from a biased viewpoint -- MCI laid me off three months ago, but I must admit, the Neighborhood, is just a damn good deal!