Frugal Tip: Home Phone Alternatives

There are many ways to actually make sure you get the best deal for a home phone. Cheaper is not always better, but there are some smart ideas on how to make a home phone cheaper.  But are they great ideas?

Now most people have moved away from having a home phone and exclusively to a cell phone. Especially if you get free cell phones, those are the best deals.  Did you know that most unlimited cell phone plans will cost over $1500 for two years.  Do the math.  Average Cell Phone: $99 + ($69 unlimited calls * 24 months) =  $1755!  That is not counting texting, replacement costs or sales tax. If you go with unlimited text and talk ($89 with Verizon) will bring your total two years over $2200. If you have an iPhone you are looking at unlimited talk & text for $119.99/month for two years over $3000. Yikes!

But what about using your cell phone as your home phone? There are actual issues to relying on your cell phone for home use.

• Too Portable: Unless you are prepared to have a ritual of stapling your cell phone to your skin, they have a tendency to get lost.  Having a cellphone with you everywhere you go, literally, the chances are great for this vital gadget to be lost or stolen.
• Charge It: You have keep your cell phone charged.  Which means if you do not charge your cell phone nightly it is worthless. Have you not seen “Panic Room”?  If the cell phone not properly charged you can’t call the police.
• The Replacements: Replacing a broken cell phone can cost you, at least, $120 if you are willing to pay the replacement insurance at $5/month. Which if you do the math it will be for 24 months that will make your phone cost over $1800 for two year plan. If you don’t pay the $5/month replacement cost it can cost you between $300 – $600 depending on your model.  You don’t get a discount, you are not a new subscriber. So that just made your 2-year plan cost over $2000!  Now the sad part, if you can’t afford to replace your broken/lost/stolen phone then you are stuck with a crappy flip phone, which will still cost you over $100.
• Home Sweet Home: I have known individuals that can’t get access to their wireless service from their home, not very helpful in case of emergency.
• Not Enough Power: We know it happens, wireless towers stop sending signals.
• 911 Calls: Calling 911 from a cell phone, without giving the dispatcher your location, is not helpful.  The wireless companies do not have location worked out to your actual phone.  There is an estimate on your location based on the nearest tower . . . but it only works if you adjusted in your setting to allow location.   If you allow location, it is only an estimate.
• Limitation: Unless you have a very expensive unlimited wireless plan you are only making long distances call during the day sparingly or waiting until 7pm.
• We Are Family: To make sure that each member has access to a phone in an emergency is pretty costly.  There are family plans, but they are not cheap. A family of 4 can expect to pay between $200 to $250 monthly.  That is allot.

VOIP has it’s own issues.  Wifi services are not not reliable enough to depend 100% on having VOIP as your exclusive home phone.  The cheaper price, especially if you bundle services with your service provider, is very appealing.  But don’t be fooled – 911 calls can’t be made from a VOIP phone.  Seriously.  In fact it has been noted that if you have a VOIP service “consider keeping a land line phone for accessing 9-1-1 emergency services” (other tips).

• 911 calls may not connect to the PSAP (public safety answering points), or may improperly ring to the administrative line of the PSAP, which may not be staffed after hours, or by trained 911 operators;
• VOIP 911 calls may correctly connect to the PSAP, but not automatically transmit the user’s phone number and/or location information;
• VoIP customers may need to provide location or other information to their VoIP providers, and update this information if they change locations, for their VoIP 911 service to function properly;
• VoIP service will not work during a power outage, or when the Internet connection fails or becomes overloaded.
• You have to have your computer on 24/7.  Is that really practical?
• VoiP companies (exception Skype) are charging the same price monthly that you would pay for cell phone service.
• VoiP service like Magic Jack you would have to buy multiple usb or you are running back to the central computer for all your calls.
• VoiP needs the internet.  So when your internet goes out, so does your ability to call your ISP to say it id down.

The best way to get around the 911 issue is to create a speed dial with the direct local number to the police dispatch.  There are over hundreds of VOIP options – The Contemplation gathered the entire list and it worth a look. the best one for home use is Skype. Why Skype?  You can have it on every computer in the house.  No dongle, no usb drive and even on your cell phones.  If you are going to use VOIP for your home phone, use Skype with unlimited calling anywhere.

You don’t want to use your cell phone and you don’t want to use VOIP.  You only option is to get a landline phone.  No big deal.  I have one, but I found out that just a basic phone line can cost over $50/month.  I found a way to get around the high prices.

• Get the smallest package possible, ours is $24/month. I could not get that cheaper with a Cell Phone or VOIP (that isn’t Skype).
• Do not pay for long distance!  That is the key.  Just get a basic package.
• Get the best deal for a landline phone.  We went with cordless Philips Expandable Digital Cordless Phone System. Why?
  • Each phone comes with a belt clip
  • Each phone comes with a Headset jack connector
  • Each phone has Hands-free speakerphone option
  • Range is 150-feet indoors and up to 1000-feet outdoors
  • More than 12 hours of talk time per charge
  • All run off standard rechargeable AAA batteries.
  • All phone charge with their own base, no need to switch batteries — ever.
  • Only the base phone has to be hooked up to a phone port.  All expanded extra phones just need an outlet.
  • Speed Dial is a must
  • Expandable to 4 Handsets
  • Each Handset has the same function of a standard cheap cell phone. I can set alarms, it has a date and time standard on each screen, Battery status, call or held call, voice message icon, missed calls icon, phonebook icon, alarm clock icon, loudspeaker icon, ringer silent icon, answering machine icon, out-of-range icon
  • Each Handset is also an intercom.
• Since I don’t pay for long distance through my phone company you might think I need a calling card. Those are a pain to buy.  The best solution is Pingo!
  • I call either a local or toll free number 1-888-YO-PINGO (speeddial for each handset)
  • My Pingo account is set to recognize my home phone. Which means I never have to enter any long account number or pin.
  • I just dial the long distance number or enter the speed dial choice and #.
  • Simple.  It only costs me $ 0.18 for every US long distance call. That is cheaper than any cell phone or long distance carrier.  Crazy Cheap!
  • I pay with my PayPal account $5/month. This will get me over 5 hours of long distance calls. If I need more I can just add another $5 either through my phone or via Pingo’s website.
  • This is perfect for those who travel allot. Making international calls are very cheap.

Helful Hints Using Pingo

• Pingo should be on your speed dial.
• Add your cell phone number to the Pingo EZ Dial. This will allow you to change plans for cheaper cell phone service.
  
• Add sub accounts for business or family members.
  • You have access to all call histories, which is great for tax deductions for a business.
• Print out your speed dial list and tape it to the back of the handsets.  This way you don’t have to run to a computer to see which speed dial number you are using.
• Avoid using the Pingo Soft Phone, you have your headsets all ready to go, there is no need to use the online version.  Besides, it is a Java app (not flash or HTML5). Which means it has a loading time, yuck.

So what is the final cost per month?

$24/month for phone + $5/month for long distance = $29/month!
Two year cost = $670

Cheaper cell phone service $40/month (450 minutes) + $29/month (home phone) + $5 (Pingo) = $2000

• Cheaper than any cell phone wireless plan for unlimited text & talk.
• Not relying on the internet.
• You get two phones (home and cell) or less than one 2-Year iPhone phone contract.
• Family members can easily make emergency calls and the dispatchers know the address without asking.
• Safer with ability to use 911 and emergency calls

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