Alternatives to LOCAL phone service???

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. I am going to be moving to a "new" (built in 1915) house at the end of this month. So far, I've gotten the heat, water and electric turned on at the new place. I haven't transferred or turned on new phone service, though.

A. I don't know if this would be "frugal" or not, but how about a cell phone? Maybe a pre-paid cell? I just am not comfortable without a phone of sometype for emergencies. Fire Department, Ambulance, Police, etc... I spent the summer away from my home, onboard my boat and used my cell 95% of the time for local and long distance calls. I still had an answering machine on my home phone that I could call into and had the cell number on the recorded message. Since I have a plan that allowed free long distance it took advantage of this and never made any long distance from my home phone for 3 month. After reviewing my home phone bills, I found I was still paying about $8 a month in misc. fees/taxes to them.. I contacted my local phone company about just dropping (No Select) long distance service.. I was told that I would have to pay $20 to discontinue my selected long distance service.. Now that seems like a rip-off since you can change long distance service providers without a fee, but have to pay $20 to discontinue one. So, where am I at now?? I'm using the cell service for my long distance, but still paying the for ATT which I never use.. Kind of a matter of principle, even though it's costing me $8 a month. Through those enhanced 911 systems, police can receive the caller's phone number and which cellular tower the call is coming from, giving police about a seven-mile area to search. A further upgrade in 2001 will pinpoint a location within 125 yards, Kleinman said. But so far in northeast Indiana, only Steuben and Allen county police or sheriff's departments have the capacity to directly receive and then locate a cellular phone call. Wells County will be upgrading its technology soon to give its sheriff's department those capabilities, officials announced last week. Counties aren't required to upgrade their technology to accept enhanced 911 calls, Kleinman said. But even if counties do have the upgraded technology, the cellular telephone service providers must provide the counties with the caller's information. And so far, Centennial Wireless is the only local provider in northeast Indiana to comply with a federal regulation stating that telephone service providers must provide the enhanced information if a county upgrades its technology, Kleinman said. The other local telephone service providers - including the one Charleston was using April 9 - have not upgraded their technology to be compatible with the county's system, Kleinman said. Their customers' calls also go to the state police, who receive no information about where in the state the call is coming from. There are four cellular providers in Allen County, Kleinman said. Bruce Childs, spokesman for GTE Wireless, said his company plans to upgrade its cellular towers to enhanced 911 capacity by the end of June. The company has upgraded technology in eight Indiana counties, mostly in the central part of the state, he said. Without knowing where you live, its hard to recommend a local residential phone provider, but consider getting a cell phone. Most cell phone plans come with free voicemail. Do not rely on your wife's voicemail system at work for personal use. Your wife's employer might object to that practice. Also, do you really want all your personal voicemail to be fully accessible at any time by your wife's employer without you or her even being notified if the employer eavesdrops?

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