[joshmamabear]

btw, I can send and receive fax with the MagicJack, no added expense.

[leidig32]

Originally Posted by scamelo

For those of you without a landline who are online, but not on cable what is the charge for DSL. we have a crummy cable company, only one choice and the TV receiption is bad, would not trust them with anything else.

What other options and how much do you pay per month for internet. I would need something that a few computers can get on wireless of course.

Also those of you with teenagers, do they all belong on your cell phone plan, so as not to eat up the minutes.

I have a hard time taking notes and typing things on PC with only cellphone in hand, I guess i could use the speakerphone those times, but some people find that very annoying.

So many question?

For the verizon wireless card it is $40 for a 2.5 gb and $60 for a 5 gb. So far the most of the 5gb that we have used is 2 so the 2.5 would have been enough for most months. What is nice is you can take it anywhere.

[scamelo]

Originally Posted by leidig32

For the verizon wireless card it is $40 for a 2.5 gb and $60 for a 5 gb. So far the most of the 5gb that we have used is 2 so the 2.5 would have been enough for most months. What is nice is you can take it anywhere.

So you pay $40 for a wireless card to use every month? Is that per PC or per household. We have 6-7 computers (son in college) and I use at least 5 consistently to print coupons.

I guess I am confused. You don't have a landline, you pay for a wireless card and that works on your computer no matter where you are? Do I have that right?

[leidig32]

Originally Posted by scamelo

So you pay $40 for a wireless card to use every month? Is that per PC or per household. We have 6-7 computers (son in college) and I use at least 5 consistently to print coupons.

I guess I am confused. You don't have a landline, you pay for a wireless card and that works on your computer no matter where you are? Do I have that right?

The pc card is a usb that can be used in any computer that has the pc card software on it. You can take it with you anywhere as long as you have a laptop to take with you.. Or you can use it on your desktop at home.....you can have internet anywhere there is a computer as long as the swoftware for the wireless card is on that computer.....not sure I have helped much. You can put the software on any computer then use your wireless card. It has nothing to do with a phone line...it uses cell phone towers I believe so if you have good verizon reception then the wireless card would work well for you. There are some other pc card suppiers,,,,I believe ATT also does this.

[scamelo]

Thank you, got it. That would not be a money saver for us, with 3 kids and 2 adults that sometimes all want to be on internet at same time, with homework, facebook and such. Great idea for those that do not use it much or only have 1 pc.

I was thinking some people maybe have only a DSL line at home, without phone portion, that can accomodate a bunch of PC's and does not cost a fortune. Wishful thinking on my part I guess. If only we had a decent cable company...

[dwhengel]

Originally Posted by scamelo

Thank you, got it. That would not be a money saver for us, with 3 kids and 2 adults that sometimes all want to be on internet at same time, with homework, facebook and such. Great idea for those that do not use it much or only have 1 pc.

I was thinking some people maybe have only a DSL line at home, without phone portion, that can accomodate a bunch of PC's and does not cost a fortune. Wishful thinking on my part I guess. If only we had a decent cable company...

This is what our DSL Provider has on their website with regards to 'basic' land lines:

--

Q: Does Oplink.net DSL require a land based phone line?

For us to install Oplink.net DSL, you must have an AT&T local phone line. This is necessary because ATT provides Oplink.net the DSL carrier signal to transport your data to our network. The least expensive AT&T local phone service is called "Measured Rate" service. Measured rate service allows receiving unlimited calls, and the placing of 25 calls each month. Place more calls than 25 in a month and the charge is $0.10 each. This service only costs $13/month including all fees and taxes. There are no special features, no caller ID, no voice mail, and no long distance. To order a measured rate phone line, please call AT&T directly at 1-800-464-7928 and ask for it by name: "measured rate phone line with no features". Be wary, AT&T sales reps are commission based and will try to sell everything you don't need.

--

So you might want to check with your land line provider to see if there's something similar that you can do?

Della

[esquala]

We also have magic jack. It's not as great a connection with our sprint wireless card computer as it is with the hard-wired tv cable line. For $20 a year, I can live with it.

Also, they are making devices now that are like wireless modems for the sprint wireless cards, so you can supposedly have one card for several computers. I don't know how many, though. Last I heard the wireless modem is about $150. We pay about $62 a month for sprint wireless usb card.

[leidig32]

Originally Posted by scamelo

Thank you, got it. That would not be a money saver for us, with 3 kids and 2 adults that sometimes all want to be on internet at same time, with homework, facebook and such. Great idea for those that do not use it much or only have 1 pc.

I was thinking some people maybe have only a DSL line at home, without phone portion, that can accomodate a bunch of PC's and does not cost a fortune. Wishful thinking on my part I guess. If only we had a decent cable company...

With DSL you can use more than one internet computer at the same time?

[leidig32]

Originally Posted by esquala

We also have magic jack. It's not as great a connection with our sprint wireless card computer as it is with the hard-wired tv cable line. For $20 a year, I can live with it.

Also, they are making devices now that are like wireless modems for the sprint wireless cards, so you can supposedly have one card for several computers. I don't know how many, though. Last I heard the wireless modem is about $150. We pay about $62 a month for sprint wireless usb card.

When you want to use the phone you just plug in your wireless card along with the magic jack and you can use the phone over the laptop? I guess for $20 a year it would be nice to have just incase I could not find my cell

[leidig32]

I live in the boonies cannot get dsl that is why we have wireless....we had dial-up for years got a laptop at christmas and now have wireless YEAH!!!!
Thanks though

Originally Posted by dwhengel

This is what our DSL Provider has on their website with regards to 'basic' land lines:

--

Q: Does Oplink.net DSL require a land based phone line?

For us to install Oplink.net DSL, you must have an AT&T local phone line. This is necessary because ATT provides Oplink.net the DSL carrier signal to transport your data to our network. The least expensive AT&T local phone service is called "Measured Rate" service. Measured rate service allows receiving unlimited calls, and the placing of 25 calls each month. Place more calls than 25 in a month and the charge is $0.10 each. This service only costs $13/month including all fees and taxes. There are no special features, no caller ID, no voice mail, and no long distance. To order a measured rate phone line, please call AT&T directly at 1-800-464-7928 and ask for it by name: "measured rate phone line with no features". Be wary, AT&T sales reps are commission based and will try to sell everything you don't need.

--

So you might want to check with your land line provider to see if there's something similar that you can do?

Della

[joshmamabear]

OP, if you live in the boonies, the MJ may not be for you.

there is FAQ on the MJ website, check it out to see if it works where you live before you buy one.

[esquala]

Originally Posted by leidig32

When you want to use the phone you just plug in your wireless card along with the magic jack and you can use the phone over the laptop? I guess for $20 a year it would be nice to have just incase I could not find my cell

Yes, except we keep it plugged in all the time - the hard wired cable connect is upstairs with a now-dead computer, so we use it for the tv and the wii. Magic Jack stays downstairs with the computer w/the sprint card.

[NorthernCouponMom]

When we moved we got a land line - but the phone handset battery was dead...and I was too cheap to put one in when we never used the phone. I had long distance blocking on it and only used for messages. I wouldn't even answer the phone - nobody called me on it. So, after 2 months, I got rid of it. I do have DSL and you don't have to have a land line, they just have to change some wires....I saved about $25.00 by getting rid of it (mosly in taxes)...So, I now pay a flat fixed rate of 29.99 for DSL. I have a wireless router so I can have mulitple computers too. LOVE IT.

Now, my dad says there is some website that you can get a phone number and you can give that to telemarketers...but I never did it...I think it then sends you an email to check your messageS? I might check again with him on that one...anybody else heard of that?

[crecian]

I got rid of my home phone several months ago and don't miss it at all...my husband, myself and our daughter have our own cell phones. We have DSL lite thru at&t for our computers for $19.99/month and have 3 laptops in the house with a wireless router. works great for us.
Also, 911 calls can be placed from a landline phone that is plugged in but does not have phone service to it (at least where I live).

[leidig32]

Thanks to all for the great responses. I am still debating. I called to cancel the phone line today she ofcourse asked why so I went into the entire reason for the 4th time now. She said she has had lots of complaints on the two companies seperating but then procedes to tell me that verizon was bought out by another company but did not buy out the wireless part of the company so we have to get up to day with how wireless does their billing YADDA YADDA YADDA But she was the first to say yes they did things WRONG!!!!

She says that if I cancel my phone service that Directv will charge me $5 a month for updates that are done through the phone line. WHAT!!!
So I call Directv and they say NO we do not charge that is DISH! So, she was just trying to scare me into keep the line? I just do not understand people!

If you got this far thanks so much!

[Cricketm]

Just wondering ... if a satellite goes down or is 'accidentally' tampered with ... wouldn't land lines be the way to go (as a backup)? I've always heard that as a reason to keep one... what do you all think?

[scamelo]

It must be our area, or I am confused, because hubby and I looked into this briefly over the weekend, and for us, it does not seem to be much of a money saver. We pay about 11+ taxes for a basic verizon landline. 29.99 a month for fastest DSL for all our computers. We could pay less for the lesser speed, but chose not to.

If we get rid of the landline, we would have to pay an extra 10.00 a month for DSL only, thus no real savings or very little to begin with.

Also with our electric rate, if we had to keep a computer running 24/7 for the magic jack, we calculated that to be about 110 a year costs, or near 10 a month to keep it on 24/7. Even if we calculate that its sometimes on, and will only cost us say 5.00 a month, not sure if that is worth getting rid of a landline for.

Either we are doing something totally wrong in our calculations, or you guys were paying so much more for your landline than we are.

I am so confused on the expected savings.

[scamelo]

Originally Posted by leidig32

With DSL you can use more than one internet computer at the same time?

Yes, we currently have 7 used at one time in our home when DS is home from college and if a friend comes over with a laptop they can.

[shellie_wnj]

Scamelo, Here in the boonies, our landline costs are OUTRAGEOUS! 75/month just for BASIC service. That means local calls only (within 20 miles of our house). If we want a "plan", they start at upwards of $150/month, and that is for 200 minutes of long distance. It's a real rip-off. We don't get verizon, or any of the other national companies here. Just the one local company. We also cannot get DSL. it's cable or satellite. we used to have satellite for tv, which we just cancelled (no tv now) and cable modem, which is much cheaper at $40 a month than satellite or landline.
We have just a cell phone, and when I can't find the thing I email my dad (who is always online at work) and he calls it for me I never let it get fully discharged just because I am always loosing the thing. I can hear it beep when it gets low, so I plug it in.

[scamelo]

Originally Posted by shellie_wnj

Scamelo, Here in the boonies, our landline costs are OUTRAGEOUS! 75/month just for BASIC service. That means local calls only (within 20 miles of our house). If we want a "plan", they start at upwards of $150/month, and that is for 200 minutes of long distance. It's a real rip-off. We don't get verizon, or any of the other national companies here. Just the one local company. We also cannot get DSL. it's cable or satellite. we used to have satellite for tv, which we just cancelled (no tv now) and cable modem, which is much cheaper at $40 a month than satellite or landline.
We have just a cell phone, and when I can't find the thing I email my dad (who is always online at work) and he calls it for me I never let it get fully discharged just because I am always loosing the thing. I can hear it beep when it gets low, so I plug it in.

WOW! That explains why some are saving so much, and it looks like for us its not much of a savings. I was going nuts trying to figure things out and your post makes all the sense in the world. Now I get why people are dumping their house phones. We do have some friends who don't have a house phone, but very few, and i don't think either took cost into consideration much after my calculations.

Thanks so much

[jeanettebr]

I live out in the boonies too...still have sad ol dialup. I need to check into some of these things. We have several computers and it would be nice to be able to use them all online...the kids could do work on them while I still have mine free for couponing

[joshmamabear]

Originally Posted by Cricketm

Just wondering ... if a satellite goes down or is 'accidentally' tampered with ... wouldn't land lines be the way to go (as a backup)? I've always heard that as a reason to keep one... what do you all think?

that is true but the chances of it happening is very little compared to possible savings you're going to make. if you don't live in the boonies and have fast, reliable cable internet connection, MJ is still the best and cheapest alternative, IMO.