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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Friday, March 31, 2006 - 3:19 am
Does anybody have it? Any advice on quality of service, etc would be greatly appreciated. I'm considering switching over to Comcast Digital Voice, since its at a lower rate if you already have other Comcast services. We already have the digital cable, and I'm considering switching over to the digital internet too, since at first glace it looks like its only 2$/month more than the DSL we have now. Of course, I'm always leary of those hidden charges, like rental fees of remotes, taxes, etc. Comcast is currently running a special on the digital voice, and it hawks "unlimited calls" to anywhere in the US." The unlimited calls thing would be the major factor. Everyone in our family is long distance to us. Our bill this month was 90.74 (down from the $111.00 last month). That's a breakdown of 32.95 for "Qwest Home Service" (which includes caller ID, etc,). The long distance calls were 42.39. These last two months were primarily due to the increased calls from when the family was updating each other when sis was in the hospital. Even before that though, most monthly bills were around 70$ last year, with the lowest being 56$. Comcast's Digital voice is 39.95/month, and is supposed to include the unlimited calls, the caller ID, and a bunch of features we'd probably never use. Now at first glace that seems to make sense to switch over, especially if the long distance thing is unlimited. But again, I'm leary of those hidden charges! So, I'm just wondering if anyone here has the digital voice, and if they are happy with it!
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Draheid
Board Administrator
09-09-2001
| Friday, March 31, 2006 - 11:39 pm
Who: We switched to digital phone service when we moved. The biggest factor in our choice was that it was cheap and bumped our 'package' discount up to 20% for 3 services (cable, internet, & phone). Of course I have always recommend internet service on cable over DSL because it is so much faster. The phone service seems to be ok. My main concern is having all services provided over the same infrastructure. If any part of the cable system fails, we have nothing. With separate services (phone & cable from different providers) at least the chances of being completely cuttoff are smaller. As for cost, with the discount adding phone services gave us, it was actually cheaper with phone than without for the cable & internet service. And at least so far we have not had any trouble with it at all. Beware of specials though. Most times they are limited time offers and, after the 'time', the rates go back to normal and can be much more than you might have expected.
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Saturday, April 01, 2006 - 1:12 am
Thanks Dra! I know what you mean about the "specials!" I'd already looked into the cable internet thing several months back when I was getting fed up with Earthlink, but I was still under contract with them. Even at full price, Comcast's service is 2$/month more. So the three month special is another $10/month off from that. So I'm assuming the phone doesn't use the standard phone jacks in the house? Does that mean there's only one connection in the house to plug in a phone? It wouldn't be a huge deal for us, cause we already have one of those expandable phone systems (we got a couple of years ago). I'm pretty sure I read on Comcast's site that I could use my regular phone. So have you noticed any of those hidden fees they like to slip in on the bill? Like monthly rental of equipment (whatever they might be), service fees, taxes, etc?
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Draheid
Board Administrator
09-09-2001
| Saturday, April 01, 2006 - 6:51 am
Who: The service I have is actually brought in separate from the cable and connects to the regular telephone wiring of the house. I can plug a standard phone into any jack and it works fine. There are the standard 'Universal Service Fee', '911 fee', taxes, etc. that you should also see on your regular telephone bill (that are not stated in the rates at the time you subscribe), but these are required by law anyway. Still, with all my services, this 'competition' to the 'other cable company' is considerably less expensive.
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Saturday, April 01, 2006 - 4:19 pm
Thanks Dra!
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Bigd
Member
09-13-2001
| Friday, May 05, 2006 - 9:47 am
Hi Dra! I am thinking of switching to digital phone service provider by my cable company (Time-Warner). Is this the same company you have? Are you still pleased? I am wondering what you do about a electrical power outage? Does your phone still work?
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Draheid
Board Administrator
09-09-2001
| Friday, May 05, 2006 - 2:32 pm
BigD: Different company here since we now live 'in-town' and have a choice. Much less expensive and so far the only outage we've had was when someone hit the line going across a driveway down the road from us. As for power outages, I believe the entire system has backup battery systems to keep the lines active just as you would expect from a telephone company. In the home, as long as you have a 'wired' phone plugged in somewhere, even with the power out, you should still have phone service (cordless, unless they have provisions for backup power in the base, won't work in a power outage). Yes, we're still happy with our decision. I have not tried using a modem over the service yet so I don't know how that would effect dialup service.
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Hukdonreality
Member
09-29-2003
| Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 5:18 pm
Hi BigD. I have "All-in-One" from Time Warner here in Western New York. It includes digital cable, high speed internet, and digital phone. It costs around $135/month. I opted for AOL Broadband through Time Warner (no extra cost) rather than using Road Runner. I've been with AOL for years and years and am comfortable and happy with it. Just an FYI, when the power goes out, you have nothing...there is no battery backup. I don't know if that is a service you can get, but I wasn't told about it. Also, I still use my 900 Mz phone because it wasn't that old when I switched to digital. It sometimes has a lot of static and/or echoing, and many times the call ID says "unknown caller" when it used to give the name for that person. I belive that the newer 5 or 8 Gz phones help with that. I just haven't felt like spending the money to find out.
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Hukdonreality
Member
09-29-2003
| Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 5:20 pm
It looks like Draheid is talking about keeping a wired phone that would work in the event of a power outage. That would mean a telephone bill for the line, and I chose to just go digital. Might be different where you and Draheid live though.
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Draheid
Board Administrator
09-09-2001
| Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 7:33 pm
Actually, I'm only referring to a non-wireless telephone such as a desk phone where the handset is wired to the base which is wired to the phone jack. This type of phone has nothing to do with the type of service it is connected to. As for cordless phones in different frequency ranges, the differences are mainly in range and clarity plus less interference with other devices using similar frequencies (ie. Microwaves and wireless networks are often using the same frequencies as 2.4 Ghz wireless phones). 900 Mhz band has become congested much as the older 49 Mhz phones did as they became cheaper due to newer (higher frequency) phones becoming affordable. In any case, the telephone set itself has very little to do with the type of service or the provider of that service. It is possible, however, that the service provider, such as digital telephone from the cable company, may not be able to provide as much detail on services such as caller ID as you would get from the standard telephone company. One final note about cordless phones: You might want to look into a new battery for the handset if you've had it a while and never replaced the battery. Some manufacturers recommend a process of discharging (running the battery until it is completely 'dead') occasionally to prolong the life of the battery. If you do not follow these instructions, the battery can become weak over time and provide less talk time and weaker signals resulting in static or noise over the connection.
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Hukdonreality
Member
09-29-2003
| Sunday, May 07, 2006 - 2:34 am
Oh, I see what you're saying, Draheid! I do have a standard telephone in my bedroom, but when the power is out, that is, too. I remember the Time Warner installer telling me that since the phone comes through the cable system, that all lines are dead in the event of a power outage. That's the thing about the digital that I am not happy with. I'm lucky that I live in a duplex, and that my mother is on the other side. It's simple to run a long phone cord in the basement and at least still have a phone line in an emergency. AOL Broadband also gives me 10 hours a month dial-up for times like that. Since my mother hardly ever uses her phone, I can still have internet access via dial-up for those times. I haven't used it, but it's nice to know that I could hook up to her phone line and use my laptop battery to get onto the internet. Man, I am an addict and need an internet 12 step program or something!

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Bigd
Member
09-13-2001
| Sunday, May 07, 2006 - 11:50 am
What about a UPS battery backup system? Would this be something practical? You can buy one of these that can provide about 75 - 80 minutes of battery backup. I am assuming the problem is that the power supply to the house is off and so there must be a piece of equipment like my digital cable modem that needs power to operate. Is this the case Hukdonreality????? Many times my power outages are short lived. (squirel central here). Would this be a solution Dra?
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Hukdonreality
Member
09-29-2003
| Sunday, May 07, 2006 - 2:35 pm
Right, it is the modem that powers the phone and internet, and it needs electricity. I don't know about a battery. I just sit in the dark and cry
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Sincebb1
Member
08-22-2005
| Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 2:30 am
I also was just about to switch to Charter Digital phone service but decided not to for that very reason. They told me I could purchase a backup battery for the modem in the event of a power outage. But what happens if the power is out for a long period of time? I just would not want to chance it.
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Bigd
Member
09-13-2001
| Monday, June 26, 2006 - 6:51 pm
Well I found the real flaw with Time Warner. We moved into a condo in a neighbor town. When you call my old phone number Time Warner does not have the capability to refer you to the new number so you just get a recording that says the number is disconnected. Very upsetting.
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Dlmmo
Member
11-20-2003
| Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 9:55 am
I just switched over to Vonage. My duplex neighbors were tapping into my phone line and making long distance calls. The phone wires are in their backyard. The phone company came out and couldn't prove that they were doing this and told me that the calls were made from my line??!! So I have had them for about 18 working days and number has still not been transfered, ugggggg. This is my only complaint and it seems to be with my phone co and not Vongage. Does anyone else have any comments about Vonage?
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