tmh
@qwest.net | Fios takes out the power backup selling point
The backup battery dies after 8 hours. Then your SOL. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
|  You can save on landline costs while preserving 911 ability
You can still save money on landline costs by buying the low measured rate phone service($8 + taxes +fees) for about $15/mo. This maintains 911 capability, use during power outages, etc.
There are other ways to get your long distance calling at rates cheaper than landlines bundled with unlimited calling while still maintaining landline security for emergencies.
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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page |
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N3OGH
Bear patrol must be working like a charm
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs | I do exactly this.
I pay a little more for the unlisted number, but I can't have my digits out there naked to the world....
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Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power… |
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Thane_Bitter
join:2005-01-20
London, ON
 ·Bell Sympatico
| Please don't leave us! We NEED your money!
Shouldn't that campaign be promoting the virtues of renting a phone from AT&T as well? After all what can do you if your personal corded telephone broke while you needed to dial 911, only AT&T can ensure your uninterrupted access to emergency services via a fashionable avocado green, 30lb desk phone. Don't even thing about using a payphone, AT&T has been busy removing them for your convenience. |
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ | reply to tmh
Re: Fios takes out the power backup selling point
said by tmh :
The backup battery dies after 8 hours. Then your SOL.
If you have a generator or battery/inverter or UPS you can extend that. |
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NickD
Premium
join:2000-11-17
Princeton Junction, NJ
clubs: | reply to tmh
My parents still have a landline that's used sparingly, mostly for international calls. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC | reply to tmh
said by tmh :
The backup battery dies after 8 hours. Then your SOL.
How many emergencies require you to be on the phone for 8 hours? |
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ropeguru
Premium
join:2001-01-25
Bridgeport, WV
clubs: | reply to TKJunkMail
Re: You can save on landline costs while preserving 911 ability
Maybe for $15 in your area. Down here it is more like $23 per month after all the crap. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| reply to N3OGH
Yes, I got my Verizon landline bill down from $60/mo with all taxes & fees to $15/mo by using Google Voice(free) to place all my outgoing calls. Now, everyone doesn't have access to Google Voice yet, but it will soon be available to all.
And a nice added bonus was Google Voice's ability to screen, forward, transcribe, and voicemail all my incoming calls as well.
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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page |
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Bobcat
Premium
join:2001-02-04
Bedminster, NJ
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to TKJunkMail
I still have flat-rate local service, so it costs $21 per month. I could knock a few bucks off of this by going to a measured service.
My POTS is still a lot cheaper than Cablevision's phone service. And there's no way I'd trust Cablevision with a 911 call.
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It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. |
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jmn1207
Premium
join:2000-07-19
Reston, VA
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to Thane_Bitter
Re: Please don't leave us! We NEED your money!
We sure have come a long way from having to hide all the extra phones when the phone company came by to fix a problem. They used to charge you for each phone in your home, and there was nothing fancy available, you had to take the standard brick they gave you. |
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corinthos
join:2007-10-09 | reply to ropeguru
Re: You can save on landline costs while preserving 911 ability
I cancelled my landline but my taxes were almost as much as what I was supposed to be paying a month. I think mine was 18 a month and by the time all the taxes and surcharges were put on it was 32. |
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ShellMMG
join:2009-04-16
Grass Lake, MI
·Alltel Axess
| calling 911
In the past ten years I've called 911 twice; at neither time was I home and both involved traffic accidents.
We never bothered installing one of the useless things when we built our house. Why pay $30 a month for telemarketers and politicians to call at all hours? |
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djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
 ·PHONE POWER
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to Matt
Re: Fios takes out the power backup selling point
said by Matt  :said by tmh :
The backup battery dies after 8 hours. Then your SOL.
How many emergencies require you to be on the phone for 8 hours? Not many. It's the emergencies that begin after 8 hours of power loss that might pose a problem. 
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AT&T U-Hearse
Your funeral. Delivered.
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v35_pilot
Whoops, there goes another AMU
Premium
join:2005-12-12
Fayetteville, NY
·ViaTalk
·Verizon FIOS
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to Matt
said by Matt :How many emergencies require you to be on the phone for 8 hours? I believe the 8 hour limit is without phone usage. If one is on the phone the backup power reserve drops significantly, perhaps to as low as two hours.
Obviously the issue is that the phone becomes useless after a day or so during an extended power outage. |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | reply to jmn1207
Re: Please don't leave us! We NEED your money!
interesting. |
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Bobcat
Premium
join:2001-02-04
Bedminster, NJ | reply to corinthos
Re: You can save on landline costs while preserving 911 ability
I'm keeping my landline ($21) and canceling my cable TV ($54). |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | I would keep my landline if they made it cheap
If landlines were cheap and without horrible taxes, I would keep mine. It's realiable.
The problem is it is neither. It costs about $12 then another $15 for taxes. Want caller id? That'll be $7.95 a month. etc. |
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sgtcasey
It's hot in NM.
Premium
join:2009-07-06
Albuquerque, NM
·Comcast
| reply to ShellMMG
Re: calling 911
said by ShellMMG :In the past ten years I've called 911 twice; at neither time was I home and both involved traffic accidents. We never bothered installing one of the useless things when we built our house. Why pay $30 a month for telemarketers and politicians to call at all hours? Most folks don't call 911 ever in their lives but why risk that one time you need to?
I've worked as a 911 call taker for a while while I worked my way through school and I have to say after the years spent doing that I will always have a landline in my house.
I can't remember how many calls I answered where the victim either couldn't talk on the phone yet the ANI/ALI told us right where to go or folks calling from cell phones screaming and yelling that they need help yet having no idea where they were.
I've told my wife many times, if someone ever gets in the house pick up the landline, dial 911, and drop the phone on the floor and try to get out. An open 911 line means the police will be on their way very quickly.
If you dial 911 from a cell phone and aren't able to talk your chances of help coming are slim indeed (depending on the area you live and whether or not your local public safety department has the technology to determine cell phone locations.
Having the ability for the police or fire department to know where my house is without me saying a word is well worth the $25 per month we pay for our landline.
Dave |
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Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL
·Comcast
·Embarq
|  Aversion to Stranded Capacity
 The Baby Bells which were created in 1982, and have been mostly reunited, had a aversion to "Stranded Capacity". Stranded Capacity results when facilities stop generating revenue when replaced by new technology.
For example the bean counters set the pricing for PABX Trunks to be delivered via T-1 or PRI Circuits, so that they would not compete cost wise, with physical Ground Start Trunks. Telephone wanted to show a financial return in the form of revenue from their earlier investment in analog trunks.
If Telephone had thousands of cable pairs and ground start terminals not generating revenue because a new technology had replaced them, that would pay havoc with what they disclose in their annual report. That is one of the reasons that some companies are dragging their feet when it comes to installing fiber and want customers to keep their POTS Lines.
If Telephone is sincere in wanting to keep customers they would eliminate the now obsolete Central Office Connection Charge which can add over $6.00 per line to the local phone bill.
The Central Office Connection Charge mutated out of the (CALC) Customer Access Line Charge and is one of Telephone's undisclosed unfee. The FCC allowed the telephone companies to levy the charge when the Bell System was broken up. It was to replace part of the revenue received by local telephone companies from Toll Separations from the Old AT&T Long Lines Division.
The bottom line is that to retain POTS customers Telephone is going to have to lower prices and include more features at no additional charge. Lower revenue is better than no revenue at all. |
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