Telephone Bills!!!

Man,... the cost of personal communications with the masses is about to drive me to drink (a good glass of Merlo or Lexiia). What with $40.00 to $70.00 per month for my AT&T cell phone, and another $42.00 a month for the house phone, .... I felt I was paying entirely too much for "Telephones".

So, .... I did something about it.

About two years ago I bought my Wife a 'Tracfone' prepaid cell phone. For her usage level it costs me $99.99 a year to keep her going (that's for a year's airtime and 800 minutes of talk time. That's $8.33 per month, and she dosen't use all of her minutes.

So,....I got to thinking,..... If I were to switch to Tracfone, and drop AT&T, I could save $30.00 to $40.00 per month on cell phone service. Now, true, I'll probably burn more than 800 minutes a year, but I can buy more minutes as I need them, and still be nowhere close to what I was paying AT&T in a year (do the math).

Well, .... I did. I transported my AT&T phone number over to Tracfone, canceled AT&T and never looked back. And guess what, .... Tracfone equiped my phone with a "C4" SIM card, which indicates that they are using AT&T as my signal carrier.

I have the same service level, for a much lower price!

OK. Half the problem solved. Now, about the house phone. Again, AT&T, ....$42.00 a month,.... even if I never use the phone. Wow, ..... some kind of B___S___.

I have high speed (broadband) internet, for my computer, through the local Cable company. This opened up some possibilities for VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol).

Vonage is $24.95 a month. Not much better that AT&T.

Skype is $100 a year for inbound and outbound calling to any USA or Canadian telephone. I tried this and wasn't real happy with the computer based telephone or the special wireless Skype IP phone that I purchased.

Then I found "Magic Jack". Now this a service I could sink my teeth into. For $39.95 I received the USB hardware dongle to plug into my computer (remember, I have Broadband internet service already) and the first year's service included. Additional years of service are just $19.95 a year, for unlimited inbound and outbound calls, anywhere in the US or Canada. No additional charges for features or talk time.

$1.66 per month, for a telephone service I can use all I want, 24 hrs a day.

So, let's see now AT&T cell service $40.00
Plus, AT&T's hard wired house phone $42.00
For a total (of what I used to pay) $82.00 a month, and sometimes more.

And now Tracfone Cell service $8.33 month (plus some occasional additional minutes)
Plus "Magic Jack" for home $1.66 a month
Current total $9.99 a month for home and cell service.

A net savings of $72.01 a month on telephone service fees,.... for what I perceive to be the same level of service.

Anyone interested?
Click Here for Tracfone's Web Site.