Cell Phone Service in NH- Verizon or ATT Customers Come In!!! (Nashua: taxes, cost)

[notdancingqueen]

Originally Posted by CityGirl52

My question is...are there people out there giving up their landline more and more? I was just curious because I'm thinking of getting rid of my house phone and just going with my cell phone. I'll see though, my parents are really getting up there (elderly) and it'll be a tough one with them both here with me...are a lot of you without your house phones & just using your cell instead?

I'm definitely switching my house phone to COMCAST this week. It's the deal where you get the internet, the TV and the house phone all on one bill. I'm going to try this out for a year and then decide in a year whether to keep them or not.

I can tell you that FIOS is going to be in my part of town by next year and if that's the case then I'll just switch it back to Verizon to get it. Right now, Comcast has a much faster service than Verizon's DSL, so I'm going to go with them to see JUST how fast they are....stay tuned...

We had great hopes of getting rid of the land line at various points but it didn't work out for a few reasons. In Annapolis I often couldn't get reception at my house consistently. When that got fixed, we got FIOS internet, for which you need a land line. Up here in NH, we went without for a couple of months but we realized that there would be no phone for the babysitter or (when my kids get older) for them if they were here without us.

Maybe someday.
:-)

[Valerie C]

Just a quick warning for you CityGirl, and anyone else who is going from the old style "copper line" phone into a digital (Comcast, etc). A couple years ago when Verizon came through with the FIOS, latest & greatest, I bought into it. First time we had a 3 DAY power outage, I discovered that no power = no phone (and the 8-hour backup is USELESS). Also, they remove your copper wire from pole to house, leaving you no choice but to stay with the digital. Had I known that I wouldn't have been so quick to jump, or would have at least requested that they leave the copper line. After the fact, too late. I called to complain, to no avail. I will never again have the ability to go with "regular" phone again

Hopefully because you're going w/ Comcast, your phone lines outside will be left alone. Just keep this in mind when Verizon comes along with FIOS...

Originally Posted by CityGirl52

I'm definitely switching my house phone to COMCAST this week. It's the deal where you get the internet, the TV and the house phone all on one bill. I'm going to try this out for a year and then decide in a year whether to keep them or not.

I can tell you that FIOS is going to be in my part of town by next year and if that's the case then I'll just switch it back to Verizon to get it. Right now, Comcast has a much faster service than Verizon's DSL, so I'm going to go with them to see JUST how fast they are....stay tuned...

[BF66389]

Vonage, Comcast, Cox, Charter, Verizon FIOS, etc...are all providing phone service in the same way- by transmitting voice data over IP networks (VOIP). The IP network being your internet connection (Vonage doesn't provide a commection, it uses whatever you have), Comcast/Cox/Charter use cable, Verizon FIOS uses the fiber lines, etc... With that in mind swithing to Vonage/Comcast/Cox/Charter shouldn't impact your "phone" lines at all. FIOS on the other hand requires the upgrading of your "phone" lines to fiber optic, and since fiber can carry so much bandwidth it means you can get TV/Voice/Data signals all through the same wire.

However- Val- just because you kept your "copper" from house to pole doesn't mean you wouldn't lose phone service during a power outage. Since the pole lines are being upgraded to fiber it means that where that copper ties into them- there is an adapter/battery...which also requires power (you may see these grey boxes along the road with a little green light on them). While this battery may last *a little* longer; they don't keep the ENTIRE copper infrastructure because a few users decided to keep the copper lines to their homes (but oh- it will cost you to upgrade later).

So in short...you didn't really miss out on anything by going fiber, so just enjoy your new uber-fast connection.

[maestramommy]

We've had ATT for years, and in general the coverage is very good. We can't seem to get a signal in random places, like in the Lowes or Home Depot (sure would be nice!). However, we use the prepaid plan, so we don't normally talk at length on our cellphones. I know some people with verizon, and they calls get dropped suddenly while on the road. Or they can't get a signal in their house. Annoying things like that.

We have FIOS in our house now, and it IS pretty fast. We haven't had problems with slow connection like we occasionally had with cable.

[spoonful]

I have Verizon and when I was up in NH last month looking at homes the realtor was surprised that I was getting service in some areas – and she wasn't with AT&T. So yeah, I'd say stick with Verizon given what everyone else said. (And thanks for the tip with the Blackberry. If I've gone this long without an iPhone I can hold off buying a Blackberry a little longer.)

What phone or cable service do folks in NH recommend? I'll have to choose one once I make the move there. I know a satellite dish is out; I heard they don't hold up well in NH weather (plus they don't look so great in some settings).

[BF66389]

I'm stuck with Charter Cable (Cable) & TDS Telecom (if I want a landline). Since the only way to get unlimited long distance with TDS is to get their $80/month plan (total bill)...we dropped them and will deal with losing phone when the internet is out (now with Vonage...whom has improved significantly since I last used them years ago).

Charter seems decent so far and rates actually seem better than most.

[dubthang]

Originally Posted by spoonful

I have Verizon and when I was up in NH last month looking at homes the realtor was surprised that I was getting service in some areas – and she wasn't with AT&T. So yeah, I'd say stick with Verizon given what everyone else said. (And thanks for the tip with the Blackberry. If I've gone this long without an iPhone I can hold off buying a Blackberry a little longer.)

What phone or cable service do folks in NH recommend? I'll have to choose one once I make the move there. I know a satellite dish is out; I heard they don't hold up well in NH weather (plus they don't look so great in some settings).

Phone/cable recommendation? I have a Blackberry Curve with AT&T, no land line, and no cable. TV eats my brain. I stay up all night watching things like the history and discovery channel, but mostly I just watch cartoons. I don't like telemarketers so no land line. I have a laptop with a wireless modem so I swipe internet from who ever is closest.

[CityGirl52]

So far so good with switching from Verizon to Comcast with the landline & the internet service. They don't touch the line out on the pole or the telephone number either, it all stays the same. It also was no big deal with Verizon which was thankfully an easy switch over! I thought I was going to get phone calls left and right to go back to them, but it wasn't like that at all. Verizon just had to shut off the DSL & modem where I went with Comcast just this past Friday. It's working out beautiful and I can see the difference already, it definitely IS much faster than Verizon's DSL and no doubt about it either.

I'll see down the road if I go without a landline. Right now where my parents are elderly I'm not going without one for their benefit. Afterwards though, down the road? I'm definitely NOT going to have a landline at all, I'll just use my cellphone and that's IT. OH, if I had kids? I'd definitely have a house phone though! You guys need one more than me!

I had to go to Radio Shack yesterday to get a new wall phone, it was only $20 or so, (the Caller ID one) I heard that there phones @ Radio Shack were a lot like the old Western Electric phones (good quality ones!) & the one I had in my kitchen was a piece of crap, well, WHAT a difference with this new phone, the old one came from Wal-Mart.

[WannaComeHome]

I'm reviving this old thread because I'd like some advice about cell phone plans.

First you have to understand that DH and I don't like cell phones! we don't want all that stuff, but.. if were' going to be running up to New Ipswich or Greenville periodically we don't plan to pay for a landline in the house at this time.. which means we'll <gulp> need cell phones.

I have no idea who is any good. I know I have a pre-paid phone for emergencies/travel through TMobile, and it's terrible there! I get 1 bar in Hollis, a little in osme parts of Milford and Brookline, but zippo in NI or Greenville, which is where we'd need it most. So I don't want to stay with them.

we want a)cheap (cause we probably won't use it that much), b)needs to work in Monadnock area and c)needs to work around the Mid-atlantic (cause if we have to use them, they might as well work down here too).

The idea of paying $200 a month is just appalling! who has a cheap plan that will work and not drop out (much) and get coverage? I know looking through the old posts Dubthang (you still here??) said the Monadnock region was tough on coverage.

Help??

[maestramommy]

I've had ATT/Cingular for years, and for the most part it's been great. I almost never lose calls, and the only time I have trouble getting a signal is in places that nobody seems to be able to get a signal. But I have a prepaid plan, and use my cell mostly for emergencies, "I will be late" calls, etc, so my usage may not be representative. We pay $25 every 45 days or so to keep the minutes rolling over. It's a better value if you buy more minutes at a time, but like I said, we hardly use it, so this ends up being the cheapest way for us to go.