Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie
Last time I posted here, I mentioned that my phone bill was at $70. That was in 2019. Recently, it hit $105, and I finally had enough!
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My AT&T VoIP phone is $32 a month plus taxes which runs it up to $45 a month. 50% Fed state and local taxes and fees! Audio quality is better than the old land line which was prone to static and noise. VoIP not as reliable though. The old wire line never lost power. After about 2 hours the battery in the modem that does the VoIP phone runs out, and takes about 8 to 10 hours to recharge, so not reliable for prolonged power outages. And yesterday I noticed I had not received any calls in 10 days. Got to checking, called the house phone with my cell phone and nothing, no ring, no indication of an incoming call! I called out to my cell phone and that worked, then tried incoming call again and it works now, rings the house phones. So I learned I need to check it occasionally to make sure everything is working. First time since 2015 that's happened.
I too disconnected the old line from the terminal box on the house. It was inducing an AC hum into the phone line. And I plugged the modem into one of the jacks in the house which connected all the house phones to the VoIP system. The AT&T installer at the time told me that wouldn't work! He had no idea why I had a hum on the line either. After he left I fixed it myself by disconnecting the old drop line from the pole to the house, wound up the wire and tossed over the fence. They have let the old wire system deteriorate like someone else mentioned with plastic bags over the terminal boxes etc.