Bob M wrote:
A little off topic but because it relates directly to my HOME
telephone I thought this group might provide good input.

I currently use at&t for my long distance service. I am paying on
average about $.30/minute (OUCH) with a monthly minimum whether I use
it or not. Time to change.

What long distance alternatives are any of you folks using that you
are satisfied with? How did you sign up? What was your cost to
switch?

I know there are VoIP solutions available such as Vonage, etc. but
I'd like to keep it right at the dial tone. Even my Comcast cable's
long distance cost is way too much around here (Central CT).

I look forward to any/all suggestions/recommendations.


You get a gizmo from Vonage (VoIP) that plugs into your high-speed internet
router and you plug a telephone into that. For $19/month you get:

* Another telephone number, with a dial tone.
* All the bells and whistles (caller-id, voice-mail, forwarding,
call-waiting, etc.).
* All the long distance you can eat.
* No computer is required.

That's $19/month, period. No sales tax, universal access fee,
Spanish-American War tax, Al Gore tax, fuel surcharge, blah-blah-blah.
$19/month, period.

You can then use this new telephone line for (at least) all your outgoing
long-distance calls.

You even get to pick your area code! Suppose you live in California but all
your relatives live on Cape Cod. By choosing a 508 Area Code, when your
relatives call you, to them it's a local call.

Our small business averaged over $200/month in LD charges, even at
$0.03/minute. All that went away when we got our first Vonage line. We now
have three Vonage lines, having dropped the $65/month charge, each, for a
basic business service from AT&T.

You can pick up a "kit" at Best Buy, Sam's Club, Walmart and many other
places for the 1st month's service price. Try the product for a month. If
you don't love the service, simply quit.