4 Verizon cell phones with more minutes than we use - two (the kids' phones) with unlimited text/pix

$105.71 plus the taxes, fees and other nonsense

Luann - how did you get Verizon so cheaply??!? - I just looked and their family plan rates with 2 phones and no texting was $89...how did you manage to get 4 phones with texting on 2 of 'em for ca. $100/mo. after fees?

Cell: We currently have the ATT family plan: For 700 minutes with unlimited night/weekend minutes, free in-network cell-to-cell and rollover of unused minutes we were paying $69 for 2 phones. We just added a third one for me (my T-mobile contract ended to I was able to join in with dd and dh's plan at an additional. $10/mo). If it turns out 700 mins is not enough for all of us (I do most of the talking), we'll switch to a 1,400 minute plan for $20 more a month. No internet/text/pix (yet - dd is still just 10, but it's probably just a matter of time ;-) ).

For home phone use (I like having a land line in addition to cell service) we also just got ATT Uverse with VOIP unlimited phone calling 24/7 with call waiting/voicemail/callerID, etc. for $25/month and bundled it with internet and cable TV. The UVERSE whole shebang costs ca. $114/month before taxes.

One AT&T cell with in-state regional calling plan, 250 mins prime-time, 1000 mins weekend. $29.95 ($34.98 last bill, incl taxes/surcharges).

AT&T landline, last bill $18.73

MCI long distance, last bill $11.11

Total: $64.82

We have two Verizon cell phones the bill each month with all the fees, etc. is $60.92. We have text/pix, but no internet on our phones. DS1 has a pay as you go phone, he buys his own minutes and is very frugal with them. He spends about $20 every 4 months. We use magicjack for the house which has no monthly bill. We paid $59 for 5 years. It runs through the usb on the computer. We use Time Warner Road Runner for our high speed internet access which I think is somewhere around $45 a month. IBM pays for that as DH works from home. Additionally we have another phone line which they pay for because it's the business line that goes into the home office.

Bottom line: we pay just over $60/month for phone service for 3 cell phones, 2 home lines, and internet service.

"Luann - how did you get Verizon so cheaply??!?"

It's the America's Choice II Familyshare Pri 700 Any Unl N&W/In Call 07/05 (copied straight off the bill!)

WOW I cannot believe how cheap some of your cell phone plans are !!!!!!! Ughhhhhhhhhhh.... I have made the decision that I am going to get the majicjack. If I think that I have or need to have a cell phone then I am going to look into one of the prepaid services. There are some that are a pretty good price. Money is tight and I think that the kids would really prefer to eat than talk on the phone :) Thanks everyone for helping me out here....

~Jackie~

Att phone 9.62 plus taxes and surcharges
Opex LD 5 cents/min plus taxes,etc
Incoming 800# 2.00 mo plus 3 cents min.
no cell at this time

T-Mobile- 3 cells, 700 shared daytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited my faves(5 friends/numbers per line), unlimited nationwide roaming on AT&T and other GSM carriers (which is good because this is T-Mobile's weakness)- $80/mo plus taxes/fees.

$10/month for unlimited hotspot service (cellphone over home wi-fi broadband service (UMA) plus any other unsecured wi-fi location) with excellent call quality. UMA cell phones are required for this service, plus it helps to have a decent broadband service that isn't down all the time. Our home cable broadband is $30/mo for 1-2 Mbps. I highly recommend this unlimited hotspot service if you want to ditch land lines, already have a broadband internet provider, want/have a contract cell phone service, and have poor cell quality in your home. The free (with contract) Samsung T-339 is a decent phone for voice services.

Land lines are history.

I 'tried the Magic Jack and it did not work for me. I 'suspect it was due to my Broadband wireless not being consistently fast enough and there is nothing worse than trying to talk on a phone that cuts in and out.
I had a 30 day free trial period. For returns one must have the original packaging, and return address label, and then must still instant message Magic Jack to get a return authorization number. When I instant messaged them (they have NO phone number themselves to be reached) the support person tried to suggest a 'fix' for mine, which never worked. I was on the computer on IM with them for probably 1 1/2 hours before I finally said I was giving up and just wanted the return number so I could return it and not be charged. I was so aggravated but refused to be charged $20 for something I could not use.

I like the security of having a land line because when the power goes out, I still have a phone and it doesn't need a power source for recharging. Nothing worse than being in the country with no power or phone.

Sue

I just got DSL and that's affecting my phone costs but prior to that the landline was $22 w/tax, cell phone runs about $8/mo. Long distance is mostly done on the cell but I use a calling card when I use the landline and it's about 5¢/min as I recall. I refuse to pay outrageous phone bills that so many people have.

I have MagicJack and I like it. The one thing I miss is having phones hooked up all over the house, Now you have to plug in one and have the extra phones from that system. It sometimes is tricky dialing out, but I like it enough, it is free ld and I like the fact if I miss a call I get an email notice of a voice mail. that is cool it also has on hold music, LOL. But I am happy that I was able to cut the phone bill. One thing I lost was my faxing, they say the connection is too slow for faxing and they wanted me to play with the fax to slow it down but I don't want to mess with it. So I just e-mail doc's and that has worked out ok.

I had heard last week that someone broke down the cost of keeping the computer on all the time for a year so that you could use the MagicJack. A desk top used about $95 worth of electric. Of course it would depend on the cost of a KW of electric from your local electric company. Just rememeber to add that into your total cost for the MagicJack system.

$35-$40 /mo for house phone and $105 a year for Tracphone. Wife pays for net DSL don't know what it is but not that much. Maybe $24 / mo

We have two t-mobile phones, pay as you go. Cost us about $200 a year at the most. One home phone that is a no frills line for $10 amonth. Also have the Magic Jack which works great!$20 a year. Extreme DSL for $22.00 amonth. I shut down my computer at bedtime (around 10:30 and on again around 7AM.)If the computer is not on, they can leave a voice mail.

I have a plan with AT&T with 2 cell phones. It's $74.00 a month with all the taxes and fees.

I still have a home phone. It's bundled with DSL and Fiso HD TV and includes unlimited long distance. It comes to about $134.00 a month with taxes and fees.

YOu can call people on yahoo im for free with no magic jack. The catch is you both have have im downloaded on computer and then you click the call their computer button. There is an option to call their home or cell but there is a charge for this. Calling their computer is free and you talk over the computer. Not very convienent if you want to move around while you talk. I pay 65 amonth for one ATT cell, 13.99plus tax for my landline with no "free" long distance and another 20 for my dsl. I had a gophone b4 I went to contract and I was using so many minutes and having to pay up b4 a month was over it was better for me to go contract. :) Good luck on the jack.

That just blows my mind, and I am not a penny pincher. I hate paying $35 for for my land line. I did finally get a pay as you go cell simply because I wanted to see if I could get rid of my land line. That kind of money every month would go a long way in paying off a mortgage.

We pay $90/month for two cell phones with more minutes than we ever use. (Unfortunately, the next plan down is less then we regularly use!) My phone has unlimited internet access, which I use extensively for business, for another $20. With taxes and fees, we end up spending about $125/month.

We got rid of our land lines several years ago, and don't miss them a bit, as we have good cell phone reception. Before we got rid of the land lines, we used Vonage, which cost $20/month for more minutes than we ever used. (I tried Skype and other less expensive services, but preferred Vonage's set of features.) I still use Vonage for my business lines.

MAGIC JACK--I love it!! Am paid up for 5 years...no phone bills! YAY!