Section: 2 Q and A ( These are actual questions received by us )
Internet Phone Service
I see allot of commercials for internet phone companies like Vonage, Verizon
Voicewing, Yak Voice, etc.
For about $25 a month I can get everything, local and unlimited long distance. Should I
switch?
While Internet phone service
"VOIP" has improved significantly over the past year, you may be better off
keeping traditional phone service.
Voip phone service sound quality is comparable in many cases to cell phone sound quality.
While we do carry both plans, here are a few things to consider:
Your will need additional equipment to use this service.
If your electric power goes out, you will not have any phone service
If your internet service goes out, you will not have any phone service
Many of these internet phone service companies also require a 1 year contract.
Unless you talk over 2000 minutes a month in long distance, you will not see a significant
savings
Local and Long Distance on one phone bill
Recently my local phone company started to offer local and long distance on 1
bill. What should I look for to see if it is right for me?
Many local phone companies have now
been approved to offer local & long distance in the market. Your best bet would be to
use our rate formula from section 1 to determine if this plan will indeed save you money.
Everyone likes the idea of one less bill in the mail.
1. Check to see if there are any monthly
fees or monthly minimums.
2. Look to see if you are signing a 6 or 12 month contract. Many new plans now require
this, this will be the fine print at the bottom of the offer.
3. Compare Intrastate & Interstate rates against your current provider.
If your are saving $2.00 a month on your
local phone bill, yet paying higher rates or higher monthly fees, its not worth switching.
If their rate per minute is at least 2 cents a minute cheaper than your current plan, give
it a try.
It always pays to do some research on your current plan to see if you will notice a
savings on your long distance calling.
Cable Long Distance
My cable company is now offering local and long distance together along with my
cable bill.
Their local phone service is about 15.00 a month, my local phone company is about $20.00 a
month. I would save $60.00 a year
What do I need to know about Cable Phone Service?
Many cable companies are now offering
these cable local & long distance plans to increase subscriber growth in the market.
They do seem to have a larger local calling area than most all local phone service
providers. This is a plus. Local Toll Charges are expensive.
Their package plans including local and long distance rate plans do not seem very
competitive.
Most of their package plans are from 5 to 7 cents a minute for long distance and some have
monthly fees attached.
Many Cable Phone Service carriers will now allow you to keep your current long distance
carrier the same and only switch your local service to Cable Phone Service.
We have heard the voice quality is better than some of the newer Internet Phone Service
plans, like Vonage or other VOIP internet phone plans.
While we do carry Cable Long Distance plans, here are a few things to consider:
Your may need additional equipment to use this service.
If your electric power goes out, you will not have any phone service
If your internet service goes out, you will not have any phone service
If you want to keep your current phone number, they do charge a 1 time fee of about $10.00
for this
Cable Phone Service companies may require a 6 month or 1 year contract
If you can get a Long Distance rate under 5
cents a minute with no monthly fees & save 5.00 a month, it may be worth looking into
Long Distance Companies
While looking through all the plans, I notice long distance plans like OPEX,
Unitel, Cognistate, etc.
I have never heard of these companies. Is the call quality the same?
They do have lower rates yet I am afraid to switch to them.
Most all of these smaller phone companies lease long distance lines from the major
carriers including AT&T MCI & Sprint. Its the same call quality as the name brand
carrier, without the name brand price. Since these smaller carriers do not run commercials
on TV, or mail you free phone cards, they can offer lower rates very close to their
wholesale cost. Now bear in mind, most of these smaller carriers only offer online
sign-up, and their customer support may only be from 8 to 5 pm. If you do not call your
long distance company every week at 6 am. you will see no difference in call quality or
change in the way you place your calls.
Switching Fees
I signed up for your long distance service, and no where was there notice
of a charge for switching carriers. Is there a charge?
Yes. About $4 to $10 One Time Charge
Most all local phone companies charge
the customer a (switching fee) to change to any new long distance provider.
Your local phone company charges you a
fee for you to switch, not your new long distance carrier.
The Big Switch
I would like to know, how long would it take
before the new long distance plan, would be my new long distance company.
You asked the 10,000 dollar question. It all depends on many
things.
1. How fast the long distance company completes your application and
sends it to your local phone company. (1-2 days)
2. How fast your local phone company
completes the change to the new long distance company. (1-3 days)
Generally speaking anywhere from 2-5
business days before your new long distance plan is active
Intrastate & Interstate
You claim long distance is 4.9 cents per minute, yet your
intrastate chart
notes various charges.....what gives???
In the long distance world, there are 2
different rates for long distance.
1. Interstate: The rate every long distance company advertises
as their long distance rate.
Interstate means From State to State. Example:
Call to New York from Colorado
2. Intrastate: Calling within your State. Example:
Calling from Yonkers New York, To Buffalo New York.
This is also called a toll call.
Most of the time it costs more to
call someone long distance within your state than to call out of state.
This has to do with the local phone companies
and the contracted price the long distance company negotiated with
the state.
High Intrastate Rates
Why are Intrastate rates ( Calls within your state ) Higher than Interstate
rates ( Calls out of your state )?
That's a very good question, with a very lengthy answer. We have researched this question
heavily, and this is the information we found out.
Intra-state rates are controlled by your state's Public Utility Commission. The PUC
controls what the Local phone companies or (LEC)s can charge the long distance carriers to
use their lines to originate and terminate calls within your state. The Local phone
companies have a max-min range they can work within. Some local phone
companies, realize the importance of keeping their customers happy and that keeping their
"intrastate" rates low, will only benefit them in the long term. The greedy
local phone companies, charge the highest rates allowed to other long distance companies
to encourage their customers not to use anyone other than the local phone companies
"preferred" long distance carrier, so the other smaller long distance companies
must accept those term charges in their instate rates - driving them higher. If your
are upset about the high in-state rates for your state, watch for PUC "Notice
of Hearing" announcements that must be published in your local papers, and
participate in the rate-setting process (the public is always invited to formally register
their objections to proposed rate increases). |