[Scan-DC] Wireless Home Phone Service in D.C. area

[Bruce Harper]

On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 1:53 AM, Alan wrote:

Checking our bill, 35 percent of it goes to taxes.  This is ridiculous.
>
> Verizon called us a couple weeks ago, apologizing for bad phone service we
> may have had recently (we hadn't had trouble).  They were trying to
> encourage us to switch to a new fiber line (I presume) complete with
> battery back-up which we don't have (and don't need) now.  Should we make
> the switch?
>
> What options do we have in the D.C. area for wireless home phone service?
>  I saw ATT and Verizon Wireless both offer a unit for about $22/month in
> this market (anybody using those?).  How many extensions can you run from
> the unit?
>

​A little out of the area, but we made the switch away from expensive
Verizon a few months ago to USCellular wireless home service ($19/month vs.
$55). Since we have had the same home number probably going back to C&P
Telephone days, outright dropping our landline wasn't an option due to that
number being spread far and wide among friends and businesses. But the
timing and offer from USCellular was right and we haven't had a problem
since the switch. Number portability works.

There are a couple of convenience drawbacks but they aren't deal killers. I
moved the plug from our wireless (handset) base phone from the wall jack to
the output jack on the wireless (cellular) module and things worked fine,
including the second wireless phone downstairs. I plugged the callerID box
into the second jack on the module and do get a number display -- drawback
one, only the phone number for the incoming call is displayed, but no
identifying info for the person or origin of the call (unknown caller,
Verizon wireless, a name, etc.). Drawback two is (to my knowledge, I
haven't really dug into it) that voicemail can only be checked via our home
phone. Not a big deal, since we don't get a boatload of calls these days
(other than political trolls).

​It was also interesting reading about Iain's dealings with Verizon. Even
though Blacksburg at one time was "the most wired town in America," things
have not kept up. There are a couple of companies offering (lousy, from
Reddit comments) cable and network service in some of the larger student
apartment complexes. Comcast is pretty much the only game in town for "high
speed" internet service. Verizon offers only DSL service and low-speed at
that -- no time estimate on when speed above 3mbps will (if ever) be
available. The "lower price for life" (if real and true) would be a great
deal to jump on -- friends who signed up DSL under the
24-months-at-next-to-nothing saw their bills jump quite a bit in month 25.
I believe the company is run by weasels with no interest in customer
service. I'm glad to be done with them.

Bruce in Blacksburg