O/T Telephone Charges Question

Off topic, I know, but yesterday, I was on the phone with Qwest asking about getting all of our phone lines moved further out into the country.

Since all of our home-based business is over long distance lines, I'm always shopping for the best phone rates and am now on a 4 cent plan with MCI. Still, the derned phone bill is always "way up there", usually a minimum of $1500-$3000 each and every month.

Anyway, during our somewhat lengthly conversation, Qwest tells me that as of the 15th of April, they don't charge long distance on residential phones anymmore, that the money is in cell phones nowadays anyway, and that if I switch my long distance carrier back to Qwest under a "business plan", all I pay for is basic service of $20 a line plus a $5 transfer fee per line. MCI has not mentioned one word of this.

Qwest says all calls in-state or out-of-state are totally free and unlimited of charges now.

Anybody know anything about this new "free" long distance phone service these days?

Thanks,

Allan

Dug

If you can get a good cell phone signal at your house, an unlimited minute plan with a cell phone carrier would work also as a second choice (but extended use of cell phones may cause brain cancer and gets real hot to boot).

I would go with the QWest solution, as long as they don't make you sign a rediculously long term commitment.

Good luck,
Dan

Dan

The outgoing is not a problem, we shoot 'er over the uplinks. It is the darned incoming that has me wondering; If I don't have to pay for these guys yakin' into the recorders, heck why not?

Only hitch I see is that I've got our toll-free numbers set up with MCI. If I jump ship with that part of it, no doubt Qwest will switch numbers on me.

That would send these doctors into a tail-spin, they just don't handle change very well. :>(

Allan

If you have broadband internet access you can hook up your telephones to your internet service and the quality of the service has gotten pretty much indistiguishable from standard land line service lately.

A lot of small companies are switching to this. At $1,500 per month you could pay off any equipment you would have to buy pretty quickly.

FWIW, Nathan

These medical systems work kinda funny. They have to use an absolutely clean digital line with no delay whatsoever.

If a delay is sensed, the equipment automatically switches over to the hospitals' voice line thinking it is a real person calling in instead of our equipment. I dunno how it works, but I gotta have hardwired digital and the lines must use the electronic repeaters too.

We have had a few clients in the past that wanted us to tunnel into them like you are talking about; but it is just too darned cumbersome and that software at $6K a copy will break the bank in a hurry.

Thanks,

Allan

My land line phone at my house hums so bad that when it rains I have to have people call me on my cell phone to be able to understand them.

In the days of dial up internet I couldn't even get connected when it rained and on a good clear day I was lucky to connect at 24,000 kbps.

I'm now on wireless internet at my house and it slows down a bit in the wind and the rain but is still running 10 or 20 times better than my dial up ever dreamed of.

Good Luck with everything.

Oh sure, lots of that "extra" stuff ya get to pay for in the fine print of the phone bill. :>)

We have a bank of phone lines; kinda like your ISP does, only in reverse. We receive audio data in and record it with computers and these things run 24 hours a day.

The state of Nebraska thought we were cheating on our workman's comp 'cause we didn't claim any employees other than the wife and I. Sent a feller out here to inspect the business.

So, I showed him the room full of phone boxes, modems and computers just settin' there just a hummin' away. He didn't stay long. :>)

Allan

The business is okay, but the owners are broke.

All funds come in here, do not even slow down, and just head right back out again to either contractors or the darned tax collectors.

Allan

Most of the carriers today offer some sort of "unlimited" long distance plan, but you have to ask. I imagine MCI does as well.

Much of the telecommunications bandwidth is unused, since the carriers overbuilt capacity in the dot-com boom. With competition for long distance service and lots of unused capacity, they can afford to give away long distance. They make their money on $1.75 directory assistance calls and fool stuff like 10 cent text messages and downloadable cell phone ring tones.

If you have a choice for local service, shop around for the best deal including call waiting, call forwarding, voice mail, etc. Most carriers will not give you a list of all their packages, you have to "go fishing" by asking lots of questions.

A lot of companies have a flat rate on long distance now to compete with the cell phones since they offer free long distance. The problem is with the flat rate plan you have many limitations. Such as most will not allow you to use the line for data transfer; fax machines; dial up internet access; ect..... ....
Most even set a limit as to how many minutes you can use per month before you set off auditing alarms. You will then need to prove what you used the minutes for so they can see that you are staying within the plan limitations.