DH and I live in a remote rural area. Until a couple of months ago our only internet was from CenturyLink (over our landline phone) because the cable company didn’t have an incentive to lay cable out to our neighborhood. Our download speed was 3 Mbps. Landline phone plus internet was $100 per month. (Yes, I bought cell phones but DH doesn’t like using his cell phone and besides our landline number has been the same for over 25 years.)
When I got a postcard from T-Mobile that they finally had wireless coverage I immediately set it up and canceled CenturyLink. I bought a MagicJack and set up VOIP with our landline phone number since our download speed is now over 200 Mbps. We now pay $60 per month for internet and $50 per year for the MagicJack. I canceled CenturyLink. It feels funny not having a phone wire to the house.
Cable companies and mobile carriers are fiercely competing for home internet customers, leading to price reductions.
Internet providers like Verizon, Comcast, and T-Mobile are offering price-lock guarantees to attract and retain subscribers.
Fixed wireless is luring cable customers with lower prices, but wireless networks’ capacity limits could curb long-term growth.
…
Fixed wireless can sometimes cost half as much as a cable-provided internet plan. Though network congestion and other connectivity issues can be an issue for some users, the lower price point has been luring cable customers away.
T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T added a combined 3.7 million fixed-wireless customers in 2024. Meanwhile, Comcast’s Xfinity and Charter’s Spectrum lost more than 900,000 subscribers…
AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have all been investing in fiber-based wired networks via build-outs and acquisitions…
AT&T is bringing new customers in with fixed wireless, with the long-term goal to convert them to fiber-based service, said Erin Scarborough, who runs that company’s broadband and connectivity initiatives.
Verizon’s Boulben said his company would focus on selling fiber service to customers as it becomes available to them. [end quote]
What is the purpose of using MagicJack Wendy? Is it to keep your landline number? If so you could always port your landline to one of your cellphones and make that number your cell phone number. You only need to call your cell phone provider.
Then if you want phones around the house you can get these or the Vtech phones that will connect to your cell phone when you are at home.
If you have you cell close enough to the “connect to cell” phone, then, isn’t the “connect to cell” phone redundant. as you have your cell there anyway?
Some people do not prefer to use cell phones. She is using MagicJack which costs a subscription which works off of her Cell phone internet. I just think MagicJack is a needless cost but there might be reasons to use it that I am not aware of.
@buynholdisdead yes, the purpose of using MagicJack is to keep our landline number. Thanks for your information. I didn’t realize that we could port our landline to one of our cellphones and then connect to cordless phones around the house.
But if we do that the “landline” answering machine wouldn’t pick up if we were out of the house with our cellphones, right? I’m still not familiar with how this would work.
Your welcome. The number for the cell phone will become your land line number after you port it. The downside is that the cell phone will get all the calls, scammers, etc that your landline number gets. But you can allow them all to go to voicemail just like your land line. Something to think about though.
Maybe everyone doesn’t know this. The iPhone can be set up so the phone will not ring unless you are in the contacts list. All unknown callers go immediately to voicemail.
We haven’t had a landline for 10 or 12 years. I ported our landline when I lost my company phone and needed a cell line.
And you can block the unwanted calls. You can also set up, well, I can on my iPhone, to not ring for numbers not in your Conact list, then under Recents you can decide to either Add or Block that number…
We gave up our old, 50+ year landline after hanging on too long, I’d turned off the ringers, but there was no way to block them, stop their gobbling up the answering machine space… Could have moved it as a 2nd line to one of our iPhones, but, in the end just shut it down.. Had to let some know of the change, but it’s been a year or two, don’t regret it… The old wiring, jacks are there, but I doubt they’ll ever be used again…