I used to have a monthly phone bill of about $30 with just a landline. Now I have two phones and I pay about the same.
How did I do this ? The magic of VOIP. I choose Vonage .I have the $14.99 plan that gives me 500 minutes of talk time within the US and Canada and then 3 cents a minute after that. Its a great deal. I never use more than 500 minutes and if I do its only 3 cents. If there is a voicemail left on my phone I get it forwarded to me via email. ( very cool! ). I get all the bells and whistles for free - forwarding , Caller-id, voice mail etc. Since this service is based on your having already a broadband internet connection there are some drawbacks.
a) Calling 911 - To get around this you can register your address to your number and its easy.
b) Internet outages - You can specify a number that all calls can be forwarded to in case of an outage so you dont miss any calls.
I would strongly give VOIP a try. Quality may be about 96% to 95 % of regular land lines but in my case it is not a big deal.
Sign up for Vonage here .
