We’re hoping to move into our new place in the next few weeks and I need to get services set up before we get in there.
Local/Long Distance Phone Service
Since I’m working from home, having a landline is important now (we didn’t have one for a year in California). I have to be able to FAX and use my speakerphone. 🙂 Here are some options I’ve looked into.
- Qwest
I’m annoyed with Qwest (and MSN) for misrepresenting their DSL and their phone service is expensive, so I’d like to use a different provider. However I found that Qwest has a nice package: max $20 for long distance (less if you don’t use it all) which makes the local and long distance total $45.
- AT&T
I called AT&T, but when I got in their IVR system they asked for the phone number I was calling about before I could get to a person. Um, hello – I called the number for setting up new service, I don’t have a phone number yet! I couldn’t believe it, that was a complete dead end, the IVR hung up on me. Cross them off the list…
- Vonage
Matt uses Vonage and had good things to say in general. The only problem I see is that it isn’t clear if I can get the existing phone wiring in the house to use this line. According to their docs, I need to check for ‘live PSTN voltage’ on the line.
TV/Cable
We’ve never paid more than $12/month for TV (basic reception service) and I really don’t want to pay much for a service I’m not going to use that much of. That said, I want to watch Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. 🙂 Basically, I want the major networks plus ESPN. Also complicating matters is the fact HDTV is looming on the horizon, but I’ve decided to ignore that for now.
- Comcast
The packages are not particularly compelling and the pricing is too high. The upside is I don’t have to have an ugly dish attached to my house. Also, I’d get a slight break on their cable internet service. I was actually hoping to go with this, maybe I’ll call and see if they have any unadvertised deals.
- DirecTV
Frankly, they are too expensive with pricing starting at $40; and I’m not even sure where I’d end up with a few extras – y’know, little things like local channels.
- DishNetwork
I actually called Dish and was ready to pull the trigger. They have a promo right now where I could get local channels, basic cable and a few extra sports channels for $30/month. Add $10/month for a second receiver for the future basement workout area (total of 3 TV hookups, we don’t even have 3 TVs yet) and a DVR and it’s a pretty decent package for $40/month. Then the catch, I *have* to have a phone line or they charge me an extra $5/month. Bastards.
Internet Service
I’ve used both DSL and cable modem in the past few years and the cable modem has been much better. My current Qwest/MSN DSL is really bad. Plus, DSL requires a phone line. Here are some of the options I’m looking at:
- Comcast
I used their cable modem service in California and liked it. They have a discount on cable TV service as well if I get both.
- Qwest
This is an interesting option: Qwest DSL w/o an ISP for $28/month, that’s really cheap. I really don’t need as ISP since I have my own server and use FastMail for SMTP.
Also, it turns out I could get Earthlink branded service through Qwest. That would be ok, I like Earthlink.
- DishNetwork
They offer Earthlink DSL with a package deal – $5 monthly discount for 2 years. I’d need a phone line for the DishNetwork TV service anyway.
- Earthlink
They couldn’t tell me if DSL is available in my area, I guess I need to call Qwest to find that out. They did say Cable was not available for me – which is odd. On the Comcast site it says it is available and Comcast is listed on the Earthlink site. Getting Earthlink DSL service directly would cost more than if I went through Dish for it.
Combinations
There were two options that seemed to make the most sense, then I found the third which may be a winner:
- Comcast Cable ($45) + Comcast Internet ($55) + Vonage ($35) = $135 plus taxes. This priced out pretty high, the basic cable TV and cable modem are both higher than the respective dish and DSL prices. No phone line required for this though. This only works if I can hook the Vonage up to the phone wiring in the rest of the house.
- DishNetwork TV ($40) + Earthlink DSL ($45 w/ DishNetwork discount) + Qwest local phone service ($25) + Regional Vonage ($25) = $135. Again this is expensive, but I also get a separate phone line for the business which is nice. The DishNetwork package includes some extra sports channels, a DVR and 3 TV hookups.
- DishNetwork TV ($40) + Qwest DSL w/o ISP ($28) + Qwest Local & Long Distance Phone ($45) = $113. This may be a winner. My beef is much more with the MSN folks than it is with the Qwest folks. It also makes the billing less complicated; a minor win. I don’t get the extra phone line for my business which is kind of a bummer but I can live without it.
So what about you? How have you decided to receive your 
essential 
services?
I know about working to save money, but man … DirecTV is nice, and MLB Extra Innings … don’t get me started.
I terribly miss my DirecTV.
Mainly I want to get something that fits what I need so I don’t have to go through this again. 🙄
But yeah, I’ve become a bit less free-spending since I became self-employed. Hopefully the new release will sell well. 🙂
We have the following:
SBC: Local/Long Distance, DSL. They’re pretty good…no major complaints…although don’t call their DSL support. They really suck (but, they do support Mac’s). The only thing I don’t like about DSL is it uses PPPoE (long story…don’t ask).
We just installed Vonage, I like it alot (just make sure you have a lot of “upload” bandwidth).
I think that the long term goal is to go with Birch Telecom. They have GREAT IP telephony/internet access. It’s pricy, but I think that it is worth it. Basically, they run a full T-1 to your house, and install some IP phones. That’s the “BIG” goal.
As for TV, we have DishNetwork. I have ZERO complaints (even with their support). I think that they have GREAT prices/channel selection.
Just my $0.02…
Hi Chris–
Why did you install Vonage when you already have SBC for local/long distance? Did you get it for a second line?
Birch isn’t available in Colorado yet, but they do look intriguing.
I’m glad to hear Dish is working well for you, I think that is what I’m going with.
Alex,
I’m about to move into my new house in HR and have the same dilemma as you. I currently have Comcast for cable modem and basic cable ($56 total), Qwest for local phone ($30-ish), Working Assets for long distance ($7/month). I don’t need more than basic, as I still get discovery and TLC. THe only thing I miss are the Avs games on Fox Sports, so I usually just pop over to a friends house or a bar for those.
I’m looking at switching to Vonage at the new house and dropping Qwest and Working Assets ( In know it’s a good cause, but too expensive) and going with The $25 local vonage package that still has 500 long distance minutes. you can unplug the incoming line from Qwest and just connect the vonage adapter into any open phone outlet. That will allow you to use all the phones in the house as you would normally. There’s a lot of good info on the Vonage forums about this.
Good luck!
$56 for cable and cable modem sounds great. Is that basic cable or reception service (does it include ESPN and USA for baseball and golf)?
That’s basic cable from Comcast. You don’t get ESPN or USA unfortunately. Here’s the channel lineup.
My wife and I have our phone service with Qwest and I agree with you that they are lousy. We felt their services and prices were absurd so we settled on a landline only with NO frills (no caller id, no call waiting, etc.). Even after that they tried to bill us for additional services, after we explicitly told them all we wanted was for “our phone to ring.”
Just call me the anti-Qwest.
I have Cox digital cable package for Internet and TV and like it much better than SBC DSL when i was in CA.
I have serious problems with Quest! The screwed me over in my previous business and I will never do busines with them. They are all about marketing, and they’re good at that, but that’s it as far as I can see.
Right now, I use SBC (formerly PacBell) for telephone access, though I’m about to switch to Vonage. Already made that decision, and I’m very much looking forward to it.
For cable, I’m using AT&T Time Warner Digital Cable, with a standalone TiVo attached to it. Total there is about $80/mo, but $40 of it is because we need all of the basic cable tiers in order to get the Food Network. As my wife is a classicly-trained French chef, that’s a necessity for us (as much as I hate to pay them the money.)
For DSL, we use Speakeasy. I would really suggest checking them out over at speakeasy.net. If you need good access to the ‘net, and especially if you need higher speeds, their service is incredible. A friend converted me to them, telling me how great the service was. I didn’t believe him–until I signed up. Now, I swear by them. I’ve had to call support three times, twice for a difficult problem on my end. The first-tier support person _knew what he was talking about_, and I’m a very experienced UNIX systems administrator (and he was helping me with my connection to a Sun workstation.) They are prompt, fast, know what they’re doing, and offer incredible service (or have I said that already?)
Finally, I used to live in a Qwest-serviced area; Comcast for cable. Qwest was terrible, and Comcast wasn’t much better. I’ve had regular-old DSL service (Qwest and SBC), as well as cable modem service (Comcast and AT&T Time Warner). While cable was better than either the Qwest- or SBC-based DSL, Speakeasy is much better than any of them.
Sorry for the overly-long comment. I hope this helps you somewhat!
I’ve ended up signing on with Dish for TV and Qwest for phone and DSL. The 1.5 DSL for $33/month is hard to beat, hopefully it won’t suck.
Qwest.net DSL
My phone and DSL service from Qwest was hooked up in our new place yesterday. They provide an Actiontec DSL modem that is also a router and wireless (802.11g) hub. This was very easy to set up, and you configure the router through a browser which is ve…
Phone Options
We got phone service through Qwest, but only one of the phone jacks in the house is active. It turns out the previous owner of my house had three phone lines coming into the house: a home line, a business line and a fax line. The fax line only came int…
Are you sure you don’t want to invest in better quality picture?
I know it is not the cheapest thing, but it’s worth it!
I’ll bother with HDTV when everything is broadcast in it.
Options and Services
I’ve been planning to switch to DirecTV with TiVo from our current Dish Network service, mainly because of the TiVo vs. the Dish Network DVR. When I called Dish to find out my options, I also found out that the Dish DVR could work better if we use i…
It is cheaper for you to purchse unbundled services which unfortunately mean different companies for local & long distance. My company [advertisement removed – ak] charges for domestic long distance including Canada is 4.5 cents per min. I call International at least once a week to Jerusalem & Greece and I never pay more than 10 cents per min. You don’t have a monthly fee & you don’t have to dial add’l #s
I am Anti-Qwest as a former employee they treat their people like dogs. I was injured on the job and they fired me. Can’t find an attorney in Arizona a right to work state. Glad I got that off my chest!
Ciao
I currently work for Qwest. I enjoy my job and I deal with about 250 customers in a 10.5 hour day. Trust me, talking to that many people you can really get a feel for how the customer base really feels over-all. Out of 250 I may talk to one that’s had a negative experience. It’s been nice. I plan to continue working for Qwest. And by the way, they don’t treat they’re employees like dogs. They offer incentives and great pay as far as the TSR (Tele-Sales Representative) position goes.
I use Vonage for my phone and was able to get it to tap into the phone lines throught the house (it was easy)..I have dishnetwork and a friend of mine has the same setup and has his dish working with vonage flawlessly. Vonage was the best move I have ever made with regards to a phone. I have two phone numbers one from Canada and one from CA and my bill is always 35 a mnth
I’m frustrated by my attempts at trying to get basic DSL service. I love this line from SBC today: “DSL service is $14.95. We offer a phone line with just a dial tone and no services for $15-$17 per month.”
“Why would I want a line with a dial tone and no servce?”
“Well you need the line for us to deliver the DSL.”
“So it’s not only $14.95 per month. Why does it say that on all the ads all over the internet?”
“Well the ads do say that other charges apply.”
jesus… I hate all the companies. Has anyone had service with Covad?
Cris,
Dont use Qwest, for any thing. when you have a problem they treat you like crap. Make it all sound like its your problem and not theirs. I finally had to get the Moantan Public Service Commission to do some thing about add charges to our bill, amd a on going line problems.
So if you want customer service, dont go with Qwest.
I tried to switch my Qwest number to Vonage and Vonage dropped the number. It was dead for almost two months, and they each kept blaming each other. I lost $8.000. For more information, see:
http://www.netadvent[...]eproblem.htm.
Currently I am paying $14.95 for AOL ( 5 hrs/Mon) , $50 for Verizon local calling plan and $15 for Comacast basic cable.
How can I get unlimited internet access, long distance telephone and cable service cheaper??. A friend suggested that I subscribe for cable and VOnage service. Explain how this work. Do I still need to upgrade my internet service?
I have been calling all the different companies, and they are all deceptive in their own way. They offer bundles to save, but only if you spend an extra 20-100 dollars. I just want to save…no ifs ands or buts.
I have been trying to get away from Quest, because they have never been really easy to work with. They have a very mysterious list of taxes and surcharges that if looked at closely would make you frustrated. I really wish they weren’t such a MONOPOLY.
Anyway, I’m mostly looking forward to a new fiberoptic network to become available in my area. The city has already laid fiber optics through our yard, and it should be a couple months before it becomes available. It’s called Utopia.
They offer up to 15 Megabit connection. That’s 10 times faster than Comcasts 1.5 Megabit High speed Cable internet. I know that AT&T SBC offers that and some other optical network services. I think AT&T has an 8 megabit connection…which is still really fast for $10 less than the 15 Megabit connection. I’m still looking and waiting, but in the mean time, I found a relatively decent deal from Quest of all places. After talking to them for the bajillionth time, one of their more experienced sales persons told me of one of their unadvertised plans that doesn’t involve MSN. IT is only $24 a month (incl. tax) in addition to my basic phone service that is also $24 a month (Which is one of the worst basic phone packages that has ever seen the light of day — The taxes on the “$11 package” bring it to $24. The taxes cost more than the actual service!!!!!!!!!)
Anyway, we are already paying the basic phone service, so the additional $24 a month for basic 256 K DSL from Quest is better than the other more expensive deals I’ve seen from their competitors.
There are however some local companies that are going to be offering home phone services at a much cheaper price, and when they do, I’m switching everything to them.
I have to go through Qwest for DSL right now, and until I find another company to offer a home phone service in my area, because No matter who I get DSL from, Qwest will still charge me a $15 charge for the privalege of using their phone lines. Sick huh!?
Anwyay, this is all getting confusing. Just make sure you know exactly what you are getting and paying when you sign up for any service.
p.s. AOL is like a virus on most computers. Your computer becomes an AOL machine and it doesn’t like it if you try to remove it.
the best phone would be lingo which is a voip similar to vonage but the good thing is that they don’t sell your information. i have had it for a year and haven’t had a single call from telemarketiers yet. as far as internet goes sbc sucks all the way. specially if you try to do anything related to server from your house. they have blocked all the ports that you need open and first the denied to have any form to open the ports manually and when i found the form that says i have the right to open the ports if i need to they started doing weird stuff on my smtp forwarding so my exchange wouldn’t work properly. whenever i got hold of their technical support they would decline to help me unless i ordered the business class dsl. so i am getting speakeasy on dedicated line and canceling both sbc dsl and phone services all together. speakeasy prices are really good for static ip address i just have to test it out for a month and see how it performs. but so far i am very satisfied with their technical support and customer service they pick up the phone right away and are knowledgable too.
Have had Qwest with my combined phone lines and dsl. Just moved to a new home (downsized) and Qwest says I can’t have dsl at my new address. Doesn’t seem quite right when the people across the street have it. I am 85 years old. Living on Soc. Sec. only and can’t afford too high priced a system. I am back on ‘dial-up’ and the wait for downloads etc. is terrible. I know I am 85 and what else do I have to do but sit and wait. Not the point. Does anyone know who I should contact to get the best deal. If I can’t get it anymore through Qwest does that mean nobody else can give me dsl either?
Can someone out there make an old man happy?
Chuck
by far the worst service provider for land-line phone service is Cavalier. I complaint about static and poor connections for over a month; Cavalier did nothing. When the service went out totally (no dial tone), Cavalier still ddi nothing. It took them a week to disconnect the service and cancel my accout. They are inept, unprofessional, and just plain rude!
John, I had a lot of problems with CavTel also, especially with their DSL. I am looking to switch soon. I am waiting for Comcast to work out their bugs with their new PowerBoost technology.
In response to some post recommending Speakeasy I would have to say that I have had a horrible experience with them. I would NEVER RECOMMEND SPEAKEASY to anyone. I have had them for a year and HATE their SERVICE. They refuse to even answer many emails sent to them requesting support. I have sent them numerous emails and all I get is an automated response.
Well like normal qwest is a joke just so anyone who is looking at going to qwest just think that you are supporting a company that tells there employees that when there family is ill I E a baby or that if your sick and don’t come in that u don’t have a job. They had one employee that has mono (per a doctor) and if he doesn’t come in he doesn’t have a job. They don’t care about customers and the “Sprit of service” is a joke I deal with all the mistakes that sales do. for example I had a customer that had it via email from a sales rep how much they were to be paying with taxes, I seen the email. The managers on my team said oh well there’s nothing that can be done. The customer was in a 2 year contract for the DSL and 12 months for dtv and now he is getting ripped off because qwest has no “Sprit of serviceâ€?. They train the employees on how to give the customer the “promise of value” more like how can we rip u off today. I work for them and have seen all the BS they feed customers to get a sale they also cant even get the orders right for employee do u think that they give a whoop about so Joe blow, take it from one of there employees they don’t. I wont put my name on this because qwest will fire me for giving out there confidential information.
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