I need just a landline phone without Internet--who are the best providers for such in Sebastopol?
Thanks, Hearthstone.
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I need just a landline phone without Internet--who are the best providers for such in Sebastopol?
Thanks, Hearthstone.
Last edited by thedaughter; 04-18-2015 at 12:05 PM.
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I don't know how this compares, but my landline is an ATT wireless home phone. Costs me $24 a month including all taxes etc for unlimited nationwide calling. Since its wireless, the only connection fee is buying the modem. And you can plug and play it anywhere using your wireless #---sort of like a cell phone in that regard.
-Gypsey
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As far as I know, AT&T is the only company that offers landline phone service in this area. If your income is low enough or you receive certain benefits, you may qualify for Lifeline service: very low rates for local calls.
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Have you checked with sonic.net? I use them for my landline and my internet. I'm in Petaluma but I believe sonic.net was in Sebastopol before it came to P'town.
Last edited by thedaughter; 04-20-2015 at 01:27 PM.
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Many companies provide landline service within Sebastopol City limits and in the countryside. I use Comcast because I need its high speed internet service here in the countryside, which Sonic does not yet reach. So I bundle those two services.
I would recommend my cell phone service. It is Consumer Cellular, based in Oregon. Their monthly service starts at $10 a month. I have the $15 a month plan, which includes about 250 minutes. If you are 50 years or older, you can join AARP and get a discount. The service by Consumer is so much better than the Comcast service--prompt and not always trying to sell you products that you do not need.
Last edited by thedaughter; 04-20-2015 at 01:28 PM.
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The other great thing about Consumer Cellular is that they don't require a contract. You can opt out at any time. I would second Shepherd's recommendation.
...I would recommend my cell phone service. It is Consumer Cellular, based in Oregon. Their monthly service starts at $10 a month. I have the $15 a month plan, which includes about 250 minutes. If you are 50 years or older, you can join AARP and get a discount. The service by Consumer is so much better than the Comcast service--prompt and not always trying to sell you products that you do not need.
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Just wondering why you prefer a land line to a cell phone? So many are getting rid of their land lines in favor of cell phones. You had posted that you were looking for land to live on, so it seems that you found a place?
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I prefer a landline for many reasons. The quality of the voice is so much better, which is important to me, since I need to spend a lot of time on the phone. Cell phones often hang up, and can be used while driving and doing other things. When I am talking on the phone, that is all I am doing. I can tell when people are distracted doing other things. We live in a culture of mass distraction. Please do not call me when you are eating, chewing gum, washing dishes, etc.
Cell phones become an addiction, much like cigarette packages in earlier times. The minerals to make and update them are from Africa. Multi-national corporations covet those minerals and civil wars are fought over them. "Blood phones" are like "blood diamonds." People who keep updating them to the most recent smart phones do so at the costs of extracting more from the Earth and having millions of people die in the civil wars. For people who are interested, I can refer them to articles on this.
I consider the Industrial Revolution to be an assault on the Earth, followed by the High Tech Revolution, which is a second major assault on the Earth. While I do use these tools, I do not consider them neutral. They impact the human personality and tend to make us more industrial, machine-like, speedy, and distracted.
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Shepherd,
I appreciate your input, and actually I rarely use my old "dumb" cell phone, but take it with me for emergencies that may happen when I'm on the road. I don't want to be attached to my cell phone or my land line, and when it rings I only answer it if it's convenient for me, or if I'm waiting for a call.
We have the Ooma system, so we have unlimited calls anywhere in the US for $10 a month, and calls also get recorded to our computer, so that's very handy as a record, even after I erased the message on the phone itself.
The time is here when people will really be "connected" to their communication devices through wearables or imbedded chips. Ugh! I want no part of it; I value my privacy. Even if someone is calling to tell me that a relative has died, there's little I can do about it.
People feel pressured to have the latest smart phone, and I consider that an addiction well orchestrated by marketing which hardly needs to be done anymore, except for announcing the available date that people can camp out the night before the stores open, to be in line to BUY IT! This is a sad state of affairs, and keeps us impoverished economically and emotionally.
The main reason I asked Hearthstone about this request was that I had seen his recent post about looking for "marginal land" to camp on, and wondered how that fit in with a land line.
Last edited by thedaughter; 04-21-2015 at 12:51 PM.
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For what it is worth, I got a Consumer Cellular phone a few years back only to discover that they utilize AT&T towers and it did not get reception out here in Occidental or in the river area (Monte Rio, et cetera), so it only worked when I was out of the area toward Sebastopol and Santa Rosa. I now have a smartphone I bought on eBay and no-contract service through Verizon that works most everywhere, and pay much less than a AT&T land-line. I believe some folks prefer a land-line because of quality of reception and continuity, preferring that over cell phones which may also have issues with concerns over exposure to the radio-magnetic frequencies. I am very happy with my cell phone.
Bruce
Last edited by thedaughter; 04-21-2015 at 12:51 PM.
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Not meaning to hijack the thread, but Page Plus is a great prepay cell service that uses the Verizon network, so generally better coverage here in the west county. I'm paying $30/month for 1200 minutes/unlimited text/500 mb data; my wife's on a $10/100 minute plan for her rarely-used phone. Decent customer service. Two badger paws WAY up!
On the landline front, we just switched from ATT to Sonic. Their basic internet/landline package is $56/month all-in (taxes and everything), with unlimited long distance and even some free international calling. We've got an odd situation with two buildings and two phone lines, and it made sense to buy two separate lines even though it gives us an extra internet connection - overall, we save $$ compared to our previous ATT and long distance carrier. Their customer service is beyond awesome. Highly recommended!
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