Any experiences or opinions on porting home telephone numbers to a cell phone??

[kjo]

Hey all

I was thinking of porting my home phone to a cell phone provider as we got the phone for internet...but internet is so slow that now we are thinking high speed. So i was thinking of porting the home phone to verizon or t-mobile and was wondering if anyone had some feedback about that.

[willycox420]

port your phone number to AT&T wireless, make sure the phone works in your house. Get a bluetooth phone, and a bluetooth connection for your computer. they sell them at best buy, comp USA i bought mine on E-bay for $20 and it works pretty good. i would reccomend a higher priced one thought they are better quality. if you get a bluetooth phone you can use AT&T's EDGE network wich is going to be twice as fast as dial up. out of all the wireless providers AT&T's EDGE network is in fact the fastest, at this present time. if you have any questions on service you can e-mail me at john.wilcox@attws.com

[rich6880]

I biggest concerns would be cell phone reliablity, cost of incomming calls, lack of extensions when phone rings, ability to always hear the ringing phone.
I believe that cellular technology is not quite ready for that move.

[WirelessBeachBum]

Originally Posted by rich6880

I biggest concerns would be cell phone reliablity, cost of incomming calls, lack of extensions when phone rings, ability to always hear the ringing phone.
I believe that cellular technology is not quite ready for that move.

The technology is in place, most carriers are not selling it however because it does not fit into their business plans. They want your phones mobile so you will use more airtime. In the past before the days of Unlimited Local plans with the smaller regional wireless companies, fixed wireless was a great alternative for many folks who did not want a home phone. I sold hundreds of fixed units, but once the company I worked for went to an unlimited plan we dropped the fixed units. Qualcomm used to make a fixed wireless Unit, and Motorola also made one, but they both stopped and now the best source for fixed units is Telular. I spoke with them at CTIA and they are trying to get their leg in with some of the major US carriers again, but they aren't fitting into the marketing plans of most carriers. They do quite well in countries without a developed landline system. So the technology is there the market in the US just may not be ready for it.

http://www.telular.com/

[chefofthefuture]

I would not do it for the reasons Rich mentioned. Plus it's always good to have a backup way of contacing people in case of emergencies. I keep a corded phone plugged into the wall ever since I had a fire in a fusebox that knocked out my cordless phone. Had to run to the neighbors to call the fire department.

Also, if you're going to get high speed internet, have you decided between DSL and Cable? When I got my DSL, they required a phone line to get DSL.. so that may change your decision.

[kjo]

Just an update.

We went ahead and shut the home phone off. 75.00 a month for dial up internet was ridiculous. (the only reason why we got the home phone was for a deal with msn dialup like i had in Salem) Everyone called my cell phone anyway so the only time the home phone would ring was when a solicitor was trying to get ahold of the people who had the phone before us....

We ended up getting Comcast high speed as we are too far from the center hub to get dsl. I can't tell you the difference this high speed makes. WOW So for 55.00 a month we are getting cable and high speed internet.

I moved my cell phone over to America's choice 39.99 plan, with national long distance and coverage, and "IN" network calling which will fix the problem of when my relatives call me at 8 their verizon phone is free but mine isn't until 9...so the in network will fix that. I think 400 min..is more than enough for the daytime usage as i hardly ever go over my 300 minutes from the local 30.00 plan. And this will be good if I travel like I did a few weeks ago to california and had to use a phone card because my phone was roaming and i wasn't going to pay 69cents a minute for that..... Portland Oregon is pretty much all digital coverage so i don't think i will have a problem.

Then what i did was take my old Nokia 5120(only had 8 hrs of talk time on it) from when I had AT&T through the credit union while going to college.... and took it into the local ATT store and had them put it on a FREE2GO plan for 10.00 bucks. That way my fiance if he's at home and i'm out and about can get ahold of me..otherwise he can call me from work. But for the most part we are together...Also with this superfast internet service...he can also just go to Verizon's website and text message me...

So I think that this arrangement will work( let's hoping anyway ). 10.00 for 90 days worth (40 minutes)of coverage is pretty good for a prepaid...and I guess when we get to the day of having no TDMA will deal with it.... but who knows by then we may end up on another family share plan.

Can anyone out there tell me how America's choice works for them? Do you hit a lot of "roaming" areas???? that's the only thing that makes me nervous... i've always had the local plan so i never had to worry about looking at the display...

[AnthroMatt]

Good luck kjo! I just ported my home phone over to a 3rd line on my Sprint account last week. It's nice being able to take my "home" phone with me everywhere I go.

[budney]

Yes, Good luck with the cell & cable modem. I will be in your shoes next month as I am getting my own place again (YAY! ). I liked having a cell only when I lived in Eugene. I only used a phone line for dial-up. I would like to help you with the AC coverage, but I never paid attention to my phone either. I had a NSR West plan while I lived in Eugene.