Sick of your phone bill? Try Vonage or MagicJack!

Posted by littlemissknowitall

August 31, 2008 |

Two years ago we got very tired of Cincinnati Bell. There was a great deal running at Circuit City when you tried Vonage (we got a $200 gift card to use towards Christmas presents) and we signed up. We’ve never looked back! For $25 a month we get unlimited calling, all the bells and whistles we could want, along with free calls to the in-laws over in England. We’ve not had a spot of trouble with the service. And when we left Cincinnati Bell, we saved $20 a month on our local and long distance phone bill! If you’re tired of your phone company, I can highly recommend Vonage. My personal favorite feature is the Vonage Access–when we’re travelling, we dial a local Vonage phone number, and enter our home number. It connects us to home (or whatever phone we have our account set to forward to) for free! My in-laws in England and my grandparents in Louisville all call us whenever they want, for free! You can keep your old phone number.

Vonage offers plans as low as $15 a month, and they offer a FREE month trial! If you’ll email me, I’ll send you my information and you’ll get 2 months FREE as a referral!!

Now, MagicJack is not a product I’ve tried, but I’ve heard GREAT things about it. Its a similar concept to Vonage–plug a device into your computer or router, then plug your normal phone into the device. After a free one month trial, you pay a one-time fee of $39.95 for a year’s worth of phone service, with each additional year being a $19.99 annual fee and then all your calls within the US and Canada are free. You cannot port your old number to it, but still, for less than $20 a year, it seems like a GREAT deal!! During the free trial, they’ll send you the adapter for free, as well as let you try the service for one month FREE!

Comments

8 Comments so far

Vanessa on August 31, 2008 5:23 pm
Personally I was very dissatified with Vonage. I live on the Kentucky side of the river and called Insight one day to make some changes to my bill and the call dropped. I called back from my cell phone and they told me that they were rolling out the phone program and I said sign me up. I’m happy with that. $25 a month, unlimited long distance. My CB bills were up to $200 a month with my best friends living all over the country and family as well. You do have to pay for overseas calls at the moment but I don’t make many of those.
littlemissknowitall on September 1, 2008 10:23 am
I’m sorry to hear that! We live in NKY too, and have had nothing but trouble with Insight. So did my grandparents and parents down in Louisville. The only trouble we’ve ever had with Vonage was when the Insight broadband went out.
Andrea @ Mommy Snacks on September 1, 2008 6:10 pm
I also heard Vonage is going to be offering a DSL service too - when they do that, I’m definitely switching! And, I’ve heard sooo many good things about Magic Jack too!
singlemom on September 2, 2008 9:21 am
I would like the information on Vonage, and the two free months. My email is edited by LMKIA.
Emily on September 2, 2008 3:34 pm
I have been wanting to try Vonage, you see, I live waaaaay out in the sticks, about an hour east of the Cincinnati Metro, and out here, we don’t even get cell phone service! The only land line provider is Verizon and I am NOT happy with them at all! My only problem is that I have them bundled for my DSL and DirecTv services….. I would like to try Vonage since it is way cheaper, but I’m not sure who to get my DSL service through…. any ideas? I know I can get it through DirecTv but it’s quite expensive!
Peggy on October 24, 2008 10:41 am
I would like the information on Vonage, and the two free months. Thanks
littlemissknowitall on October 24, 2008 12:13 pm
Peggy, there is a link in the blogroll that says “Two Free Months at Vonage” Click it and it will take you to the sign up page where you will get two free months.

I’ve had Vonage for two years now and really like it. I’ve had no issues with it. My friends and family can’t tell I’m using an internet phone. I use the same phone I had before. Make sure when you’re signing up that you sign up for the free equipment.

My personal faves of Vonage are that it has all the bells and whistles included–free voicemail, free call forwarding, etc. (I have my home phone ring simultaneously at home and on my cell, so I never miss a call.) I got to keep my old number, so that’s not been a problem. I love being able to call anyone nationwide and not face long distance charges. And since my in laws live in England, we love the free calls to the UK too. My kids know that if they pick up the phone and push a certain button, they get their grandmother or uncle on the phone. And when we travel, we have a local access number we can call home with, for free!
Peggy on October 24, 2008 1:38 pm
I signed up on line but had issues with them charging me the 29.99 activation fee. Customer Service was a nightmare. Took over an hour to get resolved so I canceled the service. Rather pay more than waste an hour of my time

Thanks anyway!