Beware of signing up for a Verizon landline!

[RegEdit]

These ass clowns at Verizon set me up the most EXPENSIVE billing plan which I NEVER ordered, and once I discovered it 3 months later they conveniently refused to reimburse me for ANYTHING until I haggled, asked for their service of process address to file a lawsuit, asked for a manager, and was put on hold for 15 minutes! When setting up a line if you don't research and then ask for all of the specific service plan options you want or don't want, they will NEVER ask, and "by default" they will conveniently (to increase their profits) set you up with their "Verizon Freedom Essentials" plan which costs $54.99 rather than the measured rate plan which is only $24.78. For example I was NEVER asked if I wanted a measured rate or flat rate. I specifically told them that I had another long distance provider, yet the Verizon rep set me up with this "premium" rip-off plan that included an unlimited Verizon calling plan (which I never needed or even used)! This dude at Verizon customer service hardly asked any questions when I set up the line. He also insisted that I needed to pay for someone to come out and physically set up the line, after I told him that it was already connected from the last time that I had a second line connected. A day before the tech was scheduled to come out I discovered that (sure enough) my line was working fine as I expected, so I cancelled the appointment -- and probably saved $75. Used car dealers are more honest than Verizon. I wish the FTC would investigate Verizon just because they are bona fide assholes! They are purely driven by making the most profits off of duped customers.

 

[RegEdit]

UPDATE: Yet another Verizon disaster has occurred!
I called Verizon to disconnect one of my two land lines. That ONE of my two land lines! They even asked me at one point what is a good number to reach me at. I gave them my OTHER land line number. Simple. Well fast forward a few hours and I get an email from a friend saying that my number is DISCONNECTED!!!! So it's 11 PM at night, Verizon is shut down for the night, I've been emailing them every 5 minutes and don't expect to have phone service until tomorrow day sometime... hopefully. AND their website so-called "24 hour customer support" page is shut down! Http/1.1 Service Unavailable

USELESS: We're sorry but Verizon Live Chat is currently unavailable. We are either experiencing high customer volume or the center is closed for the day. Our Live Chat hours of operation are: Mon - Fri: 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM ET, Sat: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM ET, Sun: Closed.

So these people at Verizon are certified idiots! Total ASS CLOWNS!!!! I hope they go bankrupt. I wish I had a choice of land line providers. When that day comes I will switch ASAP!!!!!

 

[hondablaster]

I was like you once and then I got an OOMA. www.ooma.com Amazon reviewed and I highly recommend.

 

[RegEdit]

How much are those OOMA's and can you keep your phone number?

 

[hondablaster]

Yes I purchased one for my mom almost two years ago. And you can transport your number, if you just buy the standard service for the landline it will be 3.56 per month.

Free Voicemail
Free Caller ID
Free Long Distance to Anyone in the USA.
Free Web Portal to your voice mail.

I recommend it to everyone. I purchased mine back when Amazon had 100-200 reviews. Good service I stand behind it!

If you want to work when the power is out, that's simple. Buy a standard Uninterpretable power supply and connect your Modem, Router, phone, and OOma to it.

http://www.amazon.com/Ooma-Telo-Fre...W4LE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322448010&sr=8-1

4.5 stars for 1500 reviews. When you buy it let me know...

This is NOT a magic Jack wanna be.

One last tip, put it behind a router! You can have the Ooma act as some sort of router/bridge deal but gets attacked and acts funky and I just don't trust it facing my WAN. Works perfect behind any cheap NAT router no port forwards needed.

 

[RegEdit]

This thing must be dependent on the ISP. My ISP (Time Warner) goes down from time to time. Not sure I want to take that risk of being without a phone.

 

[hondablaster]

http://www.technibble.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19230&page=2

From an old thread!

 

[RegEdit]

I ported my number but not for free.... You need to buy a premier package it is 9.99 a month or $120 for a year.

So it costs $120 a year to keep your existing phone number?

 

[hondablaster]

I ported my number but not for free.... You need to buy a premier package it is 9.99 a month or $120 for a year. The package is quite attractive and perhaps I should have done it that way. There are three or 4 ways to get a free port and they change all the time.

I ported my number for $40 dollars. I just want free long distance and no contract. Without International we pay 3.40 FCC tax a month and that is it!!!

Not quite, It was a suggestion towards a package with all sorts of advanced features. They will waive the port cost if you buy the package.

 

[FoolishTech]

I was like you once and then I got an OOMA. www.ooma.com Amazon reviewed and I highly recommend.

omg 200 bucks for a sip device? What a ridiculous rip-off!

I use a google voice # with an obi100... 50 bucks.

 

[hondablaster]

I will be sure to recommend all that to my non-tech 65 year old mom. She will also enjoy the lack of support for 911 and that she will need a 3rd party provider for that service

Your suggestion is not a true stand alone replacement for PSTN.

 

[FoolishTech]

I will be sure to recommend all that to my non-tech 65 year old mom. She will also enjoy the lack of support for 911 and that she will need a 3rd party provider for that service

Your suggestion is not a true stand alone replacement for PSTN.

No need to bring your mom into it because you bought into a way overpriced SIP.

Several suggestions for your mom:

• Local hospital on speed dial
• Fire extinguisher
• Gun

That should cover 911...

Or better yet, just get her the ADT (or similar service) with that push button necklace. They call 911 for you. Then your non-tech savvy mother only has to press one button instead of three.

 

[TenYardFight]

The only post I read and I laughed out loud!

 

[hondablaster]

No need to bring your mom into it because you bought into a way overpriced SIP.

Several suggestions for your mom:

• Local hospital on speed dial
• Fire extinguisher
• Gun

That should cover 911...

Or better yet, just get her the ADT (or similar service) with that push button necklace. They call 911 for you. Then your non-tech savvy mother only has to press one button instead of three.

You spent a considerable amount of time on this post on a Saturday night. I hope you enjoy.

 

[FoolishTech]

You spent a considerable amount of time on this post on a Saturday night. I hope you enjoy.

Not sure what you mean... how much time do you think it takes to type a few lines of text? I'm not disabled ... and you hope I enjoy what?

Actually, I just spent the last 5 hours at a fundraiser for charity, yes on a Saturday night, and unpaid, to sit around and shuffle powerpoint slides. One minute of my time to reply to your mom's troubles didn't take away from my night at all!

 

[Methical]

Back on topic please guys..

 

[FoolishTech]

Back on topic please guys..

Point taken!

I would like to apologize if I offended you HB, it's been a rough weekend!

Also, (not that I use it, but I did just discover thanks to this thread that) the obi100 can in fact do E911 via a sipgate #, just not via a GV# as I have - though it can accommodate both #'s simultaneously if you chose to set it up that way. Maybe not the best setup for someone's mom, but it's a cheaper alternative is all I'm saying. Of course most anything beats the OP's Verizon option experience though!

 

[RegEdit]

The other thing Verizon does to MAXIMIZE THEIR PROFITS when you set up a new line is to INSIST on sending out a tech to work on your line. They bill you extra for this. I told the phone representative that I'd previously had a 2nd working line set up twice before and that NOTHING had changed with the physical wiring. The wires were still connected the way they always were. They said "No, no we MUST send a Verizon tech out on the day that your line is to be turned on". Well fast forward to that day. I checked my phone line and it was working just fine (dial tone and all). Fortunately I was able to call to cancel the appointment and narrowly avoid being billed. But how many OTHER customers have been unnecessarily billed by Verizon? So avoid Verizon at all cost. If you must sign up with Verizon, question everything they do. They are out to over bill you any way they can!

 

[TopLevelComp]

Have had Verizon landline for over 10 years. Never one had an issue with over billing, and any issues with the landline that needed a tech were done fast. We've had same day service, also had next day service in which the tech was stuck for a few hours trying to figure the problem out, that months bill was credited.

We've had a couple issues with the DSL, but they were all taken care of relatively quickly. Biggest issue was we were told we could do 10MB/s DSL, was fine for a few months, then one night it went wacky. Tech came out the same day (I called at 2AM), switched us to a different line, then told us our line couldn't handle 10MB/s as we were too far from the switching station. I still think he did something.

 

[mirandu04]

I would simply say just to be careful with Verizon in general