Bellsouth and the Internet Phone

[nndhawan]

Well I don't like bellsouth for crap, I hate them so much because they barely like to upgrade and are very ambiguous to their customers, and their tech support can't do more than what they are told to do.  My problem is this and I want to see what you guys can tell me.  I want to lower my phone costs by switching to lingo or a VOIP, because bellsouth phone is nearly $40, which is a piece of shit when I only ask for the $10 phone line and $10 caller ID, which totals $20.  This doesn't make sense and is a rip if you ask me since the extra $20 is from a bunch of BS surcharges and taxes that bellsouth puts on the bill.  So I want to get lingo so I only get charged for $20 a month (like this i can upgrade my internet), but what Bellsouth tech support is telling me is that I need a bellsouth phone active in order to have bellsouth DSL, but why pay for their phone when you only want their internet.  I would like to ask anybody else who has bellsouth dsl if they use a VOIP and not their phone service.  Cause I want to be sure before I go off the limb and get lingo and turn out to be still paying for bellsouth phone service because I need the phone line to have the dsl and hence still pay for the VOIP.  Which would be a total rip on part of bellsouth.

[dlewis23]

Well I don't like bellsouth for crap, I hate them so much because they barely like to upgrade and are very ambiguous to their customers, and their tech support can't do more than what they are told to do.  My problem is this and I want to see what you guys can tell me.  I want to lower my phone costs by switching to lingo or a VOIP, because bellsouth phone is nearly $40, which is a piece of S#!t when I only ask for the $10 phone line and $10 caller ID, which totals $20.  This doesn't make sense and is a rip if you ask me since the extra $20 is from a bunch of BS surcharges and taxes that bellsouth puts on the bill.  So I want to get lingo so I only get charged for $20 a month (like this i can upgrade my internet), but what Bellsouth tech support is telling me is that I need a bellsouth phone active in order to have bellsouth DSL, but why pay for their phone when you only want their internet.  I would like to ask anybody else who has bellsouth dsl if they use a VOIP and not their phone service.  Cause I want to be sure before I go off the limb and get lingo and turn out to be still paying for bellsouth phone service because I need the phone line to have the dsl and hence still pay for the VOIP.  Which would be a total rip on part of bellsouth.

the only way you are going to be able to do this, get cable internet. bellsouth requires you to have local phone from them to get internet from them.

[richcornucopia]

For any dsl service you will need a phone number that is an active line with a dial tone. Some companies offer dsl with no phone line needed but it usually costs extra because that company rents the line from a local telco. See what the cheapest phone package bellsouth offers and add it with the dsl and voip charge and see if you would still save any money.

[dlewis23]

For any dsl service you will need a phone number that is an active line with a dial tone. Some companies offer dsl with no phone line needed but it usually costs extra because that company rents the line from a local telco. See what the cheapest phone package bellsouth offers and add it with the dsl and voip charge and see if you would still save any money.

i think he is on the cheapest phone package now.

[richcornucopia]

I know my phone company offers a package for like 10 dollars a month which I was considering getting along with their dsl and then vonage, but cable and vonage turned out to be cheaper.

[Guest thecableguy]

Well I don't like bellsouth for crap, I hate them so much because they barely like to upgrade and are very ambiguous to their customers, and their tech support can't do more than what they are told to do.  My problem is this and I want to see what you guys can tell me.  I want to lower my phone costs by switching to lingo or a VOIP, because bellsouth phone is nearly $40, which is a piece of S#!t when I only ask for the $10 phone line and $10 caller ID, which totals $20.  This doesn't make sense and is a rip if you ask me since the extra $20 is from a bunch of BS surcharges and taxes that bellsouth puts on the bill.  So I want to get lingo so I only get charged for $20 a month (like this i can upgrade my internet), but what Bellsouth tech support is telling me is that I need a bellsouth phone active in order to have bellsouth DSL, but why pay for their phone when you only want their internet.  I would like to ask anybody else who has bellsouth dsl if they use a VOIP and not their phone service.  Cause I want to be sure before I go off the limb and get lingo and turn out to be still paying for bellsouth phone service because I need the phone line to have the dsl and hence still pay for the VOIP.  Which would be a total rip on part of bellsouth.

In defense of your provider the surcharges you make reference to are required by Federal, State and City laws.  They are taxes imposed and approved by you the tax payer in many cases.  Now I know they're high, in many cases more than $14.00 per month in total but trust me...your ISP does not make a dime off them.  However, if they refused or stopped collecting them your local tax collector would shut em down.

Now the above also applies to cable companies that are now embarking on the VOIP trip and trust me....nobody is happy about it.  You can change this...there is at least one federal tax that goes back to the Spanish American war (yup, yer still payin for it today).  The irony of the whole thing is that this war was paid for ages ago....the money now goes into a literal slush fund that is used for pretty much anything our government wants with little to no accounting for it.  Recently there was a big flap over this (evidently not big enough because we're still being taxed).  Who elects your government....you do....you want the taxes to stop....then you need to stand up and be counted and let your reps know you're ****** off and not going to take it any more.....

[tommie gorman]

Welcome to the forum nndhawan 

Yeah, read your bill and discuss it with wour phone co. Bet it is taxes and 911 etc... Just the way it is. 

I love it when a company calls and wants me to change because they can save me $. I ask about the taxes...

[nndhawan]

Well you guys have confirmed what bellsouth has told me about my connection and phone, I think that if the service is not worth the price (i.e. the internet goes down every once in awhile and the price is too high for just phone and caller ID) I might go on to cable.  However, Comcast is the only other cable provider and is very expensive if you don't have their cable tv, but their internet is extremely reliable and I have heard rumors that they are going to upgrade services such as a 1.5mb upload (which is the only thing I really want cause i'm a gamer and like to play online).  Hopefully, some competition on part of Comcast will get bellsouth to rethink about their service in my area becuase all in all I just want a great speed but at a reasonable price.  I want to know though if I ask my tele co. to just give me the phone line with a dial tone (meaning $10 per month), would my taxes still be at $20 or would it be adjusted to the $10? 

Oh and thanks for the welcome tommie gorman

[richcornucopia]

How much are you paying for internet now?

Earthlink, which resells comcast and rr has the 6meg service for 45.95 a month.

So with that and vonage is about 70 bucks, what are you paying now in total?

[nndhawan]

hmmm, thats funny my total is $70 (that includes the phone/internet/taxes/surcharges).  But if the speed is 6megs that is better than mines since I have the ultra package which runs at $32.95 and with the registry tweaks I get 3megs (I pay for 1.5megs   ).  The phone bill (stated in the first post is around $37 so it totals at $70).  But wait are you saying that Earthlink sells comcast at $45.95 at 6 megs or is Comcast still the dominant provider, because I know that 6megs/384kbps is 42.95 for cable tv customers.  However, I do not have comcast cable and my rates would go for $57.95 in my area for a slower download (same upload), so comcast charges well over bellsouth (nearly twice as much). 

[richcornucopia]

Earthlink receives discounts from the cable companies and is therefore able to sell it at a cheaper rate then if you just want internet and no tv service.

http://www.earthlink.net/highspeed/pricing/

[tommie gorman]

Yes it would be adjusted to the $10.

[RJ44]

I have the ultra package which runs at $32.95 and with the registry tweaks I get 3megs (I pay for 1.5megs   ). 

I wouldn't laugh too loud about it, since what you're describing isn't possible.  DSL isn't like cable where you can tweak the modem or something.  They provision your line at a certain speed and that is all the speed there is to get, tweaks or not.

Now, maybe they screwed up and your line is provisioned at 3meg, that's always possible.  But if it's provisioned for 1.5megs, there is absolutely no way you can get 3meg.

[dlewis23]

I wouldn't laugh too loud about it, since what you're describing isn't possible.  DSL isn't like cable where you can tweak the modem or something.  They provision your line at a certain speed and that is all the speed there is to get, tweaks or not.

Now, maybe they screwed up and your line is provisioned at 3meg, that's always possible.  But if it's provisioned for 1.5megs, there is absolutely no way you can get 3meg.

he is deffently not getting 3meg on the 1.5mb plan unless they did provision his line wrong,  but if he is infact on the 1.5mbps plan he can not get faster then 1536kbps

[dlewis23]

hay RJ44 do you have anyidea why bellsouth caped the upload 512kbps and did not overcap it like they did the download.

[jypagan]

I have lingo. and i only pay about $36 with taxes includes all the basic stuff like caller id, 3 way calling, call waiting, call forwarding, the best part you can call to some international contries like UK for free included on you packages