Verizon Wireless Home Phone Connect

I recently discovered Verizon Wireless' Home Phone Connect unit and calling plan quite by accident. It turned out to be a happy coincidence as I had long been planning to pull my landline service away from AT&T. I had explored all the options out there, various VOIP services from Vonage and the other lesser known providers as well as the Ooma device and service. For many of the reasons you'd expect, I had difficulty going that route. (Vonage's well known billing and customer service issues, Ooma's up-front expenses and Majic Jack is an absolute no-go.)

Why was I doing this? I would've preferred to ditch the landline altogether, upping the wireless plan or installing a femotocell (microcell) but the wifey insists on a landline. My service was most recently with AT&T and I HATE having to pay them anything more than I have to ... I used to work for them and I'm fed-up with my family wireless plan and the ever increasing fees with U-Verse (like most I have little choice for TV providers and if it weren't for the kids' iPhone 4's, I'd have moved to VZ wireless long ago.) But that's aside from here. Basically I wanted the cheapest and most reasobably reliable home line I could get. VZ Wieless has a terrific solution here. Yes, it's nothing new but it works and I hope more adopt it. So far I'm thrilled with the service and have had little to no concerns over connection and voice quality. It's easily as solid as my old POTS connection and HALF as expensive! I ported over my old home number, no charge, and they accomplished it in two days! If you have solid VZ Wireless service in your area and are looking for an inexpensive alternative to a POTS landline, I highly recommend going this route over VOIP or the other strategies like Majic Jack and Ooma.

Some side benefits that aren't immediately obvious ... it's technically a wireless number so you don't have to dial 1 before the area code. Also, because it's wireless, your line is automatically unpublished ... no more unsolicited calls at all hours! It's battery powered and wireless, so if landlines are cut or down, you're still up and running. All in all, I'm very happy and so is the wifey ... and THAT's what's really important!

Great idea, not so great on the execution. And of course, it requires a contract.

Updating the programming and roaming capability does not seem to help. Tried calling Verizon, but they are "experiencing higher than normal call volumes" All of these things are not my problem, but Verizon will make them my problem. I had to use my pre-paid cell phone to make a call, but when the balance was down to $5 the phone ended the call.

Overall I have been very happy, but today has been all BAD! It only takes 1 event like this and the value goes down the drain.