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Old 07-17-2013, 03:32 PM   #1
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ATT land line? Listen up!

I'm sure most folks here have cell phones, cable tv or satellite tv and
some sort of bundle package for home phone.
That is if you have a home land line at all.

I bet there are also a few here who have or know a neighbor or relative
who has an old fashioned ATT land line.
My neighbor who is a sweet old lady with no local family has an ATT land line.
She goes to our church, we watch out for her as much as possible.
She was at our home last evening for a good home cooked meal and
the conversation got to phones.
I asked what she was paying.
She replied $96 a month!
This is for an ATT land line with all the whistles and bells and long distance.

Cut to the chase-- today with her permission I called ATT and asked
the robot voice for a RETENTION SPECIALIST.
You have to say it 2 or 3 times but the 'bot will eventually give you
a live person who's job is to keep you as a customer.

I was able to negotiate her bill down to $54 a month.
This is with the same service she has now.
I know she could go with our local Time Warner cable and get a phone
for $20 a month. I told her that but she is old and set in her ways and
wanted to stay with ATT.

$54 a month is too much but it's $40 a month LESS than she was paying
just by me calling in her behalf.

So if you or someone you know is paying some astronomical amount
for an ATT land line- you CAN get a discounted rate with a phone call to
them.
Must ask for a retention specialist. Must call during normal business hours.
ATT 800 288 2020

Her sister in another state is paying north of $100 to ATT for the same thing.
We'll get her's taken care of in a day or so.....
YOU can do this!!
Good Luck!
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Old 07-17-2013, 03:42 PM   #2
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Nice of you to save her some money!
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Old 07-17-2013, 03:50 PM   #3
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I know what you're saying about land line phones. We have talked about getting rid of ours but havent done it yet.

Being set in your ways and being used to the land line phone being on the night stand and den table does play a big part of keeping them.
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Old 07-17-2013, 03:52 PM   #4
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You can keep your same phone on the night stand or end table with
cable TV and their phone service.

My point is you CAN negotiate a lower rate in almost every case.
Why pay more than you absolutely have to!!
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Old 07-23-2013, 11:18 AM   #5
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Older people still have their land lines and I just read that more then 80% of young people under 30 don't have land lines. The future seems to be cell phones only. For the first time I used my smart phone as a hot spot for internet and could not be more pleased. It is with Verizon and the connection was fast. Before we got rid of our land line, it cost $19 per month and came with 30 minutes of long distance per month, you can choise a long distance carrier to suit your requirments, it was with Sage Telcom.
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Old 07-23-2013, 11:39 AM   #6
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I still have a land line primarily for my home alarm system and internet. Where we live, there is no cable in our subdivision because Comcast cannot get enough people to promise to sign up if they go through the expense of burying cable in the subdivision. I tried the digital phone through a company called ACN. They just lease the lines from Qwest. It would not work for my alarm or my fax machine.
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Old 07-23-2013, 12:00 PM   #7
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Blood suckers. Its all about the dollar and no guilt at taking advantage of anyone. Just grabs me the wrong way.
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Old 07-23-2013, 12:00 PM   #8
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You can renegotiate almost all services after a "contract" is up, sometimes before. We do it all the time, with cable/dish/directtv, trash services, lawn care. We usually end up with some free services for 3-12mos. (HBO/Showtime). My wife does this for several people she knows that are too intimidated by the sales reps.
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Old 07-23-2013, 12:01 PM   #9
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In a power outage lasting more than 8 hours. With the right scenario (cell phone battery dead) the cable or satellite phone battery will be dead. The old ATT land line will still be able to make calls. Given no trees are downed on lines. Land lines supply their own low voltage for operation.
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Old 07-23-2013, 12:52 PM   #10
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Not all phone lines are still active after a power outage. I have Time Warner and a burglar alarm. After a recent trip we came home to no power for 3 weeks after a storm. Seems our power is from the same line as the neighbors but drops off to its own transformer, This means we were the only one without power after it was restored. Neighbor thought it was odd that no exterior lights were on after we left but didn't give it a second thought.

Found out that the modem has no battery back up after 3 years with Time Warner. That meant that the alarm could not call out to alert the alarm company. I now have a wireless alarm. Called Time Warner and they said they has a lot of trouble with the batteries for the modem so stopped putting them in. They said they were sorry but there was no way to have an active phone line during a power failure. I have ordered a free 30 day trial from Magic Jack. If it works, I will cut Time Warner off. I know that I still will not have a phone with a power outage but don't need a more expensive line that will not work.

My alarm system was set to call my home number in the event of an emergency or power loss but without an active phone line, it could not dial out to my alarm provider. Now with a power outage, the wireless system with the battery back up will call the alarm provider who will now call my cell phone.
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Old 07-23-2013, 01:11 PM   #11
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Tiggerdad, that's the different between a POTS ("Plain Old Telephone System") and the newer digital phone systems. Firephighter was referring to a POTS system. I believe you're referring to a digital phone system.

My problem with Magic Jack is 911 service. Though, it looks like they may have better support now than they used to:
Question/Answer re: MagicJack and 911 service

In fact, 911 service is one of the reasons why I won't ditch a house-line entirely. When you call from your cell, the 911 dispatch doesn't instantly know your address. When you dial from your home phone system, they typically do (as long as you have a POTS line, digital line or setup the voice-over-IP service (e.g. Vonage or MagicJack) to have your address registered).
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Old 07-23-2013, 01:15 PM   #12
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Re: the 911 thing.. here's a bit more on it from MagicJack. IMO, this is one of the things you should be well-versed in when picking a product.

IMPORTANT ENHANCED 911 DISCLOSURE FOR magicJack CUSTOMERS.
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Old 07-23-2013, 01:38 PM   #13
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You are correct Ependydad. I still have a couple of old telephones that only require the phone line itself to work. That is how it is able to still make calls.
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Old 07-23-2013, 01:39 PM   #14
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Though, we've gone WAY off topic from what Dan first was trying to convey.
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Old 07-23-2013, 01:44 PM   #15
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True. So back to topic, I gave ATT a call the other day and went round and round with this guy. Finally I told him it was one of the two. I have a lower bill, or they have lost a customer. My bill went from $78 to $33.
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Old 07-23-2013, 02:09 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by firephighter View Post
Finally I told him it was one of the two. I have a lower bill, or they have lost a customer. My bill went from $78 to $33.
Awesome!! Did you ask for a retention specialist?? Did you ask the
live person who answered if they were one?

As to some of the other discussions-- if you have a wide spread
power outage your ATT land line will die after several hours. At least
ours did. I'm guessing they were on battery power and after about 6 hours
the line went dead. This is from an old fashioned wall phone.

Now we're on majic jack for about $30 a year. Unlimited long distance,
basic caller id, call waiting, etc etc.... quality is similar to a cell phone.
It's cheap. Right now you can buy MJ+ with 6 months service for
$30 and then continuing service is $30 for 12 months at a time.
I paid like $70 for my MJ+ a couple years ago.
MJ+ doesn't require a computer as the original MJ did. It does
have to be plugged into your router but not your computer.
IF you have a power failure and your router dies or your cable goes out, you loose the house phone.
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2017 Nissan Titan 5.6L King cab 4wd
2016 Evergreen Everlite 242RBS
29' empty nest model. Blue Ox WD hitch
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Camping days 2010-53, 2011-47, 2012-41, 2013-41, 2014-31, 2015-40, 2016-44, 2017-63, 2018-75, 2019-32, 2020-41, 2021-49, 2022-43, 2023-66
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Old 07-23-2013, 02:20 PM   #17
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Kydan, I did not ask for one. I was sent to one when the first person I spoke with did not have the capability of doing what I wanted done. I have been without power for seven Nights at one time. I was able to make calls on my telephone until the power came back on. Two of my telephones do not require anything but the phone line itself to work. Older push button type and one rotary phone. You forget how long it takes to dial a number until you use one of those.
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