local Phone service

[Tim]

Hello! Going over our regular bills for the camp and became frustrated about the bill for the telephone. It gets very little use and we still must spend $20 a month just to hang it on the wall, not to mention long distance for another monthly service fee. We plan to dump the long distance in favor of '10 10 220' or some similar service that only charges when a call is made. Any ideas as to changing local provider for local service? Any penny pincher's out there that have been down this road?? Thanks!!!!!!!!!

[Zee]

If you have cell phone service in your area, you might drop the wall telephone service entirely. Besides, if you have the right cell plan, all long distance calls are free! We have not had a phone at camp for two years and haven't missed it.

[Grant]

At home, I ditched LD a long time ago because I'm already getting it with my wireless plan. I would consider doing the same at the Lake eventually. If you have cable service, perhaps Vonage?

[Tim]

I agree that is a good idea (cell phones) however we share the house and also occasionaly rent it so the fear is that when 911 needs to be dialed that emergency services will be 'un-timely' * There is also the issue of family members using the house that haven't caught up with the this new fangled 'cellular phone' invention. Thanks for your feedback. It will come in handy.

[Island Girl]

You can suspend service for the winter for half price. I keep the land line for computer dial up to the internet.

[Miss Cow Island]

Island Girl,
What local phone service do you have that allows you to suspend the service for the off-season? Thanks.

[tricia]

Cell phone is an option and includes LD. When I bought my camp, first thing to go was the $20 a month phone bill.

[KB@rattlesnake]

Verizon allows seasonal usage @ reduced rates as well as Direct TV

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Hi Miss Cow Island,
We have Verizon and suspended telephone service for the winter. Direct TV can also be suspended. There are internet service providers that you can get on a month by the month basis. Most of these companies don't want you to know this!
RSG

[Belmont Resident]

We dropped regular phone service for cell phone service. Best part about it..
No more telemarketing phone calls.

[Island Girl]

Verizon

[Thurston]

Is there any way to get High speed internet access on Rattlesnake Island? Does Verizon have DSL?

[Island Girl]

If you can find a high speed solution, please share. DSL was not available last spring. I think the island is too far from the local loop.

Island Girl

[Tim]

Is there competition for LOCAL only service in the region? We have Verizon now and are looking for a competitor that can save us some dough. Currently $20 monthly. Thanks for any info you can provide.

[Melissa G.]

We're in Alton and I am under the impression that the only service to our camp is Union Telephone, and they are also at about $20/month... does anyone know what the fee is to cut off service and start up again?

Also, our electric bill is ridiculous... there is absolutely NO elecricity being used up there (refrigerator is unplugged) and we're still being charged $20/month... no ideas on suspending service on that either.

[Tim]

The electric companies normally do 'estimated billing' and adjust a couple times a year when they physically read the meter. Not worth shutting elec. off. We use a circulator in the center of the dock that costs more than a few bucks a year to run.

[Steveo]

I don't think you can turn off Telephone or Electric without some hefty re-connect charge. But I do have my cable turned off for the winter and it only takes a phone call and $2 to turn it back on. As a matter of fact if I'm not going to be up to the camp for a couple of weeks in the summer I have them turn it off then too; saves me $20.

[Ike]

Union Telephone has half service for about $9.80 a month. NH Electric Coop charges a $20 a month "Customer Charge" plus the cost of electricity. Most other electric companies charge about $5.50 a month "Customer Charge".I can't get a straight answer from the Coop as to why the high "Customer Charge".

[gh@altonbay]

Melissa,

We also are served by Union Telephone and they offer the half price option for the offseason as well. We pay $11/mo. Nov. - April and this way the same # is retained. Actually the phone still has dialtone and I believe you would be able to use it to call 911 even with the reduced rate. If you disconnect altogether you wouldn't retain the #.

[Tim]

We get 2 and 1/2 TV channels at the camp and it's just the way we like it. There IS nothing on so it forces us to sit at the table playing board games if the weather is lousy. Scrabble and Backgammon are favorites...we have been discussing Direct TV, but fear the 'social change.' It just wouldn't be the same if CNN was on...trying to get away from it all includes 24 hour news networks:)

[Barney Bear]

Our Verizon service on East Bear Island is: Measured Residence Service - $6.08 plus surcharges and taxes of $8.20 for a total of $14.28 per month. AT&T long distance service monthly minimum is $7.00 plus charges of $1.69 for a total of $8.69.

[RI Swamp Yankee]

Being a rather "frugal" (read cheap) swamp yankee I was fed up with paying AT&T a fee just to be in their computer and then MCI wanted a fee. I switched to Verizon local and long distance and there was NO extra fee for long distance. Don't know if it is the same in NH but may be worth checking.

[KPG]

I believe if you have your phone service shut off you still have the ability to call 911. You may want to check if you go this route but I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

[JvB]

I know that disconnected cell phones can. I think that the rule with regular phones is that if you can hear a dial tone, you can dial 911.