What is the cheapest way to have a landline?

Posted on: 10 Aug 2024

It has been quite normal for most homes to have their landline phone. But now due to the availability and convenience of cell phones, more and more people have disposed of their home phones. But it is still advantageous to have a landline, for cases with weak signal on the cellphone, for those who have no cellphone at all for emergencies or as a backup phone, and for business establishments where phone communication is preferred. If you are interested in engaging a landline service without having to spend much, use the following guide to identify some of the cheapest services that you can engage.

Consider a VoIP Landline Broadband Telephone Service
If you wish to avail a landline internet service at a cheap price, then getting a VoIP provider is the best solution. VoIP means Voice over Internet Protocol services, which work by sending voice information through the Internet connection instead of through the normal analog wireline services. Currently, there are so many VoIP suppliers in the market including Ooma, MagicJack, and Vonage among others which offer basic home phone service packages at as low as $5-$10 per month with no commitment to any long-term contract. This is considerably cheaper when compared to the normal packages that come with the normal phone company landlines.

In VoIP communication, you will require an internet connection with good bandwidth, and in some cases, you may have to buy some devices such as a VoIP adapter or an Obi box. But in the broad scheme of things, you can have a working landline number for less than one hundred dollars a year. Today’s VoIP landlines have a good sound quality and come equipped with additional services such as call transfers, voice mail, identification of the caller, dialing of emergency numbers, and other features. But for an ‘alternative’ home phone service that doesn’t entail a costly, long-term contract, VoIP is hard to beat.

Use Promotions to Bundle Your Landline with Internet or Cable
If you desire a more old-school landline, and you are a customer of a cable or internet service provider such as AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum, Xfinity, and the rest, then having your services bundled means you will be saving a lot of money. It is always good to note that these companies are normally ready to give better discounts and incentives to the consumers who subscribe to TV/internet/phone or Internet/phone bundles instead of subscribing to only one service.

For instance, you might find the price of the AT&T home phone service only averaging $30 to $50 per month. However, extending the service provided by an existing AT&T internet plan may only cost an additional $10 per month. However, do remember that any company that offers bundle pricing typically has the prices locked in only for the first year or so before they start charging more. But then again, there is always a chance to get a better promotional rate or change your bundle configurations in the following years to minimize your monthly tariffs. Thus, when ‘bundling’ traditional landline service with particular emphasis on offering it together with high-speed broadband Internet access (which has already been in practice in many countries), the actual physical phone line turns into a rather cheap service.

For this paper, let the Basic Phone Package Deal be defined as the promotional service that offers free voice calls and text messages to customers.
A few of the old telecommunication companies such as AT&T and Verizon, for instance, still provide fundamental home telephone service that only allows for basic calling at reasonably affordable rates per month – if you can get the plans.

For instance, the most basic home phone offering from AT&T Internet starts from $18 per month. What’s more, it provides free local and domestic long-distance calls. While there are no additional bonuses or nice touches offered via this package, it serves as a good solution if you require simple phone communication. Verizon’s basic home phone plan also is about $20 a month and includes unlimited nationwide calling without any other features. The taxes and fees will have an additional effect on the final price of the deal, but if one does not need any further calling services or additional features, these discounts in basic package offers can still be relatively cheap.

You might be required to be an existing customer who has not used the provider before, has a good credit score, etc Those small prints are there and you might find that the rates are hiked or a free certain service is now charged after the first few months. Still, if available, entry-level legacy phone company packages can provide fairly low-rate voice service over a dedicated landline on conventional twisted-pair copper wire infrastructure.

Sample for Choosing a Phone with: The Best Overall Value, The Best for International Calling, and The Best for Business Use
Not all landline service providers use the package or flat rates as the means of billing but some even use the per-call or minute billing system. There are companies such as SafeLink Wireless and Q Link Wireless that provide free or very cheap Wireless Landline Phones and first minutes of use for free for qualified applicants. Check for refurbished versions of the wireless landline handsets at eBay or Amazon and they are usually sold for approximately $30. Minutes were at a rate of 10 cents per unit with no fixed monthly charges or annual commitments.

The disadvantage of such options is that quite often you have to qualify based on, for instance, low-income or government benefits, etc. Also, the pay-as-you-go offers no unlimited minutes meaning costs can go up depending on the usage of the landline. However, for the limited use of the landline for qualifying users, the prepaid wireline home phones are readily available starting with almost zero and are a blessing during a calamity.

VoIP through Low-Cost Internet
For home internet and phone, you can try prepaid or low-income internet alongside primordial VoIP, which can meet this need for an affordable package. Free High-Speed Internet – FreedomPop, Humm, and Mobile Beacon are ISP service providers that offer free high-speed internet, low with-data prices, and no-contract plans.

These services can be matched with a very economical VoIP service like for instance the Magic Jack PREMIUM which goes for $99.99 annually or $4.16 every month. This makes the use of VoIP over low-priced prepaid internet resemble a landline phone but with all the features of the modern world and almost zero monthly costs or commitments. The main prerequisites are to have a fast connection to the internet from an inexpensive service provider plus VoIP equipment.

Step up to the times and get a COPPER Phone Line
To the chagrin of the new breed of VoIP and internet service providers, it is still possible to get those old-fashioned copper wire telephone connections through those old-fashioned phone companies and for free each month. However, this option entails purchasing the copper phone line directly from a third-party landline reseller once it is an inactive line. Verizon has sold off many of its copper lines It is now purchasing by companies like Santel Communications and reselling the lines no longer used after the fiber optic network has been installed.

This is a considerable initial investment of $399 for the inactive landline. However, no more registration fees, taxes, service charges, etc., or anything else beyond ad hoc usage charges billed, if and only if you use the line by Verizon when you have purchased the line. As one emergency-only copper phone line without the monthly service fee, and while it is possible to purchase an inactive Verizon landline, it is a quirky option.