Our family has been without a landline for at least twelve years.  Once my husband and I both had cell phones, we used those exclusively to make long-distance calls as well as our daily call routines.  Now that we have little kids, though, I feel the need to have a landline again.  For one thing, my daughter is old enough to start calling her friends just to chat.  I don’t want her using my cell phone all the time for that, and she’s not really responsible enough to keep up with her own cell phone just yet.  Also, we are outside at the pool a lot and I’d like to have a cordless phone to take outside with me—one that is NOT my cell.  Finally, I just want one here for emergency purposes.  Call me old-fashioned, but it just seems easier to teach my kids the whole 9-1-1 spiel using a “real” phone instead of a cell phone.   Especially since they would have to dig in the abyss of my purse to find said cell phone if such a need should surface.  Therefore, I set upon a quest to find a great deal on a landline.

Under no circumstances did I want to go back to the traditional phone service.   We spent about $60 per month on that when we had it, and rarely used it.  Since we will only use our landline for occasional calls, this needed to be a major budget-friendly phone service.  So traditional phone service=strike one.

We did the whole bundle thing with our cable company.  You know the deal…Internet, TV, and phone for one low low price.  Yes, it was only $5 per month for unlimited calling.  I used my cable phone exactly three times.  I called my friend to let her know what my new number was.   I called my mom.  I called myself so I could record the number on my cell phone.  That night we had a power outage and the cable phone never worked again.  My husband determined that something had happened to the line, so he disconnected it. The cable and Internet all work great….just no phone.  Strike two.

Then I heard about VOIP from NetTalk.  Available at Target, this handy device connects your phone to your router or computer.  You can also use WiFi!  The VOIP has many of the features that landlines offer—caller ID, voicemail, and more.  When you buy the device (retails for $45.99 plus tax), it includes one year of service.  After that, you can choose your package.  The packages start at around $29.95 per year for basic service.  I set mine up in about an hour and I am not tech-savvy at all.   They also offer tech service if you need help setting yours up.  Since you can buy it at Target and other national retailers, it’s super convenient as well as affordable.   Homerun!

Connect with NetTalk on Facebook and Twitter.     NetTalk is offering one lucky reader a NetTalk unit.   Giveaway ends 8/25 and is open to US/CAN readers. Enter using the Rafflecopter form below.

(Note: I experienced technical difficulties & lost the Rafflecopter entries for this giveaway. I had to restart the giveaway on 8/23. The data did not save from the entrants, so I couldn’t contact them. If you entered, please email me and I”ll add you to the form. Or you can enter again!)