[Eug-lug] Local dial tone providers - Qwest alternatives?

[Alan]

T. Joseph CARTER wrote:

> 
> 
> Keep in mind we pay $40 or more for cell (3/4 of students have them) and
> almost as much again for landline access if we're not living on campus.
> Do it for $10 less and and make it more useful and you'll get people to
> switch in droves.

Yeah. I went to college before the cell phone revolution.
Dorm phones weren't too bad for local calls($100 or so dollars a 
semester(or for the year, I forget) but the LD rates were just usurious.
My wife and I routinely ran up hundred-dollar monthly bills. Free LD 
would have been a godsend back then.
> 
> 
> 
> You don't have a choice with current cellular providers.  Cricket starts
> at about $38, after taxes and phone replacement plan (trust me, you're
> screwed if something happens to your phone and you don't have this!) 

Back when I needed a cell, I used Verizon prepaid. Worked out to an 
average of about $15/month (some months I added more, some months I 
added none). It also had the bonus of not having "taxes" so the money 
you spent went to airtime only.
Of course, if you talk a lot, then it's _definitely_ not the plan for 
you, since the per minute rate is somewhere around $0.15/minute and much 
more if you roam.


-ajb