We've had the same phone number for 21 years. I know that having a landline sounds a little-old school nowadays, but we find having one comforting. I mean everybody and their brother have our number and those digits feel as permanent as a tattoo. (We also still get a newspaper delivered to our door every day but that is the story for another day.)
It is usually easy to hate one's telecommunications provider, but I don't. Telus gave us our phone number back when they were called, BC Tel. We get broadband and television over IP through them now too. The customer service is pretty good nowadays and they make it easy to arrange for Canadian snowbird service. You know, that means when we duck away to a warmer place during winters and everything stays on hold with a nominal monthly fee for each service.
Lately though, our bills have been increasing. The bundles were recently reduced to providing only a $3 savings per service. For years, we had a grandfathered deal, but now I notice that our monthly landline bill is over $27. That is too high a price for the privilege of having a phone service we seldom use.
I have decided to go with Ooma Basic which has a total cost of around $4 in taxes and fees per month. Of course, I had to purchase some equipment upfront but after a few months, I'll have earned that money back. Now that it's the law, our favourite old number will be joining the Internet age. I suppose if I want to pack up the small Ooma box, it can even go on our winter vacations with us, and it'll cost less than Telus charges for just holding the number.
Mostly, I'm looking forward to learning something new. I'll undoubtedly share more about this after the box arrives next week which incidentally should be a busy one with Jay's re-scheduled surgery on Tuesday.
