I am using AT&T High speed Interent right now. $65.00/month for High-speed internet pro and unlimited local and long distance calls.

 

My dad wants a cheap plan that has internet and the phone.

 

My dad wants to change it, because we can not afford that price anymore, so his choices are

 

-PeoplePC online.

-NetZero.

-Vonage.

-AOL.

 

Do you guys have any comments about what i should pick or not to pick?

I just started using this for my phone service and I love it.

 

http://www.usa.att.com/callvantage/index.jsp?

 

$24.95 a month for unlimited local and long distance with all the features included.

 

Your cable company should have a cheaper internet connection that should be good.

Do you have Verizon availible?

 

All of those you mention are not gamable.

 

If not a few tightwads I work with use PeoplePC and say it is better than the AOL they replaced.

 

Mac

Um... Check out Totaly Wireless it cost like 400 to install and is abot 35 a month but Its connected by a 54mb/s connection.

 

Just food for thought.

 

PS: It can connect ANYWHERE!!!!

Sorry abut double chat but I forgot a few things.

Well it is Wireless so you will have to buy a wireless card/adpeter (50<$)

and for their number its in the phonebook, and Yahoo can find the website.

I hate AOL. Every computer I've ever worked on that had AOL stunk. AOL takes over your computer. There has to be some type of cable provider in your area that is cheaper.

Let me give you some background.

 

I've worked in Telecommunications for 8 years now. I've worked for MCI, Worldcomm, MFS and currently work on the WilTel network now known as Level 3 communications. I've worked with every telecom vendor in that time over and over again. I'm now in Tier 2 IP backbone support for Level 3 but I've done install and maintenance of circuits from 9.6k to OC-192.

 

AT&T is the grandfather of telecom. Their prices are high and I've installed many a circuit for the sole purpose of people moving off of AT&T because their prices are too high. They also have the worst customer support of any Telecom known to man. That is classic AT&T. AT&T was recently bought by SBC, but SBC used the AT&T name because of name recognition. SBC is the standard for "Baby Bell" telecom.

 

My wife works for Verizon and I can tell you right now, don't go with Verizon. They are currently not beating market prices and since Verizon bought MCI, their service has gone down hill. They are also "union". This means their workload is purposefully kept low so you don't "hurt" employee feelings. When workload is low per employee, that means any improvements or fixes are slow to come.

 

Netzero started out as a distributed internet provider. They basically used unused bandwidth that people had to give you internet for free. If you pay, then you'll get basic garaunteed service with them. Netzero basically pays other providers for basic internet.

 

AOL is junk telecom and from past experiences have gotten pretty bad IMO. Much of their internet is run through Earthlink and Verizon. Earthlink is great IMO, but Verizon is not. You may have to deal with Verizon directly even though you have AOL.

 

Vonage. Of the list you gave, this is the provider that I suggest you use. Here is why. Vonage was one of the first IP VOIP companies to start in the business and do it right. For IP VOIP to be dependable you can't have a certain amount of latency or the IP VOIP call gets dropped. From the very beginning Vonage has installed and designed their network for stability and low latency. They had to because VOIP requires it.

 

Vonage also uses the WilTel/Level 3 network as its backbone. Yes, I'm biased as I work for WilTel/Level 3 but I can tell you. Level 3 has the most capacity of any service provider and the most redundancy of any network provider I've ever seen. Level 3 has multiple backup boxes per location. So having your internet go down is almost an impossibility.

 

Vonage is also considered a high priority customer within the telecom community. Vonage is known to escalate hard to get issues resolved and because they are a large customer, many providers jump through hoops to keep them happy.

 

So, if I had the choice to make myself, I would go with Vonage.

Well, I've tried Vonage, and I tried ATT CallVantage, and I couldn't be more happy than with ATT CallVantage. Vonage voice messages were low quality, and they took forever to get my phone adapter sent to me. ATT has great customer service, and I have enjoyed clear and uninterrupted service with absolutely no detectable latency.

 

You can test your VOIP phone out by going here.

 

As I said, I use ATT CallVantage and usually get a 4.4 reading from this site, which is very good.

 

Also, ATT and SBC completed a merger, so I don't believe SBC purchased ATT

 

My recommendation is to try them both, and see which one you like.

 

Just my two cents.

I would say verizon fios if you can flip the bill....but its not on your list

I use Time Warner for everything at the house and have no complaints. As far as Level 3 goes, We have several DS3's with them and they are SSSLLLOOOWWW to resolve any issues.

IP DS3's? Or Private Line?