$5 + $6 line fee + $1 911 fee + unfees + taxes = $15 minimum

...which is the same as my total bill for my VoicePulse VOIP line (which has a "local" calling area hundreds of times bigger than Verizon's and 200 minutes of long distance).

Additionally, I get voicemail, caller id, call filters, identi-ring, pretty much all services that are available. I'd be paying at least $40 total with a POTS line.

In 4.5 years, I've had no more outages than I did with a Verizon landline the previous 5 years.

With Verizon moving to fiber and the customer premises power requirements, there's less of an impetus to stay with them for emergency reliability.

Here is a link that might be useful: VoicePulse

My Verizon bill is 22.50 a month after taxes....unlimited long distance....no caller I.D., no voice messaging, no call waiting. I have no use for caller I.D. or call waiting. I have a digital answering machine that does a great job. DSL is an additional 27.00

My Verizon bill is $0 since I cancelled it last year. I came to realize that most of the calls were from telemarketers, businesses, or requests from charities, and that my friends and family called me on my cell phone anyway. Now that I no longer have a land line, my dinner is never interrupted by an unwanted phone call.

I came to realize that most of the calls were from telemarketers, businesses, or requests from charities

Another benefit to my VoicePulse line is Anonymous Call Intercept. If a call comes in without Caller ID info, the caller hears the "line unavailable" tones, followed by a request to enter their phone number. If they do that, the call is allowed through with the caller ID set to what they entered. Since telemarketers use autodialers, they either get tripped up by the tones or never have a chance to enter a number, thus they are blocked.

I've received exactly one telemarketing call in 4.5 years (down from one or two a day prior)

Even if they got through that, I still have an ace in the hole ... distinctive ring. Calls from friends (short-long-short), family (long-long), and household members (short-short-long) have distinctive ring patterns. All other calls have a normal ring. This let's me make a decision on whether to answer or not without having to stop what I am doing.

Another side benefit to entering numbers for distinctive ring is that I can assign them custom Caller ID info. "Mom (Cell)" is must more descriptive than "PENNSYLVANIA", for example.

I realize that I sound like a shill for VoicePulse, but I am just a happy customer, and have been one for many years.

I will admit that they are not for everyone, as you now have multiple dependencies for your home phone to work, instead of just one. I'm fairly sure that in the time of widespread crisis, my phone will not work for some period of time. But if you are looking to get rid of your home phone, they might be a good compromise and are well worth the cost.

This is where I think Verizon might have a problem... many people that are dropping landlines have already accepted the lack of the landline reliability. The cheap lines will not win these people back. As such, I don't really see who they are targeting with this service. I'd be the first, though, to admit that I am missing something obvious.

One question about the VoicePulse....doesn't it come through the same line that Verizon service would have? I think they (Verizon)own the lines and wholesale their use out to other companies in clumps since the breakup of ma bell.

One question about the VoicePulse....doesn't it come through the same line that Verizon service would have?

VoicePulse works over your high-speed internet connection, so it will run on whatever lines bring internet to your residence.

If you have DSL, then yes, it will run on the same line, but is a different service with a different end-point than what you would get via a Verizon voice line.

With a Voice-Over-IP provider such as VoicePulse, you get an adapter box that plugs into your high-speed internet connection and into a phone outlet in your house. This box converts your voice into data, which is transmitted over the Internet to VoicePulse, where it is reassembled and connected to a phone line.

Your home phone is now wherever that box is. If you are going on vacation and you knew you had access to high-speed internet in your hotel room, you could conceivably take the box with you, plug it in to a port in your hotel room, and your home phone will ring there. Note that in such a case, you would need to refrain from calling 911 from that phone since it would ring the 911 center by your house.

This all means that your home phone is dependent on your high-speed internet, so you have to take that into account. However, since many people (like myself) were planning on moving away from landlines anyway, the additional outage potential is worth it given the savings:

$40-50/mo (or more) -> 99.9% reliability
$15/mo -> 99% reliability
$0/mo -> 0% reliability (ie - no "landline" telephone)

At least, that's the way I see it.

My broadband wireless is not fast enough to support VOIP, and there is nothing worse that trying to talk on a bad connection. I refuse to even answer phone calls (which I screen on my answering machine) if it is from someone on a cell phone what is cutting out or noisy and annoying.

I guess that I should have elaborated that the proposed Verizon would not be a good deal or the best deal for everyone but for someone who is looking to cut their household expenses, it is certainly a valid option.

Lots of folks do not have high speed, or even have the internet for that matter. When discussions are made about cutting costs, it is always suggested that folks consider less costly plans, or even dropping such things as the internet or cable if they are stretched to the max.

My Verizon land line has been a lot more reliable than my electric in the past year. Oct 2008 I lost power for 3 days so there was no electric and no internet...but I had my trusty land line phone.
My Verizon land line has always been a lot more reliable than my Citizens Communications Broadband.

There is no one 'best' deal for everyone, that is sure.

More from the link I posted above...
The company hopes that by purchasing the basic telephone plans, customers would be motivated to order Verizon's high-speed Internet and digital entertainment services as well. Kula stresses that individuals do not have to subscribe to Verizon's wireless or broadband services in order to take advantage of the $5 and $10 plans, if they are introduced. Therefore, consumers, regardless of who your cable or cell phone providers are, you can purchase Verizon's voice plans with no hassle.

Sue

My broadband wireless is not fast enough to support VOIP, and there is nothing worse that trying to talk on a bad connection.

There are a number of factors which affect the quality of VOIP phones. Some you can control, some you cannot.

There are web sites that will run tests on your connection to give you an idea of what kind of quality to expect. Most wired broadband connections should have no problem matching "a really good cell phone" for quality. It can get a little dicier with wireless, depending on the configuration, though.

Some sites are:

http://myvoipspeed.visualware.com/
http://myspeed.visualware.com/voip/

I guess that I should have elaborated that the proposed Verizon would not be a good deal or the best deal for everyone but for someone who is looking to cut their household expenses, it is certainly a valid option.

It is good to let others know about the options that are out there. My posts have not been to discourage people from these options, just to provide additional options that might fit their needs.

My Verizon land line has been a lot more reliable than my electric in the past year. Oct 2008 I lost power for 3 days so there was no electric and no internet...but I had my trusty land line phone.
My Verizon land line has always been a lot more reliable than my Citizens Communications Broadband.

As far as I understand it, Verizon plans to convert their copper plant to fiber everywhere they serve within some period of time (10 years?).

The problem is that when you convert to fiber, there is now a dependency on power at your house. To get around this, they provide a battery that will last 8 hours. After that, though, your phone will be dead until power is restored.

I guess my question is centered on the fact that Verizon owns the line coming to your house so to have had more downed lines with Verizon than with a VOIP coming through the same line isn't possible. I agree, the VOIP offerings appear much more extensive for the price than Verizon. I heard Vonage is another provider of VOIP. I saw an add for a device (I forget what it's called) that works through a PC that only costs 20 bucks a year.

I guess my question is centered on the fact that Verizon owns the line coming to your house so to have had more downed lines with Verizon than with a VOIP coming through the same line isn't possible.

Ah... now I see your question.

Of the 9 years I have had broadband, only a little over a year has been with Verizon FiOS. The rest has been with Comcast.

So, for about half that time I had a Verizon landline and the other half I had VoicePulse (3+ years on Comcast, 1+ years on FiOS).

I heard Vonage is another provider of VOIP.

Yes, Vonage is another VOIP provider. I gave them a try (actually several tries) before VoicePulse, but I had too many problems with them.

I saw an add for a device (I forget what it's called) that works through a PC that only costs 20 bucks a year.

That would be MagicJack. From those that I know that have it, it seems to work pretty well. But, as you mentioned, you are tethered to a computer.