A land line can be a life line in an emergency. If satallites go out during a storm or are blocked, and that happens a lot here, a land line can be an asset. Ditto for when the cell phone company screws up and you need to make an important call. Just get the cheapest, basic service with no extras. I hate paying for crappy landline service too but feel more secure with another option for communicating in an emergency. If you are thinking of getting an alarm system for your home they may need a phone line to hook up to too.

We have one ISP (Charter High Speed Cable) for all computers and a wireless router. We've never seen any kind of loss of quality because of it. We just got a guaranteed rate of $30 a month for the next 2 years by making the 2 year commitment - I'm sure other ISPs have similar offers. We used to pay $50/month for our landline (Qwest) and $60/month for one cellphone (Verizon) $1320/year We now pay $60/year for our "landline" and $200/year for 2 cellphones instead of 1 - not counting the initial purchase of the phones for $30 each. A significant savings! ------CUT YOUR LANDLINE PHONE COST----- NOTE: You cannot use Skype for 911 calls so you should have a cellphone for backup. Good idea in case of a power outage anyway. We have a Skype subscription for unlimited calls in the U.S and Canada as well as a Skype Online Number that anyone can call us on - costs us $60/year total - that's $5 a month. We have personalized voicemail, can forward calls, video calls, and a whole lot more. Skype Subscriptions Skype to Skype calls are always free, even without a subscription. Skype is a free download - no reason not to at least try it. You will need either a headset or microphone & speaker if you don't have it built in your PC. Skype Free Using Skype on your end to call an overseas landline is cheaper than anything you can find stateside. There are some blocked countries though. Skype Unlimited calls to overseas landlines for $9.95 a month There are also adapters you can buy that plug into your computer that allow you to use a regular corded or cordless phone(s) with Skype. I bought a Zoom adapter at WalMart for $40. This is the D-Link adapter There are others, just search for 'Skype Adapters' There are even WiFi phones that allow you to use Skype in any hotspot or with your own WiFi. Here are a couple: Netgear WiFi Skype phone Belkin WiFi Skype phone You can even buy a NO PC cordless phone. They're kind of pricey but still a heck of a lot cheaper than a years worth of landline service. GE PC Free Skype Cordless Phone Check out all of the Skype possibilities on Amazon: Lots of Skype Thingies and Doo Dads! -----CUT YOUR CELLPHONE COST----- We now use Tracfone exclusively at an enormous savings over our previous service with Verizon. We each have a full featured, Bluetooth capable Motorola W376g camera phone. There is a special online right now - Phone for $29.99 * Free accessory kit ($14.99 value) * Free Double Minutes for the life of the phone ($49.99 value)* Free shipping * And if you use this promotional code - 23444 - as of today, you can get $3 off your order. Get the Valentine's Day Tracfone Deal Here! There are always airtime deals. We're currently using the 400 minute/1 year service with 250 bonus minutes for $100 for each phone. With our lifetime Double Minutes, that's 1050 minutes for $100 - Promotional code 16142 - expires on Feb. 24 You can also buy the W376g at WalMart for $29.99 with Free Double Minutes but you won't get a free accessory kit. The phone comes with a wall charger, btw. Well.... That was a lot of links and a whole lot of typing. I hope it's useful to someone :-)

I don't think keeping an auto-connect on is a good choice. Leaving a smartphone's Wifi "on" when you leave the place where it was used will SIGNIFICANTLY (and needlessly) run down your battery. As you walk or drive down the street, it will attempt to connect to each signal you pass. The transceiver power gets boosted (and sucks battery power) for weak signals, so it boosts as you approach and again when you move past each signal source. It's a better practice to keep Wifi off when not in use. For Wifi broadcasts where the password is on the signal (WEP or WPA), the password will only need to be entered once. The device will remember the entry and will automatically offer it the next time it senses a previously connected-to Wifi signal. For systems where the signal is open but there's a password on the network connection (entered via a username and password on a browser page), the password usually needs to be re-entered with every session. An exception is at some hotels that use a system like this but where your unique identifier allows the system to remember your log on for a few days. In my experience, this seems to be the case about half the time and not the case about half the time.

I just saw outdoor jack o'lantern pieces in front of Kroger before the kids are back in school and thought that was bad. Have received a couple of Halloween/fall themed catalogs recently, but not Christmas (unless DH is pitching them before I see them). I understand stores that sell for crafting stocking early. It can take months to do some projects (needlework, esp) and some folks start making in quantity to sell. I', used to those showing up in July, but I can't think about Christmas when kids are still out of school and we're being told we are just getting to the heart of hurricane season (supposed to be an active one and we haven't really ahd anything yet). And until the rain hit this past weekend, we'd been up over 100 degrees.