Voice Over IP
I’ve always dreaded paying my phone bill every month. Not that it’s outrageously high, or anything. It’s more about the components of it.
I understand my basic service. I’m getting a service and I must pay for it. Very simple. What I don’t understand are the:
- federal excise tax
- franchise fee
- 911 access fee
- federal universal service fund
- state universal service surcharge
- PUC fee
- residential service protection fund
- federal access charge
- extended area calling
- universal connectivity charge
- in-state connection fee
- bill statement fee
- regulatory assessment fee
- federal tax
- public utility commission fee
- USF surcharge
These are all actual charges pulled off of my Qwest bill. For such a long time I didn’t have many choices. I considered disconnecting my home line and just using cellular phones as many of my friends have. That was never a great solution for me as I have a company cell phone and a lot of family outside the state that I speak with on a weekly basis.
But at last, I am free. I am a new Lingo.com customer utilizing the broadband connection which I already pay for as my new telelphone conduit. I receive unlimited long-distance for $19.95 a month, and true, the quality of the connection is sometimes that of a reporter from the front lines, but for the cost savings I’ve decided to get used to it.