<div dir="auto">In Western Massachusetts, most towns give a monopoly to one company for broadband landline phone. That would be either Xfinity or Spectrum, formerly known as Comcast or Charter, respectively. Typically, they come as part of a package that also includes internet and cable TV.<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Your other options use different technologies, either satellite dish, dsl, or an actual landline running over phone wire from Verizon.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">The Verizon landline would not necessarily include internet and almost certainly would not include television.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">We have our package with Spectrum here in Hadley. After much effort, we were able to get them to remove the TV portion of our package, which we were not using, and save about $10 a month. The last few years, we really have had no reason for complaint. Outages are rare, generally storm related, and are fixed quickly almost every time.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">I have not heard great things about the quality of Internet experience for those who choose satellite or DSL.</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Dec 27, 2020, 2:28 PM Nick Clover-Brown via Hidden-discuss <<a href="mailto:hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net">hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>Hi all, </div><div><br></div><div>I'm looking at getting a landline, primarily for emergencies, if our kid needs to call 911.</div><div><br></div><div>Has anyone had success with alternatives to xfinity voice? It seems to be $40 or $50, and i'm trying to find better value options - maybe a prepaid / pay as you go provider. </div><div><br></div><div>VOIP could be an option, but looks a little more complicated , and reliant on internet connection - is that right? Also seems to need a battery backup. </div><br>Any recommendations would be appreciated! <div>Thanks,<br><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Nick Clover-Brown<div><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickcloverbrown" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">LinkedIn</a><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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