2Bretired's Blog

Home phone savings

2bretired — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:57:58 +0000

After we retired we decided that we did not need a second phone line. We had two, one was for personal use the other mainly for work. It was not so much of the cost of the basic phone but all those extra taxes and fees added to the bill. So after we got the magicjack and realized it worked fine for making calls we looked into disconnecting the phone lines and use the magicjack only. But after reading the bill we noticed that our DSL internet connection cost was reduce because we had a phone line, so disconnecting our line would had raised our DSL cost. The compromise was to disconnect the second line only but keep the one line for the DSl discount. This single line only has the basic service, which is minimal free local calls, you pay extra if you make over a certain amount of calls, but free unlimited incoming calls. This was fine as we used the magicjack or our low cost cell phone to make outgoing calls. The second line phone number was ported to http://family-phone.com/ so we could keep the number active and receive messages. Please see park your phone post under Frugal strategies for further info. Eventually when Magicjack offers porting we will move our number there.

Magicjack.

I suppose all of you have seen the commercial for the magicjack. The Magicjack is a Voip ( voice over internet) small box that plugs into your computer and becomes a phone line. You obviously need to have internet access on your computer.

About a year ago I decided to get one and try. At first it had some minor service problems but over the year they have seemed to have improved it. It also can be used to make international calls at very low cost.

For more information on the unit go to http://www.magicjack.com/6/index.asp

The unit was about $40 or less (I heard they were on sale at Walmart) with one year of free call in US and Canada and the approx $20 per year after that. You also get your own phone number.

For customer support I found a magicjack forum at http://www.magicjacksupport.com/

that have all the information you will ever need about the unit. I have found the forum to be a good place to do some research on the unit or any operational/ technical questions.

The only problem I found for me was because it is plugged into your computer the computer has to be on to receive calls although missed calls go to an answering machine and sends you an e-mail . This e-mail has the actual voice recorded message.

On the forum it has experts that explain how to connect the unit to a thin server which is basically a mini computer. I personally use a net book computer with the power management set to monitor off, hard drive sleep mode etc to save on power thus keeping the unit cooler and leaving the unit permanently plugged in to receive calls.

Since purchasing a Magicjack I found another unit call Nettalk that is a similar size box but does not need a computer to run but plugs directly into your internet router, and is continually on.

Nettalk TK6000

This unit is just like the magicjack but does not need a computer to run but plugs directly into a router although it has the ability to run on a computer if you want to.

For more information go to http://www.nettalk.com/

This unit presently has a few problems just like the magicjack did. I have mine connected permanently to my router and wired directly into my house wiring so I can pick up and incoming calls from any phone jack in the house. Connecting to house wiring is not recommended by Nettalk but it works.

For their forum go to http://forum.nettalk.com/ and again you can get all the information you need about the unit.

Both these units, while connected to a computer, can be used via wifi . So you can make free calls while traveling. This includes internationally, your unit will work as a local USA phone number. So family and friends can keep in touch by calling your local number and be connected to you wherever you are in the world as long as you have an internet connection at no extra cost.

Good luck Bob and Barb the 2B’s

Park your phone.

2bretired — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:36:42 +0000

Since ATT put up their rates in our area we decided we did not need the second phone line, but wanted to keep the phone number for future use. We found a company called family-phone.com that offers a service that parks your phone number with an answering machine. So if any one calls that number we get an e-mail saying we have a message. Presently they charge $5 a month for this service, they have other services, but you save on all those fees and tax’s on the ATT bill every month.

The side effect also was that we gave this number on sales slips, so any sales calls go to a machine. This helped when we kept getting a $15 carpet cleaning commercial we just erased the e-mail. You can listen to the message also from the e-mail. You should try it.

Eventualy we will port the number to our Magicjack or Nettalk when that eventually becomes available.

Health issues

2bretired — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:20:06 +0000

Now that we are retired and want to travel often we are concerned about keeping fit so that we do not need to be on any medications. We try to use vitamins and natural herbs and walk as much as we can. We noticed when we were abroad and tried to book a trip locally, the booking agent made us sign a waver for travel insurance and medical.

New Portfolio for 2010

2bretired — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:08:35 +0000

After this market decline we had to re-think our portfolio strategies. We are working on a new target. Once we have researched a good replacement plan, we will begin to post our concepts here.

If you have found an alternative plan, please leave a post.

Travel tips

2bretired — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:44:12 +0000

This section will be about traveling. Bargain flights, hotels. locations to see.

If you have any good travel tips please post here.

Cell phone savings

2bretired — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:41:15 +0000

After retiring we sat down and figured out where our money was going. One large expense was our cell phones. We were paying between $40 to $80 month. We re-though our calling habits and decided we could cut down on the number of calls per month, after all we are retired. We did not need all the bells and whistle ( web and e-mail) so ’pay as you go’ phone made sense. We do not use our cell phone for internet or e-mail at present. We could get our e-mail with a small net book at free wifi locations while traveling. Also we needed a phone that could be used internationally. So we got a basic phone that was unlocked and operated on multiple radio bands. An unlocked phone can be used with any carrier.

These phone us the GSM system that use 4 frequencies depending what country you are in

If your phone is dual band, it will normally work at either 1800MHz or 900MHz.
If it is tri-band, it will work at 1800MHz, 900MHz or 1900MHz.
A quad-band phone should work at 1800MHz, 900MHz, 1900MHz or 850MHz.

For more information on what bands a country uses that you are going to http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtml.

The best cell is the quad band as you can use it worldwide although they are a bit more expensive. We settled with a tri-band which would work in the USA and Europe.

You can buy these phones over the internet or at amazon.com at a reasonable price although you can pick them up in Europe for a lot less.

While in the USA we used T-mobile which had a ‘pay as you go’ for $100 with 1000 minute and lasts a year before you need to refill. At the end of the year you can renew and carry over any unused minutes to the next year. What we found that was interesting was that the T-mobile in the USA would not work in England but a T-mobile sim card from England will work in England and the USA. The local T mobile store did not know why. They only dealt with US customers and have no interest of out of the country usage. While in England we use an ASDA (a Walmart subsidiary) sim card which in actual fact is using the Vodafone system. Their system was the cheapest at the time and has unlimited refill date. As long as you use it at least once every 6 months it stays active. So while in the USA I use the ASDA sim card to call the local house once every 6 months and answer and then hang up, this keeps the sim card active and only costs .80 cents or so for the call. So now we have an active low cost local cell phone when we step off a plane in Europe.

Topic Ideas for Retiree’s

2bretired — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:00:09 +0000

How to live frugally,
Being debt free,
Cell phone savings,
Communications via wifi,
Living in a low tax state or abroad,
How to study investing for income,
Travel locations for pleasure and to live full time on a discount,
Rent a car as necessary if you do not need a car full time.
Hobby’s etc.

Leave comments and or other ideas on the topic.

Bob and Barb.