Just curious what other six month Snowbirds do for Phone/Internet in the Sebring, Lake Placid & other parts of the South-Central Florida area where Century Link operates as the Local Carrier.Here is what we do for starters & our concerns.1.) We use Century Link for Phone Service & Internet Service, we pay $5 extra a month for 1000 minutes to Canada.2.) Internet is 10 Meg using regular ADSL service.3.) We use Tracfone for our cell i.e. $100/year for about 1200 minutes per phone or more minutes depending on the Tracfone offers at the time, calls to Canada can be made using a 1-800 number if necessary.4.) When leaving in April after our six months stay we put the phone & Internet on "Vacation Hold" at $21/Month US funds.5.) Our regular monthly bill is $59 plus taxes, fees etc. or about $85 US a month.6.) Cannot complain about the service as phone quality is as good as we have here in Canada & the Internet runs at 9 to 10 Meg constant.We are now finding this is very pricey as $85 US is about $113 Canadian a month for landline & Internet service.What are others doing for their service and if you don't mind telling what you are paying.Thanks for any comments .....Ernie

It's still less than we pay here.

I also use CenturyLink. 10mb DSL. Speed is actually slight more than 10mb.I get the same lot every winter in Crystal River. The lots are pre-wired for phone service.Last winter for Dec to Mar (4 months) I paid $320.16, $80.04 a month. I have no contract so when I leave in April I'm done. On my way down after Thanksgiving I call CenturyLink and have them activate it again under no contract. When I arrive the service is turned on. All I do is plug my motorhome into the phone line. I keep the modem all year in my motorhome.Has worked great for 6 or 7 years. I do lots of downloading. The campground also has very, very good internet service which is free.My wife and I each have a Verizon cellphone on a very old Verizon America's Choice Family Plan (13 yrs). I use that phone, plugged into my laptop, for internet service a few times a year. The plan is so old all data is free. But it's slow at 128kb. Verizon's National Access.

Thanks for your reply, yours sounds similar to our bill, we do go to their "Vacation hold" in order to keep our phone number when we go north at a cost of $21/Month. We are thinking of keeping our DSL and dropping our landline and using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) in trying to cut some costs out of the phone bill. Our Canadian dollar is down badly this year so we need to economize somewhat. My wife uses FaceTime a lot to talk to our daughter, I do use Skype with a Skype adapter sometimes to call Canada so if necessary could drop our landline.

Canuck Travellers wrote:Thanks for your reply, yours sounds similar to our bill, we do go to their "Vacation hold" in order to keep our phone number when we go north at a cost of $21/Month. We are thinking of keeping our DSL and dropping our landline and using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) in trying to cut some costs out of the phone bill. Our Canadian dollar is down badly this year so we need to economize somewhat. My wife uses FaceTime a lot to talk to our daughter, I do use Skype with a Skype adapter sometimes to call Canada so if necessary could drop our landline.Not sure if you are talking about DSL and VOIP for Florida or in Canada, but we dumped Bell back here at home, we had our ISP provider install a "dry loop" replacing the phone line and we went with Vonage for VOIP phone. The dry loop is a system that is used for security systems and fire signals but the DSL runs over that system (but not phones).The change paid back in under a year and it may be possible to take the Vonage phone to and from your two locations if you have DSL at each. Vonage have some great LD plans as well and also "extensions" that extend the LD plan to your smart phone. Some ideas to think about.

almcc wrote:Canuck Travellers wrote:Thanks for your reply, yours sounds similar to our bill, we do go to their "Vacation hold" in order to keep our phone number when we go north at a cost of $21/Month. We are thinking of keeping our DSL and dropping our landline and using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) in trying to cut some costs out of the phone bill. Our Canadian dollar is down badly this year so we need to economize somewhat. My wife uses FaceTime a lot to talk to our daughter, I do use Skype with a Skype adapter sometimes to call Canada so if necessary could drop our landline.Not sure if you are talking about DSL and VOIP for Florida or in Canada, but we dumped Bell back here at home, we had our ISP provider install a "dry loop" replacing the phone line and we went with Vonage for VOIP phone. The dry loop is a system that is used for security systems and fire signals but the DSL runs over that system (but not phones).The change paid back in under a year and it may be possible to take the Vonage phone to and from your two locations if you have DSL at each. Vonage have some great LD plans as well and also "extensions" that extend the LD plan to your smart phone. Some ideas to think about.VOIP would be in Florida, being a retired Telco employee here in Canada I get concession service so no change here.Knowing you are using Vonage I hear it is good, here is another one that gets high ratings, others may want to look at it. The comments are quite informative.OOMA-TELO

Century Link in South Central Florida | Good Sam Community

joebedford
Nomad II
Aug 04, 2015
It's still less than we pay here.
Tom_N
Explorer
Aug 05, 2015
I also use CenturyLink. 10mb DSL. Speed is actually slight more than 10mb.

I get the same lot every winter in Crystal River. The lots are pre-wired for phone service.

Last winter for Dec to Mar (4 months) I paid $320.16, $80.04 a month. I have no contract so when I leave in April I'm done. On my way down after Thanksgiving I call CenturyLink and have them activate it again under no contract. When I arrive the service is turned on. All I do is plug my motorhome into the phone line. I keep the modem all year in my motorhome.

Has worked great for 6 or 7 years. I do lots of downloading. The campground also has very, very good internet service which is free.

My wife and I each have a Verizon cellphone on a very old Verizon America's Choice Family Plan (13 yrs). I use that phone, plugged into my laptop, for internet service a few times a year. The plan is so old all data is free. But it's slow at 128kb. Verizon's National Access.
Canuck_Travelle
Explorer
Aug 05, 2015
Thanks for your reply, yours sounds similar to our bill, we do go to their "Vacation hold" in order to keep our phone number when we go north at a cost of $21/Month.
We are thinking of keeping our DSL and dropping our landline and using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) in trying to cut some costs out of the phone bill. Our Canadian dollar is down badly this year so we need to economize somewhat. My wife uses FaceTime a lot to talk to our daughter, I do use Skype with a Skype adapter sometimes to call Canada so if necessary could drop our landline.
almcc
Explorer
Aug 05, 2015
Canuck Travellers wrote:
Thanks for your reply, yours sounds similar to our bill, we do go to their "Vacation hold" in order to keep our phone number when we go north at a cost of $21/Month.
We are thinking of keeping our DSL and dropping our landline and using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) in trying to cut some costs out of the phone bill. Our Canadian dollar is down badly this year so we need to economize somewhat. My wife uses FaceTime a lot to talk to our daughter, I do use Skype with a Skype adapter sometimes to call Canada so if necessary could drop our landline.

Not sure if you are talking about DSL and VOIP for Florida or in Canada, but we dumped Bell back here at home, we had our ISP provider install a "dry loop" replacing the phone line and we went with Vonage for VOIP phone. The dry loop is a system that is used for security systems and fire signals but the DSL runs over that system (but not phones).

The change paid back in under a year and it may be possible to take the Vonage phone to and from your two locations if you have DSL at each. Vonage have some great LD plans as well and also "extensions" that extend the LD plan to your smart phone. Some ideas to think about.
Canuck_Travelle
Explorer
Aug 05, 2015
almcc wrote:
Canuck Travellers wrote:
Thanks for your reply, yours sounds similar to our bill, we do go to their "Vacation hold" in order to keep our phone number when we go north at a cost of $21/Month.
We are thinking of keeping our DSL and dropping our landline and using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) in trying to cut some costs out of the phone bill. Our Canadian dollar is down badly this year so we need to economize somewhat. My wife uses FaceTime a lot to talk to our daughter, I do use Skype with a Skype adapter sometimes to call Canada so if necessary could drop our landline.

Not sure if you are talking about DSL and VOIP for Florida or in Canada, but we dumped Bell back here at home, we had our ISP provider install a "dry loop" replacing the phone line and we went with Vonage for VOIP phone. The dry loop is a system that is used for security systems and fire signals but the DSL runs over that system (but not phones).

The change paid back in under a year and it may be possible to take the Vonage phone to and from your two locations if you have DSL at each. Vonage have some great LD plans as well and also "extensions" that extend the LD plan to your smart phone. Some ideas to think about.

VOIP would be in Florida, being a retired Telco employee here in Canada I get concession service so no change here.
Knowing you are using Vonage I hear it is good, here is another one that gets high ratings, others may want to look at it. The comments are quite informative.
OOMA-TELO
Tom_N
Explorer
Aug 05, 2015
Canuck Travellers wrote:
Thanks for your reply, yours sounds similar to our bill, we do go to their "Vacation hold" in order to keep our phone number when we go north at a cost of $21/Month.

I have no voice phone on my FL CenturyLink account, although I think there is a voice number associated with my account. I pay for no voice services. DSL only.

-Tom, W3TLN
rvcruiser
Explorer
Aug 05, 2015
Two months Cape Canaveral. Three months south Miami. One month Key West. Six months Ontario. We have two phones with Wind at $39 each per month. We each have a separate phone number and unlimited internet which we can broadcast to our tablets. All calls from the U.S.A. are included at no roaming. We just dial as usual. Has worked great for two years.
Falcon35
Explorer
Aug 11, 2015
rvcruiser wrote:
Two months Cape Canaveral. Three months south Miami. One month Key West. Six months Ontario. We have two phones with Wind at $39 each per month. We each have a separate phone number and unlimited internet which we can broadcast to our tablets. All calls from the U.S.A. are included at no roaming. We just dial as usual. Has worked great for two years.

I use Wind as well. Very happy with it in USA but hope they will have better coverage in Ontario soon.
Canuck_Travelle
Explorer
Aug 11, 2015
Falcon35 wrote:
rvcruiser wrote:
Two months Cape Canaveral. Three months south Miami. One month Key West. Six months Ontario. We have two phones with Wind at $39 each per month. We each have a separate phone number and unlimited internet which we can broadcast to our tablets. All calls from the U.S.A. are included at no roaming. We just dial as usual. Has worked great for two years.

I use Wind as well. Very happy with it in USA but hope they will have better coverage in Ontario soon.

We are here in NB, I tried the WIND website, looks like there are charges for phone calls & Internet usage or am I looking at a different situation than the one described. If the Internet is unlimited can you tell me the speed download & upload in Florida locations. Here is their website info:
"WIND and our Partner Networks cover over 97% of the Canadian and American populations. Our low flat rates of 15¢/min, 5¢/text, and 5¢/MB are the same whether you're in St. John or San Diego. When you’re traveling and on a Partner Network, your phone displays AWAY (Canada) or Partner Name (i.e. T-Mobile in the U.S.A.)."

Appreciate any info you might have, if there is ongoing charges using Wind we would not be interested as we use a lot of Internet & calls to Canada from Florida of 500 to 800 minutes a month for a $5 charge for 1000 minutes with Century Link and unlimited Internet usage at 10 Meg. Like I said I would like to drop Century Link but want to know if there is really something better, thanks! PS, it does look like they cover Moncton, NB & Sebring, Florida see here: their websitehttps://www.windmobile.ca/network-and-coverage/coverage
Falcon35
Explorer
Aug 11, 2015
The plan that I have is $35.00 per month in Canada and I add the unlimited call and data for $15.00 when in the USA. If you take a look at there Website look for add on's and you see what they offer. I know that the Web slows down after a set amount of use. What I do like is my phone number stays the same in USA or Canada.

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