WiFi service while keeping landline
I’ve had Sonic for home internet service (DSL) for many years and been very happy with them.
As of July this year Sonic is changing to fiber optics which is faster- yay! - but it means I will loose my landline. I don’t want to loose my landline since the phone still works in a power outage and my 86 year old mother will only call me on my landline number.
Any suggestions for WiFi only service not bundled that will allow me to keep my old fashioned landline? Are landlines doomed?
thank you!!
Mar 4, 2020
Parent Replies
By "landline" do you mean the old fashion ATT-provided service or the voice service provided by Sonic? I switched my voice service to Sonic from ATT, and I was able to transfer my old ATT landline number to my Sonic voice service. It works great. People calling you won't notice a difference.
As far as your landline working during a power outage, if you're talking about Sonic voice service, are you sure there would be a difference with Sonic fiber? I've attached my Sonic-provided device to an uninterruptable power supply, and both my Internet and voice service work fine.
We looked into this when we switched to Sonic's faster fiber-to-the node service a few years ago. The short answer: no, there aren't. The cheapest option we found was to pay AT&T for landline only, which at the time ran around $25 a month (mostly taxes and fees). Sonic's internet plan was only very modestly cheaper without the phone included (though they did have an option for that). We didn't bother. I think the previous poster's suggestion to attach an emergency power supply is probably your best bet for power outages.
I have both a landline and sonic. There is a phone number associated with my sonic account that I’m not using and I’m paying for but it’s not too much. There’s nothing with sonic’s service that requires you to give up your landline.
If Comcast is available in your area, I have had my internet and landline phone service (as well as cable tv) with them for many years and have been very satisfied with the service. Years ago, I transferred my AT&T phone number to Comcast. Comcast customer service used to be terrible. They've responded to customer complaints and now have top notch service, both by phone and in person. Internet and phone go through an integrated modem/router provided by Comcast. The phone is NOT VOIP (voice over internet protocol), it is a true low-voltage landline. The customer can add a battery backup to the modem/router so that the landline functions in the event of a power outage.
Just switched my 85 yr MIL to Sonic fiber with phone. She was paying over $85 to AT&T for landline phone server. Unbelievable that AT&T still charges for toll and long distance charges. I would stick with Sonic and buy a battery back-up. My MIL also has a cordless phone so we plugged that in to battery back-up as well.
Here's a link for one for $45. It will power a compuer for 35 mins. But if you use it just to power the Sonic equipment and cordless phone it will last for many days if not a week.
https://www.amazon.com/APC-Battery-Protector-Back-UPS-BE425M/dp/B01HDC236Q/ref=pd_sbs_23_t_1/140-5836034-5656418?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01HDC236Q&pd_rd_r=45b9dd82-9987-4953-ab63-d3feb0d8eeb5&pd_rd_w=jny6o&pd_rd_wg=Eizy1&pf_rd_p=5cfcfe89-300f-47d2-b1ad-a4e27203a02a&pf_rd_r=T6V4FXSNK39E0FKCJS6S&psc=1&refRID=T6V4FXSNK39E0FKCJS6S