VOIP Becoming New Technology In Homes
CLEVELAND -- A growing number of homeowners are pulling the plug on their home phone going cell phone only, or turning to the cable guy.
But NewsChannel5 consumer reporter John Matarese checked to see if these alternate plans were ready for prime time.
Back in 1980, everyone had a big phone, big hair and a big phone company called Ma Bell. But times have changed.
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Some nights, Cape Coral resident Bob Hildebrand and his wife sit down to a dinner of enchiladas. Other nights, it’s spaghetti. Occasionally, they eat steak. In the background, a Beach Boys CD plays on the stereo. Afterward, Hildebrand watches sports on ESPN.
A few miles away, Lucy Qui–ones prepares a dinner of pork, rice and beans for her husband and 14-year-old twins. Salsa music adds energy to the meal. Later in the evening, she turns on Telemundo network for her «telenovelas,» popular Spanish-language soap operas.
Bob Hildebrand is German-American.[ read more ]
This column has long railed against corporate America forcing consumers to opt out of having their personal information shared, rather than the more respectful alternative of seeking people’s permission before passing around confidential data.
The practice is once again highlighted by a letter SBC is sending to customers throughout the Bay Area -- and is made all the more relevant by the phone giant’s plan, announced last week, to begin offering TV service by next year.
«The protection of our customer’s privacy is of utmost importance to the employees and management of SBC California and to the SBC family of companies, „ the letter says.
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There’s a pretty long list of resettlement tasks when you move to a new community. You need new auto tags and a new driver’s license. You have to register to vote, get your utilities hooked up, put the kids in school.
But getting a new cell phone number may be one you can forget about for awhile. Many newcomers are finding they’re perfectly OK keeping the cell phone number they had back home, foreign area code and all.
You could guess that interstate migration is jump-starting a trend that wireless industry prognosticators have been foreseeing for years: the lifelong telephone number.
When Andrew Foster moved here from South Bend, Ind., to take a teaching job at Santaluces High School in Lantana, getting a new, Florida-based cell phone number was high on his to-do list. Thing is, he was in the moving process, meeting people and making new connections but still trying to stay in touch with folks back home who had his cell number saved to speed dial. «Before I knew it, I was giving out this cell phone number,» Foster said. «It got to be too late to change.»
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New regulations, marketing changes and a consumer shift toward cell phones and the Internet have curbed one of the more annoying battlefields between callers and phone companies in North Carolina – the unwanted phone service switch.
Fewer reports of illegal service switches were reported to the N. C. Utilities Commission this year to date than in the same period last year, said Nick Jeffries, a commission complaint analyst.
«Slamming» is the practice of changing a consumer’s telephone service without permission. The commission received 584 reports of slamming in 2003, and 441 slamming complaints so far this year, Jeffries said.
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