Yesterday I canceled two last services that were reminding me of the era of old computers, modems, connection problems and other geeky fun that I was having. The Plain-Old Telephone Service (POTS) is not functioning in my Brooklyn apartment anymore, cell phone is more then enough.
Alternatively, I can always use Skype and Gizmo – call quality is almost the same, if not better. Since I signed up with OptimunOnline’s Boost service I get a bit better speed, open ports 25 and 80 (for e-mail and HTTP services). Aside from annoying calls at 8 in the Saturday morning from some collection agency who’s hunting people who used to own my phone number a year ago the cost of having an old-style phone line is just the same as a decent DSL line. Latter, however, is capable of much more then just voice transmission.
The whole process took me less then 7 minutes. This is including dragging through automatic menu and paying the balance online. Verizon really does a good service at canceling a service, unlike some other companies who really resist your quitting, like Netfirms or Earthlink.