Super Saver

As more and more Americans get cell phones, many are opting to drop their home phone lines. It can offer a significant saving.

The problem is not everyone is comfortable not having a home phone in the case of an emergency. Ted Goudie and his wife disagreed on this very issue.

Home phone anymore because we didn't use it a lot

"I didn't want a home phone anymore because we didn't use it a lot and it seemed silly to pay $30 to $40 a month for it, however with the kids she felt it was important to have as an option," said Goudie. So he and his wife found a compromise, VOIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol.

"We decided to go with Ooma. You connect it into your router, plug it into your phone line and it distributes the dial tone throughout your whole home," said Goudie. "It's a lifetime purchase so as long as the research works, it's going to save us money. Devices like the Ooma or Vonage, there are at-least a half-dozen out there that we looked at and I am sure there are more every day."

The initial cost for a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is between $100 and $200. Ted paid $200 for his Ooma, nevertheless after six months, he has at heart made all of it back in savings.

The service such as good

Not only is the service such as good, Ted says it's even better than a traditional land-line. "It's more flexible than a home phone in a lot of ways. We can access voicemail online. We can see call history online. You can set-up call forwarding online."

And since the Ooma connects directly to a router, it doesn't force Ted to leave his computer on. As an added bonus, Ted didn't have to switch his home phone number to switch to VOIP.