Is switching to a cheaper phone service your calling?

A sampling of non-traditional ways to place voice calls: Ooma Telo: ooma.com Vonage: vonage.com BroadVoice: broadvoice.com MagicJack: magicjack.com Skype: skype.com

The tech savvy

For the tech savvy, a home phone line seems nearly quaint because so many of them use mobile phones. Nevertheless you don't have to be a techie - or even a cellphone owner - to benefit from cutting the cord to your traditional phone line.

More people are not only using wireless phones however using their home computers as telephones. Afterwards years of modest growth, online phone calling has taken off. Some 24 percent of online Americans say they have placed calls using the Internet, according to a recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. One of the main reasons is that those services are free or cheaper than traditional phone service.

Here are the major alternatives to traditional phone service at home. Switching could save you money by allowing you to cancel your landline.

Cable company. If you want cheaper, high-quality, low-hassle phone service, look no furthermore than the local cable-TV company. It will nearly surely offer a TV-Internet-phone bundle that could save you money over paying separately for phone service. And the call quality is likely to be very good, said Andy Abramson, author of the telecom blog VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Watch.

The customer will not notice a difference

"The customer will not notice a difference, except for the cost savings," he said. Call quality is good because the same company is providing and managing your Internet and phone service. "A service provider like Comcast will manage your call end to end," Abramson said.

While getting phone service from a cable company might be relatively easy, it will probably save you the least money over traditional phone service, especially if it's not part of a bundle with TV and Internet access.

W ireless phones. Another simple alternative is using the wireless phone service you already have. There are considerations, although. One is potentially needing more minutes on your wireless plan to accommodate the time you would have spent on the landline phone.

Femtocell. This is isn't a phone service in itself. It's a way to make cell phones work better in the house. Appearing similar to a wireless router, a femtocell device acts as a miniature cellphone tower in your home. It plugs into your Internet router and uses your broadband Internet connection to place and receive calls.

3G MicroCell

AT&T calls it a 3G MicroCell, Verizon calls it a network extender, and Sprint calls it an Airave. You pay your wireless provider for the device, which can cost more than $200. Or in part, your cell carrier will give you a femtocell device for free if you're in a bad reception area. In its basic form, there's no subscription fee, however you use your cell minutes such as if you were on a regular wireless call.

Ooma. The Ooma Telo device as well uses your broadband Internet connection to place and receive calls. It plugs into your Internet router and your phone. Ooma's selling point is you pay once for the device - about $200 - and never pay for phone service again. However you will have to pay some taxes and fees, which in many areas amounts to $3.47 per month.

Similar services, just as Vonage and Broadvoice, work the same way however charge a monthly payment that as well is likely to be lower than a traditional phone bill.

Computer-based internet calling. MagicJack, $39.95, is a small device that plugs into your computer's USB port. You plug in a regular phone line to its other end. You can make unlimited calls, including long distance in the United States. Renewing the service each year costs $19.95.

Other calling services typically don't use a telephone however instead require a computer with a microphone and speaker, features that are built in to most late-model laptops.

Skype, the service known for computer video chatting recently bought by Microsoft, offers ways to call regular telephones, both landline and mobile, for 2.3 cents per minute, or lower with a subscription.

Online phone number

Receiving calls requires you to buy an "online" phone number. It costs extra, $18 for three months, or less with other price options.

With a Google Voice or Gmail account, you can place calls for free - until further notice, through the rest of this year - by entering a phone number on the computer screen. It will first ring your real phone, whatever landline or mobile phone you choose. When you answer, it at that time connects the call to your destination phone number. It starts ringing, and you proceed as a rule with the call.

To receive calls, you can get a phone number for free and set your Google Voice account to ring a real phone - or more than one - whenever anybody dials that phone number.

Keep in mind that the quality of phone services that piggy-back on your Internet connection can vary with the quality of that connection - the faster and more consistent the connection, the better the call quality. And most computer-tethered services require your computer to be turned on to make and receive calls.

Also, some services won't connect to 911 for emergencies, and some won't work while power outages because they rely on your Internet connection, which requires power.

If you can overcome these drawbacks, but, you can nearly surely find an option that's both more affordable than traditional phone service and a good fit for your calling habits.