Yesterday my cyber-savvy, recently-retired and way-cool mom chatted me up on IM and asked me what she should do, because she was considering ditching the home phone, getting another cell phone so they can both have one, and using text messaging for spouse communication. Heh. Makes me wonder what kind of technology - you know, in "all the kids these days are using it" fashion - I'll be picking up on in 20 or so years. :)

Her goal was to save a few bucks, plus to get the advantages of text messaging to overcome some of the limitations with hearing impairments and cell phones. I suggested she look at her overall bundles plan with Quest, because right now they get mobile phone, Internet and home phone services all together.  She might also want to look at VoIP as an option, I suggested, but mostly she should call the phone company and talk to them about what unbundling would mean in terms of price. Also, telcos changes their offerings over time, and a bundle deal you got a year or two or three ago might not be the best deal available today.

As is often turns out, it was worth the call:

mom says:
I checked in with Quest (they are partnered with Sprint as it turns out) and the nice young fellow brought my various plans and bundling things and services more into line with current offerings and our usage....so, I saved about $45 a month with that little chat--good advice on your part.  I am going to get Jack a phone he can use so we can text message as a way to communicate.

Greg Hughes says:
cool

Greg Hughes says:
its always good to check in with them once a year to see if they can rebundle

mom says:
right, I just had not given it much thought until lately

Greg Hughes says:
they count on that heh

Just more proof that it's always pays to check in with your telco company and see what they have going. You could save some pretty serious bucks by doing so.