Consolidated Communications Landline has been the go-to choice for many people for phone service, but with the high prices and lack of features, people are looking for alternatives.
Though the company has launched Fidium to provide VoIP service, the disadvantages of having landlines from Consolidated Communications far outweigh the pros.
This article will provide information on the drawbacks of having traditional or VoIP phones from Consolidated Communications and the best alternative - Community Phone. Read on!
Drawbacks of Having Traditional Landlines from Consolidated Communications
Traditional landlines are great for reliability and call quality, but copper wire connections will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to the FCC order 19-72. This order releases large carriers from the obligation of providing copper wire service to smaller carriers. So, telcos are quickly retiring copper cables, replacing them with fiber optics, bundling services, and forcing customers into an “upgrade.”
If you have a landline from Consolidated Communications, read on to learn how the copper service shutdown and other conventional landline issues will impact you.
1. Excessive Downtime
Inclement weather with rain, lightning, and tornadoes can take out an entire landline network in no time, leaving you stranded without a phone during emergencies. Repairing these lines can be a hassle as technicians from Consolidated Communications may not know where the problem started and how to fix it, leading to severe downtime.
2. Maintenance Challenges
Copper lines require extensive maintenance as they would have been damaged due to inclement weather and wear and tear. However, companies are unwilling to spend on maintaining POTS lines as the return on investment is negligible. Since telecom companies can let their POTS lines deteriorate by not investing in maintenance, calls to Consolidated Communications for technical assistance are likely to fall on deaf ears.
3. Challenges in Procuring Replacements
Since the technology of conventional landlines is outdated, getting a technician from Consolidated Communications to repair your faulty line or a wall jack or finding a replacement for faulty parts may be herculean based on customer reviews.
4. Limited Features
Traditional landline services from Consolidated Communications support limited calling features like voicemail. The company has several phone plans with unlimited calling options, which depend on the state and the city.
5. Manual Spam Call Blocking
Your Consolidated Communications landline may not have an automated spam blocker, as conventional landlines do not house the technology for an in-built spam blocker. With Americans losing an average of $577 per person in 2022 to phone scams, manual spam blocking or phone features are insufficient to protect you against spam.
You need a system that can block spam calls automatically before your phone rings. Switch to Community Phone to enjoy the reliability of a conventional landline and the protection of a robust spam blocker.
Read on to learn more!
6. Physical Limitation
You are tethered to a spot with the conventional TDS Telecom landline. A cordless phone may provide some flexibility, subject to its range. However, if you are moving to a different location, you may not be able to find POTS lines as telecom companies are not providing new copper connections anymore.
The Plan: Force you to get an expensive bundled upgrade or a Fidium VoIP Phone.
If one option skyrockets your phone bill for services you don’t need, the other comes with issues such as call drops, poor voice quality, and excessive downtime.
Read on to learn about the drawbacks of a VoIP phone and how to continue using your landline without an internet or copper connection.
Drawbacks of Having a Fidium (Consolidated Communications) VoIP Phone
1. Patchy Connectivity
VoIP phones from Fidium need more bandwidth than normal browsing. So, you need a high-speed internet connection for good call quality. Since the internet is unavailable or patchy in rural and suburban areas, the company does not provide VoIP-based phones in several areas.
Fluctuating internet connectivity in urban areas and blind spots at home will lead to issues such as call drops, jitter, latency, and poor voice quality, even in areas Consolidated Communications provides service.
2. Questionable Reliability
Fidium’s VoIP phones will go down:
1. If you or the company has a power outage
2. If Fidium has internet issues
3. Network outages
4. Scheduled or unscheduled maintenance
These issues make internet-based phones highly unreliable if you want to stay connected with loved ones or emergency services.
Investing in a backup power unit can be an option, but it is expensive and is not the perfect solution. Backup power units can help you only if you have a power outage, but your phone lines will be down if Fidium has an outage or other issues.
3. Safety and Security Issues
Using the Fidium internet-based phone will make you vulnerable to hacks, attacks, malware, and internet-related threats. Hackers may intercept your data when you use the internet for communication, leading to data and identity theft.
For example, you may be liable for credit cards, expensive purchases, and loans you never took.
4. Installation Costs and Challenges
Fidium’s VoIP phones need internet lines installed at your home. The expertise required for the installation and their customer response will determine the speed and accuracy of the installation and the subsequent working of your phones. Be ready to face several technical issues if the installation is incomplete or incorrect.
5. Specialized Hardware
When switching from a traditional landline to Fidium, you must buy a specialized VoIP router, special ethernet cables, and a VoIP-compatible phone. You will be stranded without a phone if the technician does not install the hardware correctly or the setup is incomplete.
Community Phone - The Best Alternative to Consolidated Communications Landline
Community Phone is the cheapest landline phone service in the U.S., revolutionizing traditional landlines to combine reliability, flexibility, and excellent features. Their wireless landline base connects your home phone to local cell towers, eliminating the need for high-speed internet or copper cables to make or receive calls.
Experience superior voice quality and reliable connectivity across 99% of the U.S., including rural areas. The unique landline base design ensures crystal-clear voice quality in rural and low-reception areas by amplifying mobile signals.
Enjoy unlimited nationwide calling, features like spam blocking, call forwarding, call waiting, voicemail, 3-way calling, landline texting, and more at affordable prices. With their US-based support, no hidden charges, and a 14-day FREE trial, Community Phone is the best alternative to a Consolidated Communications landline or Fidium VoIP phone.
How It Works
The Community Phone landline base does not tie your phone to the internet as it works off resilient cell towers. The company's partnership with nationwide carriers and the unique design of the landline base ensure connectivity across 99% of the U.S., including rural areas. The built-in antennas on the base amplify signals from mobile towers to ensure superior voice quality in low-reception areas.
The 12-hour backup battery in the base ensures your phones continue working during a power outage or blackout in your area.
What Makes Community Phone Better than Consolidated Communications Service?
Here are some reasons why Community Phone is better than traditional landlines from Consolidated Communications or Fidium VoIP phones.
1. Higher Uptime Than Other Providers
The Community Phone landline base connects your home phone to local cell towers, eliminating the need for an internet or copper connection. These resilient cell towers are supported through backup power units to have 99.99% uptime, ensuring your phone lines stay working. The 12-hour backup battery on the base ensures your phones continue to work when there is a power outage or blackout in your area.
2. No Physical Limitation
The Community Phone wireless landline service gives you the flexibility required to take your landline anywhere without changing your number. The company’s partnership with nationwide carriers ensures connectivity across 99% of the US, enabling this feat. Connect the base to a power outlet and a phone, and your landline will work as well as new.
3. Zero Installation Cost
You do not need a technician, meters of copper wire, or advanced skills to install your Community Phone landline. You can set up your landline in 30 seconds with the following steps:
1. Unwrap the landline base
2. Connect the base to a power outlet. Do not turn it on yet.
3. Hook your phone to the base per instructions in the manual (Phone 1/Phone 2 port)
4. Toggle the ON/OFF switch to the ON position
5. Turn on the power and wait for 5 mins. Once the base finishes setup, make a test call to ensure your phone works as intended.
4. Lifetime Hardware Warranty
Enjoy a lifetime hardware warranty on the Community Phone landline base. Contact their customer support if you have questions about installing your landline base or its functionality. The reps will be happy to troubleshoot any errors or arrange a replacement if you need one.
5. Extensive Features
Community Phone combines the reliability of a landline, the freedom of wireless access, and excellent calling features in one. Enjoy outstanding calling features like spam call blocking, call waiting, caller ID, 3-way calling, landline texting, and more at affordable prices.
Talk to a Community Phone specialist today to learn more!
6. No Hidden Charges
Community Phone does not surprise customers with hidden charges on their monthly bills. No installation fees or exorbitant equipment charges will crop up on your bills unnoticed. The company boasts transparency, and you pay what you signed up for.
7. No Fancy Hardware
You don't need fancy equipment for your Community Phone landline, except the landline base and a SIM. You will receive the SIM with the base when you sign up with Community Phone.
The landline base is compatible with all phone models, saving you the hassle of buying new phone equipment. Save time and money with the zero-cost installation of the landline base.
Community Phone Landline Features
Spam Call Blocking
68.4 million Americans lost money to phone scams in 2022, a 23% increase since 2021. With scammers being persistent in their brutal attacks, manual call barring and phone features to block spam are no longer effective. According to reports, scammers have found a way around the STIR/SHAKEN protocols implemented by the government for consumer protection.
Get the Community Phone spam-blocker, your one-stop solution to barring unwanted and unlawful calls from ringing your phone. The spam blocker challenges robocalls and blocks them before the call can ring your phone, ensuring protection against spam.
The "Safelist," a new Community Phone feature, allows you to list the numbers you want to accept calls from. Your phone will ring to let calls from these numbers through and block all others before the phone rings. You can update your allowed list anytime to add or delete numbers, or Community Phone specialists will be happy to assist you.
Studies report that several people miss legitimate calls fearing spam. Understanding the need to balance robust spam protection and legitimate calls, Community Phone is launching another iteration of the Safelist soon.
This feature will allow you to accept calls from numbers you want and route the rest to voicemail. Since Community Phone will not block other numbers, you can check your voice messages and respond to the ones you deem necessary.
The soon-to-be-launched "blocklist" is an aggressive spam blocker that blocks over 6 million spam calls based on an ever-growing database of spam numbers and a spam score. You can actively contribute to this database by adding a spam number to protect yourself and other Community Phone customers from scams and fraud.
Talk to Community Phone specialists to learn more!
Call Waiting
The call-waiting feature helps you handle two calls simultaneously. You will hear 2 beeps when there is an incoming call while you are engaged on one call. You can place the first call on hold, talk to the second caller, or route it to voicemail.
Call Forwarding
Enable call forwarding to forward important calls when you cannot answer them from your business landline. You can opt from one of the several Community Phone options to forward your business calls to a number of your choice.
Temporary Forwarding: Use the manual process to turn call forwarding ON/OFF if you are temporarily away from your business phone. Here's how you can enable it:
1. Get a dial tone
2. Dial **21*1
3. Dial the 10-digit number you want the calls forwarded to and #
4. Three beeps will indicate you have enabled call forwarding
Follow the same steps, but press ##21# to turn off call forwarding.
Talk to Community Phone specialists if you want to enable conditional call forwarding or forwarding calls without a phone.
Call History
Enable the call history feature and access information on incoming and outgoing calls to and from your Community Phone landline.
You can use this feature to
1. Return missed calls from known contacts
2. Store legitimate contacts
3. Check caller information against known contacts
4. Send a message or
5. Block spam calls.
Caller ID
On Outgoing Calls
Opt for the caller ID feature so the recipient can see your number or name when you make outbound calls. This feature can help loved ones answer your call or return missed calls without mistaking them as spam.
Incoming Calls
You will be able to see the caller ID of the person calling you if:
1. The person has enabled caller ID
2. Has registered in the national register
3. Your phone can support the caller ID feature.
Community Phone does not use third-party apps to provide the caller ID feature.
Landline Texting
Studies reveal that millennials and later generations prefer texting to talking. Stay in touch with younger children or grandchildren by texting them from your Community Phone landline through the landline texting feature. The unlimited text feature and 2-way messaging enable you to see the messages from the recipient and continue the conversation.
3-way Calling
Connect with 2 or more of your loved ones simultaneously with the 3-way calling feature, spend some great moments, and create memorable experiences. You can connect with your loved ones on the same call and hear them speak simultaneously without worrying about free calling apps, internet bandwidth, or patchy and dropped internet calls.
Voicemail
Respond to missed calls at your convenience or based on priority with the voicemail feature. The Community Phone voicemail box has the capacity to hold up to 30 messages, each with a 3 min recording time. The voicemail box alert feature on the landline base helps you delete voice and manage voice messages efficiently.
Speak to a Community Phone specialist to enable voicemail-to-email, where you can access your voice messages as audio files and text in your mail ID associated with the Community Phone user account.
Benefits of Switching to Community Phone
Besides having a reliable landline service that does not require internet, Community Phone members enjoy the following benefits:
Unlimited nationwide calling and text: Stay in touch with loved ones across the U.S. with Community Phone's unlimited talk and text.
No internet needed: The Community Phone landline base works off cell towers without tying your phone to the internet. Since your phones are not dependent on the internet, they will continue working during an internet outage or maintenance.
Number choice: You can get a new local number FREE when you sign up with Community Phone. You can also transfer your existing number through their unique hand-held porting process.
Zero-cost Installation: The landline base does not require a technician to install it. You or anyone in your business or household can install your Community Phone landline in under 30 seconds and be ready to make calls in 5 mins.
24/7 reliable customer support: Contact Community Phone customer support via phone, email, and live chat 24/7 to experience world-class support from live agents. Glowing customer reviews on BBB and Trustpilot are testimonies of their commitment to customers.
Works during power outages: The 12-hour backup battery in the landline base ensures your phones continue working during power outages and blackouts.
How to get a Community Phone landline?
Follow these steps to get a Community Phone landline:
1. Call Community Phone at (866)-340-6256 and speak with a specialist.
2. The rep will check your area for coverage. Since Community Phone covers 99% of the US, this should not be an issue.
3. You get a local number FREE when you signup. Choose a new number or port your existing number. The specialist will help you get a similar number if your preferred number is unavailable.
4. Choose a plan to suit your needs.
5. Complete the signup process
6. Wait for your landline base, and install it per instructions. You can contact Community Phone support if you have challenges or questions.
7. Wait until the base completes the setup. Make a test call to check if your landline works as intended.
FAQs
What are the disadvantages of Consolidated Communications Landline?
Traditional landline service from Consolidated Communications is more expensive than other phone services, can be difficult to set up, and does not work with all phones.
What is the best alternative to Consolidated Communications Landline Phone?
Community Phone landlines work off local cell towers, eliminating the need for copper connections. With great calling features, the reliability of a traditional landline, freedom of wireless access, and affordable plans, Community Phone is the best Consolidated Communications alternative.
Conclusion
Community Phone is the best alternative to Consolidated Communications phone service. They provide unlimited local and long-distance calling in the USA for a fraction of the price. Their service also includes features not available with Consolidated Communications, such as spam call blocking, caller ID, call forwarding, call waiting, 3-way calling, voicemail, and more. Sign up today and start saving!