People are looking for alternatives to a Windstream landline as the company faces increasing scrutiny over its customer service, hidden charges, technical issues, and business practices. While many customers have been vocal about their dissatisfaction with Windstream, others have expressed their dissatisfaction on social media.
This article provides information on the drawbacks of having a Windstream traditional or VoIP landline and the best alternative - Community Phone.
Read on to learn how to get out of the Windstream monopoly in certain areas and get reliable landline service from Community Phone.
Drawbacks of Having a Windstream Traditional Landline
1. Hidden Charges and Price Variation
Many customers have expressed dissatisfaction about price variations and hidden charges on their bills. Prices on the bill differ from what they see on the website, and several reviews indicate customers being charged even after the cancelation of services.
2. Unhelpful Customer Service
Reviews indicate reps being non-empathetic when customers require support assistance or miscommunicating or misinterpreting information.
Several customers have expressed severe dissatisfaction over how support does not respond to email requests or other forms of communication.
3. 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 Windstream phone technicians may not know where the problem started and how to fix it, leading to severe downtime.
4. Challenges in Procuring Replacements
Since the technology of conventional landlines is outdated, it may be challenging to get a technician to repair your faulty instrument or a wall jack or procure replacement parts for your landline.
5. Limited Features
****Windstream has limited features like a spam call alert, call waiting, and caller ID. You may get a few additional features when you bundle your landline with the internet at an additional cost.
6. Manual Spam Call Blocking
Windstream does not provide automated spam call blocking, 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, spam alerts, 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!
7. Maintenance
As per FCC order 19-72, large carriers can retire copper wire service nationwide, allowing customers to upgrade to expensive bundled landlines. Companies that do not want to retire or upgrade their connections can allow the POTS lines to deteriorate by not investing in maintenance.
Lines laid down in the 80s and 90s are bound to require extensive maintenance as they would have been damaged due to inclement weather and wear and tear. However, Windstream is unwilling to spend on maintaining POTS lines as the return on investment is negligible. This neglect impacts how they handle complaint calls which may lead to severe downtime.
Drawbacks of Windstream VoIP
1. Patchy Connectivity
Windstream’s VoIP phones need more bandwidth for calls than you need for normal browsing. So, you need a high-speed internet connection for good call quality.
Since internet speed and stability is dependent on network congestion, time of the day, the equipment you have, the surrounding areas, and many more variables, it is not consistent throughout the day.
Customer reviews indicate individuals and businesses suffering from poor call quality, call drops, loss of revenue, etc., because of Windstream VoIP.
2. Questionable Reliability
Windstream’s internet-based phones will go down:
1. If you or Windstream have a power outage
2. The company 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.
3. Does Not Work During Power Outages
Windstream’s VoIP phones will go down when you or the company have a power outage.
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 if Windstream has an outage or other issues, your phone lines will be down.
4. Safety and Security Issues
Using the Windstream VoIP phone to make calls will leave 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.
5. Challenges With Emergency Tracking
First responders, especially 911, cannot trace your location accurately if you have an internet-based phone. Since the information comes from an IP address with no GPS data and is not from a physical address or cell tower, location tracking becomes difficult.
6. Specialized Hardware
When switching from a traditional landline to Windstream’s VoIP connection, 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 Windstream Alternative
Community Phone provides reliable wireless landline phone service that eliminates the need for internet or copper connections. Their wireless landline base connects your phone to local cell towers to provide reliability, excellent call quality, and safety. The company’s partnership with nationwide carriers and the unique design of the landline base ensure you have great connectivity across 99% of the US, including rural and low-reception areas.
Enjoy unlimited nationwide calling, the freedom of wireless access, and several fantastic calling features like spam call blocking, 3-way calling, call routing, call forwarding, call waiting, caller ID, landline texting, and more at affordable prices.
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.
Why Is Community Phone Better Than Windstream?
Here’s why Community Phone is better than Windstream landlines:
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 and mobility required. The company’s partnership with nationwide carriers ensures connectivity across 99% of the US. You can take your landline with you anywhere without changing your number. All you need is a power outlet and a phone, and your landline will work as well as a new one.
3. Zero Installation Cost
You do not need a technician 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 or challenges installing your landline base or its functionality. The reps will be happy to troubleshoot any errors or arrange for a replacement in case 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 its 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
43% of people invest in spam blocking only after falling prey to phone scams. With scammers being persistent in their brutal attacks, manual call barring and phone features to block spam are no longer effective.
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.
Unconditional Forwarding: Forward all calls from your landline to a cell phone or another number of your choice and ditch your landline.
Conditional Forwarding: You can program several phone numbers to ring simultaneously with one incoming call, allowing the person available to answer the call.
You can also have numbers ring in succession if the first number is busy or does not answer. For example, your cell phone can ring if you do not answer your landline within 20 seconds.
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.
Benefits of Switching to Community Phone
Customers enjoy the following benefits besides reliable landline service when they sign up for Community Phone:
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.
FAQs
What are the drawbacks of Windstream Landline?
Windstream Landline is not the best option because it has a lot of drawbacks.
1. Long wait times to get help when you need it and unhelpful customer support
2. Some users reported shady pricing
3. Patchy service and poor voice quality
4. Maintenance issues and customer neglect
What is the best alternative to Windstream Landline?
Community Phone is quickly becoming the best alternative to a Windstream landline. Here are a few reasons:
1. Community Phone is much cheaper than Windstream.
2. You can choose from various plans to suit your needs.
3. They offer great features, such as call waiting, caller ID, landline texting, and voicemail.
4. They have a nationwide network so that you can keep in touch with family and friends across the US with unlimited nationwide calling.
5. The company is committed to providing excellent customer service and always puts its customers first.
Talk to their specialists at 866-487-0599 to learn more!
Conclusion
Windstream has been a landline phone service provider in the business for a while. However, if you're looking for a great Windstream alternative, Community Phone is the best choice for you!
Community Phone offers lower rates than Windstream without sacrificing the quality of service. With no hidden charges, and features such as unlimited nationwide calling, caller ID, voicemail, and more, Community Phone is quickly creating a niche for itself in being the best landline service provider.