Originally Posted by pinniped
You'd still have to pay bloated fees on the landline and you'd have to pay extra for the right to not designate a PIC (traditional long-distance carrier) and an LPIC (regional toll carrier).
My God, the Bells make an absolute fortune off of these garbage fees. The best solution for the consumer is to get out altogether. If you are dying for some live copper in your house for whatever reason, at least find a local CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier) that undercuts Bell. Usually those are also selling LD, and many of them make a point to offer at least one no-junk-fee plan. So you can make them local, local toll, LD, and DSL, still pay one bill, and pay less money.
But it still isn't great...
Your advice is 100% correct. I would jettison my landline except that my wife feels we should keep it around in case of emergency. To be fair, there have been times when the power went out (California blackouts) but the phone lines still functioned, assuming you maintain an old-style phone that runs off the juice in the telco line.
As a compromise we keep the bare minimum package on the landline, which runs $10.69/mo + a whopping $9 in taxes & federal fees. We switch long distance carriers every six months (thank you pgary) to get miles, though this month's switch may be the last as only MCI continues to offer signup bonuses.
If you don't want the bonus miles, there is no good reason to pay a dime in long distance fees - simply tell your local carrier not to add a long distance carrier, and use your cellphone for long distance. If for some reason you find it necessary to call long dist. from your home phone, simply use one of the many dial-around services.
As for OP, it is very difficult to get a good price on "naked DSL" or "cable internet-only" service here in CA. Usually you are better off subscribing to the basic package in order to get the best rates.
As a final note, pinneped's anecdotes regarding negotiating rates are good advice. I call the cable company every 6 months to negotiate a "promo" for both my internet service and cable service. I also call my cell carrier when my contract is close to expiration to negotiate a better renewal contract. It is unfortunate that you have to play this game to get the best rates, but there is no reason to leave money on the table for multi-billion-$ companies.
