.png)
Spectrum, formerly Time Warner Cable, has had a penchant for leaving hordes of dissatisfied customers. When the company retired its copper wire landlines and switched to VoIP phones, it lost its customers’ goodwill further because of slow internet speeds, horrible customer service, and frequent billing problems.
Community Phone, a landline service provider that does not require internet or copper wire, is your best option if you are looking for Spectrum Landline Alternatives.
The landline base is easy to set up (30 seconds), and provides strong coverage across 99% of the cities in the US. The company has no hidden charges and has a robust robocall blocker to block spam calls.
With affordable plans starting as low as $29/month, Community Phone’s landline service can save you hundreds of dollars on installation costs, setup, and maintenance. It is 31-35% cheaper than traditional and digital landlines, 20-25% cheaper than VoIP, and a whopping 73% cheaper than a cell phone.
Landlines have always been synonymous with reliability. Despite being tethered to a place, they provide crystal clear voice quality, work during power outages, and help with location tracing when someone calls 911.
Modern counterparts of the landlines, VoIP-based phones, provide flexibility, but their reliability and call quality are questionable. The communication quality in a VoIP phone depends on the strength of the internet you have, power availability, and geographic location. These phones also go down when there is a power outage unless you have a backup power unit to keep them running.
Though copper-wire lines are reliable, have excellent call quality, and have fewer call drops, copper-wire service is being shut down across the country, thanks to the recent FCC Order 17-92. This has left many seniors and people in the low-income group with uncomfortable options: bundle the home phone with expensive internet and other services, or get a cell phone.
Community Phone has a way out of this for you!
With more and more people looking for home phones without internet, Community Phone offers a reliable landline service that does not need internet or copper cables. Technologically advanced yet simple to set up, Community Phone’s landline service is one of the best Spectrum home phone alternatives.
Community Phone: The Best Alternative To Spectrum VoIP
Community Phone is the best landline phone service in the U.S that connects your home phone to cell towers in your area, eliminating the need for internet or copper wire connections.
The company’s partnership with the largest carriers nationwide ensures coverage in about 99% of the areas across the U.S, especially rural areas.
The built-in antennas in the landline base amplify signal strength so you can get crystal clear voice quality even in areas with poor reception. Community Phone’s robocall blocker helps block millions of spam calls and protects you from spammers and scammers.
Community Phone does not bind you in contracts and there are no hidden charges. The company’s reliability and excellent customer support have made it the number one alternative to a Spectrum home phone.
Spectrum Vs Community Phone
Why is Community Phone one of the best alternatives to Spectrum landline?
Community Phone has a 4.1-star rating on Trustpilot and an 4.2 “A” rating on BBB. Here’s what Community Phone customers say about the company’s service and customer support on Trustpilot.
Review: So patient with me during the onboarding process
"The service team has been very helpful and I am very pleased with the service and the phone system. The team was so patient with me during the onboarding process. I love having the business phone off of my personal phone since getting rid of the VIOP! Such a relief and much needed peace! I am so glad that I can get the time stamp of the voicemails just by pushing "5" during the outgoing message so I know when the clients canceled their appointments. The calls are clear and no calls have been dropped."
Here are a couple of features that set Community Phone apart from all of its competitors in the landline segment. Read on!
1. Voice Quality
The Community Phone landline service guarantees crystal clear voice quality and no call drops, as it works off of cell towers in your area. The company has partnered with the largest carriers across the length and breadth of the United States to have you covered even in areas with poor reception.
Spectrum utilizes internet to power its phones. The call quality is entirely subject to the strength of the internet you are behind, making calls patchy and call drops common. This nascent technology has disappointed several people who have bundled their phones with internet.
2. Downtime/Reliability
The Community Phone landline service has much lesser downtime than other internet-based landlines. Since Community Phone’s landline base relies on cell towers, you will have your phone working despite a power outage. The landline base’s 12-hour backup battery also complements the phone’s ability to be functional during a power outage.
Spectrum’s internet-based VoIP phones will go down when there is a power outage, along with your internet. You will have to bear the added expense of buying a backup power unit if you would like to keep your Spectrum phone running during a power outage.
3. Flexibility
The Community Phone landlines can work anywhere if there is power and cell service, which is 99% of the locations in the U.S, including rural areas.
Spectrum’s VoIP phones may not be a great choice in rural areas, as the voice clarity of the calls depends on internet service availability and strength.
4. Customer Support
Community Phone ensures you always reach a real person when you need assistance. The company’s Happy and Personable Customer Care Agents are experts at talking to seniors and helping them out with any questions or problems they may have.
Spectrum’s customer apathy has not changed from when they were Time Warner Cable. The brand change which fetched them positive customer reviews initially, dipped down as Spectrum couldn’t maintain its service standards.
5. Plans and Billing
Community Phone has cost-effective plans to suit your needs. Many Spectrum customers who switched to Community Phone have spoken about Spectrum’s inconsistent and confusing billing. Calls to Support are not helpful either.
So you may want to avoid those hassles and switch to Community Phone to enjoy secure, easy, and reliable landline service.
6. Features
Community Phone offers all the features that VoIP phones have: call forwarding, robocall blocking to block spam calls, and voicemail, all without requiring you to bundle your home phone with internet. You can stay in touch with your loved ones anywhere in the United States with unlimited minutes. With affordable plans and helpful, knowledgeable customer support you can reach via chat, email, or phone, Community Phone is the best landline phone service for you.
While Spectrum has several features like Caller ID, call forwarding, etc., customers have had several problems with calls getting dropped and call clarity. Questionable reliability and neglect from the company have rendered these features unattractive and forced people to look for alternatives.
Other Alternatives You May Consider
Some of the other alternatives to the Spectrum home phone could be:
2. AT&T
AT&T, a legacy telecom giant, has several services: traditional landline services, wireless landline services, and internet-based services.
Some of the features of the Traditional Home Phone Service Plan are: call waiting, call forwarding, unlimited nationwide calling, and options to build a plan.
While the plan seems affordable, it has limited features and several charges the customer should be mindful of.
Despite the plans and the legacy brand name, Customer reviews from Trustpilot indicate that many customers are unhappy with AT&T and are looking to switch providers.
Review: Disfunctional from top to bottom, we are gone after 30 years
"If there was less than one star ATT gets it after almost 30 years as a customer. The last straw: Our lousy 12 mb internet ($40/mo!) was constantly going down, we called one more time, the technician came out, looked at the history on his tablet, said "there is nothing I can do to fix it, stop calling it in" and we were billed $99 for it. We paid all but the fraudulant service call, cancelled, I explained many times to ATT reps what happened, were told there was nothing they could do, they turned it over to a collection agency. Now the fun part: We get a notice that we requested other services on this same account, call this number if you have questions but it is constantly a fast busy. I call the customer service department and get told that we owe and until we pay the balance they won't discuss it. I go online and the account is no longer there. How does ATT stay in business???!!!"
Check out Community Phone, a company that does not nickel and dime you with hidden fees. Call our landline specialists TODAY!
3. Verizon (FIOS Home Phone)
Verizon ended its relationship with traditional copper wire service when it shut down its 3G network. The company introduced FiOS, an internet-based phone service that relies on fiber-optic technology when the Verizon home Phone Connect stopped working.
Some features of the FiOS home phone service are: call forwarding, integration with TV, scheduling calls, and a do not disturb mode.
Despite the features, the reliability of the FiOS phone service is questionable as the phone will go down during a power outage along with your internet. Customer reviews indicate that the call quality of the FiOS phones is terrible, as they depend on the strength of your internet, and customer service is not helpful either.
Review: Been with Verizon since November 2021
"Been with Verizon since November 2021. Horrible customer service and they lie. They never send any notices, text or email wise when they decide to change your plan. Today got a text to say my bill had increased by $50.00 with no explanation. When I called the human who was like a robot he said they did away with shared data plans. I should have received a notice and said I should check my spam. No notice did I receive but the guy refused to believe that. For 2 lines the cost jumped to $141.00. Not acceptable. There are better plans with other carriers and from the reaction by Verizon they simply do not care if they lose your business. Just horrible customer service! Also made one long distance call to Canada at home through wifi and Verizon charged me a whopping amount. I called to say the call was through wifi and there should be no charge they only agreed to lower the charge by 1/2. What the hell were they thinking. Wifi - no charge Verizon."
Verizon FiOS can be a Spectrum landline alternative if you are willing to get an internet-based phone and have a backup power unit to keep your phone running during power outages.
4. Ooma VoIP
While Ooma has several attractive plans, canceling the service when you don’t need it seems like a hassle. Customer reviews indicate very unhelpful customer support and no clarity in cancellation policies.
Some of the features Ooma offers are: built-in virtual receptionist, dedicated mobile application software for home and business phones, and 911 and 922 alerts.
Since Ooma is also a VoIP-based phone, reliability and call quality would remain subjective to the strength of your internet service. Rural areas and several other areas in the city may have weak signal strength, rendering several of Ooma’s features useless.
If you would like to consider Ooma as one of the alternatives to Spectrum landline, it would be better to do your due diligence before you sign up with them.
Review: good luck with cancellation your Ooma service
"My Ooma base unit stopped working 2 years ago & I forgot to cancel the service. When my credit card on file expired & I'm getting emails from Ooma asking me to update the credit card. I called and requested cancellation, the customer rep tried to keep me by offered some discount but I politely told her that my hardware was bad & I don't use that phone number since the last 2 years. She asked me to pay the last 4 months of service so she can proceed the cancellation. I gave her my new credit card to charge the back payment. 2 days after my call, they used my new credit card to charge monthly fees again. Since they only take cancellation request by phone, hence we don't have any record for the cancellation. Online chat will not deal with cancellation."
5. Xfinity
Xfinity is also a VoIP-based landline service provider that relies on the internet. Xfinity offers call screening, call forwarding, 3-way calling, and access to Xfinity Connect.
Customer reviews for Xfinity indicate that their service is not very satisfactory. After going through more customer reviews on Trustpilot, you can decide if Xfinity can be a good home phone alternative to Spectrum.
Review: Bad service and getting worse
"I have been with this company for many years and their service has gotten worse while their prices have gotten higher. And the worst problem is that I am m stuck with this sorry excuse for a company since there are no other isp options where I live. I would give them 0 stars if the option was available. Every day there are outages and all they say is that they’re performing scheduled maintenance to improve service. Only problem is that service just gets worse and worse. I wish we had other options for service which would ensure competitive prices and service."
Final Thoughts
While several service providers in the market provide landline service, their focus is on replacing copper cables with fiber optic cables. This can only mean one thing for you: landline service bundled with expensive, unreliable internet and other services you don’t need.
Switch to Community Phone, a reliable landline service provider that does not need internet or copper cables. With no hidden charges, no contracts, and the promise of an easy, safe, and reliable way to stay connected with your family and friends, Community Phone is just what you have been looking for.
Landline Phone Service Benefits
With over 100 million people using landline services, they are not a thing of the past. However, these services offer benefits that no one can deny. The benefits of landline services include;
1. Better call quality
Even if you use a cell phone with excellent call quality, you'll still experience moments when the signals are feeble, resulting in compromised call quality. In such cases, it is best to have landline services for backup.
2. Reliable in the event of an emergency
Landlines are more stable than VoIP systems, since they are powered by either copper wire or cell phone tower connections. Landline connections are reliable, allowing for smooth communication even during emergencies and disasters. This is one of the main reasons why they are popular among senior citizens.
3. Cheaper International call rates
It can be costly to place international calls via cell phones. Moreover, you might face call distortion if you make International calls on your cell phone. So, it is advisable to use landline services for long-distance and International calls.
4. Security
Landlines are a more secure way of responding to unknown numbers, as it doesn't reveal your personal information to anyone. So, if you are using a landline, your chances of becoming a victim of cybercrime are much lower.
