Bob Ackley wrote in a message to Roger Nelson:

 BA> Heh.  A while back I had a cell phone from a local provider, but it
 BA> was a bit pricey.  Then I discovered TracFone, $20 for 60 minutes
 BA> and/or two months, whichever comes first, a bit less than half of
 BA> what the cell phone company wanted.
 BA> So now I have a TracFone.  Seems to me that as long as one doesn't
 BA> use it much - and I don't - that's the way to go.

Yeah, but the downside to that untraceable phone  you have is it's
analog and expensive -- at least that's the way I remember it when I had
one back in the Nineties.

 BA> But I still have two landlines - one for me, one for the computer. 

Is RingMaster available in your area?

 BA> Every month or two I get an advertising circular from Qwest 
 BA> telling me what great deals they have for this or that service.  

Casting a wide net caught many a sucker.

 BA> When I call them to investigate what seems to be a good deal (DSL, 
 BA> for instance) the droid at the 800 number says 'we don't offer 
 BA> that in your area.'  So if they don't have the service here why 
 BA> are they sending the offer to me?

See above.  My ex-womanfriend lives about three miles from me and still
can't get DSL service in her area.  A fact that astounds me no end because
I had DSL when I lived in Gray (8-miles north of here) and when I moved
back to Houma (permanently, I hope), I have the same phone number and DSL. 
When I called the Telco and asked them when they were going to get ot her
area, I received the patented "We'll get around to it" reply.  My
guess is that they are thinking about redoing this whole area with
up-to-date fibre optics.

...Only a genius can have a stroke (of).


Regards,

Roger 
--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+