phone service, voice over ip No one questions that phone service is a necessary utility to have. However, land based phone service is less popular than it used to be because people have alternatives now for wireless service, and even voice over IP, which is phone service that uses your high speed internet line to provide phone service. It's the cheapest around without a question. For the most part, it is also quite dependable. However, once in a while your router blips off, and the voice over IP phone service has to be restarted. This can be a hassle if you don't have another phone to call their technical support group. And if your internet service goes down for whatever reason, you won't be able to call anyone, either. I have voice over IP for one of my phone lines, and was without service all of Friday night into Saturday morning, when I was finally able to get a hold of technical support, after they opened. My message: if you want the cheapest phone service out there, get voice over IP, but make sure you have a reliable backup phone at your disposal-either from a neighbor or as a wireless phone.