Ron, that all sounds great. But my concern would be how to have phone service when my computer and stupid Windows decide to play hardball and not cooperate. image

What about severe storms? All my computers get unplugged when there's lightning in the area, surge suppressors notwithstanding (I've always wanted to use that word image ). The plain old land line and a phone with a handset that actually has a wire to the base will continue to work, because the signal power is provided via the phone connection. Try it sometime when the electricity goes out... the phone still works, ringer and all. This is why I still have not one, but two, wired phones (including an old Princess phone from my college days!).

The main thing I'd be looking for in a new phone setup would be to require the caller to press a certain number ("please press 1"), before I even hear the phone ring. I'm sure there's a box out there that does exactly that ("I'm sorry, your selection was not understood. Please try again, you moron.") That'll cut down a lot on the tele-marketing calls I waste my time answering (!), since the vast majority of them are pre-recorded messages. (Speaking of which, it's interesting image that Congress exempted political orgs from the "do not call" list requirements.)