any ideas re a basic phone?

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Corded phones are easy to find-- corded service is not...

Around here, Verizon wants 40-50 bucks a month plus a huge setup fee for service that lets you call around town. Any "long distance", as it used to be called, service is another huge arm and a leg. The truth is that they want out of the basic phone service.

However, do you have cable? Our local cable company throws in phone service for peanuts, and it allows calling all over North America as much as you want for no additional charges. Calling overseas is relatively cheap, too.

There are other things, like Skype and Magic Jack that work well, but if your cable company gives cheap phone, that's a lot easier.