PhoneGnome Home
[Insert disclaimer here] Sometimes I hear about companies promising things that I wonder how they could possibly do what they promise and still stay in business. This is one of those times to take what they are saying with a grain of salt and know that I have not bought, used, or seen what they are selling.
But as a public service for those intrepid souls who like to live on the bleeding edge comes PhoneGnome. They say, as I understand it, you can make PhoneGnome to PhoneGnome calls for free, but if you call a non-PhoneGnome number, you may have to pay what they call "low Internet calling rates" from whichever one of three different services you choose to sign-up with.
Note, as I understand it, you don't pay a fee to PhoneGnome, only to the service you sign-up with. Whether this is cheaper than any of the other voice over IP options available I don't know. But from what I can see, the main advantage is that you use your "normal" (land line) phone to make the calls but have them routed via whichever is the cheapest way to get there.
Note also that although PhoneGnome may not have a direct monthly cost, you must buy their $119 USD hardware (I guess you would call it a modem although I'm not sure what they call it). YMMV.