Okay, I was pretty tough on Skype (http://www.skype.com/) for their service failure (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2007/08/skype-lives-down-to-my-expectations.html) this year, but I still think it has its place. For me, that place could be as a secondary voice calling system.
All the trees in Reston kill cell phone reception (even though we're a mile from Sprint HQ), and signal strength goes to crap in the basement. I'd prefer not to get a new landline, so I'm considering voice over IP for a home line. Despite its shortcomings, Skype is the obvious choice.
For one thing, I'm already using it. Just need to add services and hardware to set it up for home use.
Also, it's an eBay company. I may not think much of Skype's business model, but I respect eBay and love PayPal. Buying Skype credit with PayPal appeals to me.
Another big plus is lack of lengthy and costly commitment. We don't need unlimited calling, just a solid connection for an hour or so per week. the nominal fee for a SkypeIn number and per minute pricing for SkypeOut should fit that need nicely.
I plan on using handsets, independent of a PC, but the ability to track Skype calls in Outlook courtesy of Tablet Enhancements for Outlook (http://www.tabletoutlook.com/) is another consideration. Would be most useful when making and taking calls on my Tablet PC, particularly when away from home.
And once I have the handsets set up, I can call to them from my tablet within the house like an intercom system. Useful for our three-story townhouse.
So the plan is to set up handsets. Been testing it on our PCs, which has worked out well. Need to dump the Comcast wifi router and upgrade to one that can accept more than four connections. Might take advantage to go 802.11n and gigabit. I'll post more as it happens. | 
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