Skype as a home phone service

I just switched to Skype for our home phone service. Here's why and how.

My wife and I had been using our cell phones as our only phone service, and one month we got slapped with a $300 phone bill. Upgrading to the next plan on AT&T would have cost about $25. When we did the research on an unlimited-calling home phone service, this is how the numbers came out:

Contrary to what we'd thought, it's even possible to use an old landline phone with Skype. Needless to say, we chose Skype.

Switching to Skype took about fifteen minutes and five steps. Links to the relevant pages on the Skype site are provided below:

1. Download Skype. It only takes a couple minutes to download Skype and then sign up for an account.
2. Buy a subscription for unlimited calling. Without a monthly plan, you can use the SkypeOut service to call other phones, where you pay about two to three cents per minute. We opted for the Skype subscription for about $3/month. That brings unlimited calling, and you get a discount if you pay for a year in advance.
3. Buy a phone number for inbound calls. We also got an online number for our area code for $30/year with the subscription, so that friends and family could call us. Skype actually lets you pick your phone number, so I opted for one ending in 007.
4. Optional: Buy Skype voicemail. The Skype voicemail service is convenient: you can browse your voicemail visually and from wherever you have access to the internet. It's worth the $20/year in my opinion.
5. Buy a standalone Skype phone. We thought about just using our computers for Skype, but we didn't want to miss a call if the computer wasn't on. Plus, my Grandma had to be able to use it. So, that meant we needed a standalone Skype phone. None of the standalone Skype phones were highly reviewed on amazon.com, so I rolled the dice on the cheapest phone that didn't need to be connected to the computer---the Belkin Skype Phone:
   
   (It sells for $100 at the Skype Store, but for some reason, a brand new one is $80 from amazon.com.) I was pleasantly surprised by the phone. It integrates with the Skype voicemail service, and the complaints on the amazon web site seemed unfounded to me. As a replacement for a home phone line, it works very well. For about $50 more, there's also a portable version of this phone that works over any Wi-Fi connection:
   

   If you have an old telephone that you'd like to plug into Skype, you can use the D-Link Skype USB Phone Adapter:

   
   It's a lot cheaper than the VONDOO Adapter, but it does exactly the same thing.

We've been using Skype for our home phone for over a month without complaint. I'll report back here if we experience any problems with it or the phone.