The T-Mobile @Home service (not to be confused with the defunct dot-com-crash Internet service provider @Home) uses your existing home phone number and touch-tone corded or cordless phone, with no need for special VoIP handsets -- although you do need a broadband Internet connection and a T-Mobile @Home HiPort Wireless Router with Home Phone Connection, priced at $49.99 with a two-year service agreement.

The monthly sawbuck buys services including call waiting and forwarding, caller ID, voice mail, three-way conferencing, and the opportunity to use traditionally mobile-only features such as ringback tones (CallerTunes in T-Mobilespeak).

According to T-Mobile, a Scarborough Research study last year revealed that families spend an average of $65 per month on home phone service. That may be why the carrier says that in the test markets of Dallas and Seattle, 97 percent of customers dropped their landline service after adopting @Home.