When you sign up, Phone Power sends you a gadget that you daisy-chain between your modem and your router (you can also plug it directly into the router if the preferred setup doesn't work). Then you plug your phone into the gadget and use the phone as you normally would. It includes voicemail (which you can have forwarded to your e-mail address--a nice touch), and 911.

The best plan (3000 outgoing minutes, unlimited incoming) costs $23 a month after the discounted first three months. That's considerably more than Skype, but still less than a regular phone bill with voicemail and long-distance fees.

During my setup of Phone Power, I would have given up if it weren't for the company's excellent tech-support staff. I talked to several support representatives as we struggled to get both the phone signal and my Internet connection working. They all proved polite and knowledgeable, and were truly concerned with helping me fix my problems.

Nevertheless, I'm going with Skype for my office phone, despite the phone number problem and lack of support. Not only is it cheaper, but having my office phone travel with my computer suits my work habits.

So with all those changes, how much have I cut our phone bills? Halving the number of cell phone minutes saves us $20 a month. Dropping the landline extras is another $16. Switching to Skype would save me about $33. In the end, that's close to $70 a month, or over $800 a year. Not bad when you're trying to save money in this unpredictable economy.