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I own a set of Uniden CLX485s. Basic base station with expandable handsets. I have the 485 which includes color screens. They come with a USB cable and a program that will pull contacts from Outlook with a little configuration (contacts with many numbers require mapping to home/office/mobile). Once imported you can set personal ringers and pictures for each one up to the storage limits. My only issue was the battery died and I never got around to ordering new batteries, then a woot deal came along and I got newer Uniden phones (that lack Outlook sync) So they are out there, but I don't know how much support they still get:
http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=CLX485
http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=CLX475-3

I own a set of Uniden CLX485s. Basic base station with expandable handsets. I have the 485 which includes color screens. They come with a USB cable and a program that will pull contacts from Outlook with a little configuration (contacts with many numbers require mapping to home/office/mobile). Once imported you can set personal ringers and pictures for each one up to the storage limits. My only issue was the battery died and I never got around to ordering new batteries, then a woot deal came along and I got newer Uniden phones (that lack Outlook sync) So they are out there, but I don't know how much support they still get:
http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=CLX485
http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=CLX475-3

So can I get a physical phone now? Everytime my phone rings I have to:

- click 'Answer'
- pause iTunes
- put headset microphone near mouth
- say "hello"
- put on headset
- turn off speakers

Skype is my only phone, I work from the house. It's rock solid reliable but I'd love one of the phones that Vonage users get:

http://www.uniden.com/products/index.cfm?cat=consu mer%20voip

An ACTUAL phone, not connected to my computer, but ethernet jack in the back. I give it my Skype account and it connects.

Oh I agree totally. I grew up with an old crystal scanner on in the background all the time in our house; in a small town it's always entertaining, to say the least. Sadly since then I seem to have had the ill luck to move between the handful of cities that all use digital radios for their police and fire services -- not encrypted, but digital (APCO-25). Unlike the regular analog scanners, the digital ones are still a wee bit pricey. (Both the new Radioshack digital or the Bearcat 396T will set you back five C-notes by the time you're done. Ouch.)

I should be quick to point for anyone who's reading though, that a digital and/or "trunking" scanner isn't necessary to hear the spacesuit (or any other kind of amateur radio) transmissions. For that all you need is something that will pick up the 2-meter band, like this $75 one from Uniden. (That's brand new, I'm sure you can find a LOT cheaper ones around.) One like that will also get you a lot of commercial radio -- not commercial as in ClearChannel pop rock, commercial like taxi cabs, tow trucks, etc. -- plus railroads, and public safety stuff if you live in an area where they haven't spent gobs of taxpayer money upgrading to APCO-25 or trunking.

Instead of a software approach that's unstable, why not a hardware solution. http://www.uniden.com/productpop/00_productpop.cfm ?prd_code=ELBT595 Now I have not tested this gear but if it truly supports any Bluetooth enable handset. Then it would be possible to pair your GSM phone w/ Bluetooth capabilities to the base station. Then while at home you can use the cell phone as an additional handset for your home. Additionally you could just follow this article and find out how he did it using WiFI. http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20040930. html

People seem to believe 802.11 is required for a wireless home phone but that is not true. The real point behind using 802.11 for VoIP is so you can build the MTA into the phone and use it not just at home but roam from any home/buisness/hotel/coffee shop with wireless internet access.

here's a fixed clickable http://www.uniden.com/productpop/00_productpop.cfm ?prd_code=ELBT595

You can't stop surfing long enough to answer your phone? Besides, on a cable modem you still have more than enough bandwidth to support both things at the same time

"voice clarity is remarkably different over IP than over a land line"

Maybe I just have a better internet connection than you but I didn't notice a difference even after lowering my bandwidth setting for Vonage.

"Everytime Comcast drops my connection"

This is a risk, but less so if you have a cell phone, vonage has a feature to automaticially forward calls to my cell phone if my VoIP phone goes down.

"Also, short of re-wiring your house, you'd need to have network access at every phone you'd like to use."

I use a uniden dual cordless phone base. It comes with 2 cordless phones but you can use up to 10.

My uniden 900mhz phone rocks! It is by far the best phone I've ever owned. The base station has it's own battery pack so you can still talk wirelessly during power outages and unpluggings. The battery for the base station also pops out at the touch of a button, so you can swap it with the phone's drained battery; there is never an issue of not having a phone. Does this sound like an ad yet? The reception is perfectly clear - even three stories away through brick and steel - in my experience. The headset is nice too, especially if you don't prefer microwave antennas near your face.here is a link to a uniden 900MHz DSS phone.