[Excaliber]

Good phone thread in general. One of the problems I experienced in California (waiting for my house in Oregon) was erratic cell phone service. You get out in the sticks (like in a blzzard?) and the cell phone may or may not get service. Same thing here, apparently AT&T and US Cellular have the best coverage for MY area, other providers, eh, depends on how far out of town you get.

Lot's of folks use DSL lines here for internet, my experience with that is "rain" will often degrade the signal. I went with a cable provider myself, a real cable, not some DSL or satellite connection.

"Pay as you go" cell phone plan might be a good option for me, basically an emergency phone kind of thing. I also considered just a Trac phone, again, worried about connecting in the "sticks" with that option though. A cell phone is no better than Skype when it comes to the service provider being able to make the call or not.