True, laketrout. We keep forgetting at times the utter, forlorn darkness we escaped from.
I used to pay $100 per month for phone service, a drain on the budget. For international calls we used calling cards, for LD calls within the US we had an inexpensive LD provider (ZoneLD.) Most of the cost was due to local service plus intrastate calls (wife's parents live about 45 minutes away but in an incredibly expensive zone, so we had to spring for an extra $25 a month just to extend the calling area that far north,) voicemail, Caller ID, 3-way and call-waiting. Add the inconvenient calling cards and we spent a good $120 per month. Now it is $16.58 per month, soon to be $15.30 per month, for ALL those same calls plus more, as we now make more calls than before, don't have to watch our LD Dollar. I can also stay on the phone longer with my overseas family. I use advanced features today that I could not even dream of before VOIP.
Besides, Verizion was terrible to deal with. Our battles with them over billing errors and bogus charges were described earlier in this thread. Call quality was always terrible, I couldn't even use my landline to make decent dial-up connections with AOL or another ISP because my line "rated a 40 out of a possible 200" in line quality.
It is not Sunrocket, per se. Basically the emergence of VOIP technology made it possible to ditch those clowns, get better overall quality, crisper calls, more features, unlimited calling, at a mere fraction of their price. And, no monthly bills. Pay $199 one time and forget about that bill for 12 or 13 or 15 months.