Replying to a message of Roy Witt to mark lewis:

 ml>> my no frills landlines cost me ~$30US each... when i say no frills, i
 ml>> mean it, too... no caller id, no 3-way calling, no voicemail,
 ml>> nothing extra 'cept maybe touchtone capability...

 RW> That's espensive. Before Uncle Sam adds his share, mine costs
 RW> $9.95/month. It totals to nearly $15 with Fed, State and local taxes.

I have two landlines, $87.20/month for both.  About half of of which is taxes
and fees (fee is the word they use when they don't want to say 'tax').  And,
of course, it's a monopoly (Qwest) and if I don't want to pay that much they 
just pull the plug.  There's no other telco to go to because of that monopoly.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+