I posted a few months back about how I’m interested in setting up an Asterisk instance for VoIP, though it would be rather silly as I don’t have phone service, so it’d either use my cell phone via Bluetooth, or use Skype as a channel. (Neither of which, apparently, are commonly-used.)

I mentioned before that the 7970 is the most beautiful telephone ever made. And I stand by that statement. But at the same time, I don’t need multiple lines, and a color screen is kind of silly when it’d sit next to a pair of giant computer LCDs. (And when the thing, with the SIP firmware, is apparently horrendous at using its WAP browser.) And at those times, I think that maybe I should go for something more classic. Conceivably, it could be hooked into an FXS voice modem or something of the sort, a minor tweak made to Asterisk’s setup, and viola. A rotary pulse-dialing telephone that indirectly connects to Skype or something.

Red telephones of that sort are even more tempting, though what I think I really want is a payphone.

You can go older, though I think it would be problematic given that it has no dialing capabilities. If you were going to go that far, you might as well buy Alexander Graham Bell’s vest.