Have you heard of Magic Jack?

I just found out about Magic Jack and how with the computer you have local and long distance for $19.95 for a year. Way to go. It can be used in the UK also.

Paul, are you listening?
 

My friend got one and had so much static on the line, she gave up after about a week

http://www.magicjack.com/

Because you talk through your phone, not through your computer like some other internet-based phone services, Mel says the sound quality has been great.

You plug a standard phone into the adapter, but you are still talking through the computer and your DSL connection.  Providing an interface to a conventional 2-wire telephone loop instead of using separate microphone and headphone connections from the computer doesn't alter that. 

The problem with all internet-based phone services is that they are using a transport medium which was never designed for time-critical data, and thus the sound quality is at the mercy of the network (how busy it is, how quickly packets of data reach their destination -- if at all -- and so on).

I'm thinking about getting a MagicJack to take with me this fall to make calls back to family and friends without having to pay the international long distance rates, but I have a few concerns.
Will it work with a UK phone and cord ? It's incredibly ignorant, but I have no idea if UK phone cords are different. I would buy a US phone and take it, but there one runs into the voltage difference issue.

I've looked into it before, but nothing I read (not even the price) made me want to switch away from Skype.

Will it work with a UK phone and cord ? It's incredibly ignorant, but I have no idea if UK phone cords are different.

The cords supplied with U.K. phones are different because our wall jacks are a different type.   However, most phones currently on the market have the same type of modular jack at the phone end as is used in the U.S., and on most new models it is wired to the same RJ11 standard, so you could just substitute a U.S. modular cord.   

Some slightly older U.K. phones use an American-style modular jack on the phone but it is wired differently, so a U.S. cord wouldn't work.  You can buy an adapter for those which will allow you to connect a British telephone plug to the RJ11 jack.