Some of you will remember that once upon a time, you couldn't buy a home telephone - you had to rent one from the phone company. Of course that changed long ago, but some older consumers are still renting those phones - close to a million people nationwide, by one estimate. One phone company, on its Web site, offers phones ranging from $10 to $30 a month. That's up to $360 a year, obviously WAY more expensive than just about any phone you could buy.

So you might inquire with some of your older friends and relatives about whether they're renting their phones and make sure they know the score. This family did just that.