Finally entering the 20th century
I've just purchased a Linksys SPA 3102 SIP gateway.. now I'll just have to wait for delivery.
It will allow me to use my standard home phone as a land-line, and also route calls to/from PSTN & SIP through it.
I shall configure it to use my voxalot account (sip:111555@voxalot.com) but also register my landline number on E.164.
Not certain which SIP provider(s) I'll go with yet.. I just know that I really didn't want to give KPN (the local telco monopoly here) any more than the required €10/month copper-tax here.
Update: The SPA 3102 works quite well, but the configuration was a bit confusing for a first time telephony user - the supplied documentation is virtually non-existent. I've also configured it as a PSTN-to-SIP gateway, so that I can call home then make an international call through my VOIP accounts (and land-line calls are cheap). The quality is quite good. Now the only task now is to encourage enough other people to switch to VOIP also, and therefore remove all middlemen. I suspect, unfortunately, that it's not as easy as one would hope to configure a VOIP adapter or phone, so getting sweet old Aunt Betty online may require a personal visit. Now, all I need is a cheap SMS gateway, since most of the time I'm near a computer and I could save considerable amounts and not be subject to the whims of bastard telcos