WIll this really work?

http://contents.fifthunit.com/html/products.5th/sku.777.html

In theory, yes -- as long as the unit does not take much power.

The down side is that if you use too many of them, your phones may stop working. Also, if too many people use them, the phone company may want to have a talk with you.

Another thing to consider is that when the phone rings, a lot of voltage is generated (over 60V, I believe). So, if you just go around plugging random things into your phone jacks, they may be fried the next time that somebody calls. Whatever you plug in has to be designed to handle these transients.

So, while this unit may work, I rather doubt its usefullness under ordinary circumstances. If it can be powered off of the phone line, you are saving yourself maybe $1 of electricity over using a similar light running off of 120V.

I would also not buy more than one of them. For emergency use, one of them may be quite useful. But as you plug more in, the more you load down the phone power supply.

Yes, it should. The phone line carries a small amount of current and should be enough to power an LED lamp. I wouldn't use this in anything but an emergency situation and then only sparingly. The system wasn't designed for constant draw of power, but instead has power in order to send it's signal and to ring you. I'm guessing that it degrades the quality of the line just by being turned on, and may prevent inbound calls from reaching you.

Here's a follow up question. I don't have a home phone any longer, just a cell. Would there still be power coming into my place?

Um. Is it just me or is this really a bad idea? I've got a cell phone also, but I happily pay the 20 bucks/month to have a landline coming into the house. Besides the warm, reassuring hum of a dial-tone, there are a lot of cases where your landline will be working long after the cell phone has become a paperweight. Especially if you live in an area with buried, as opposed to overhead, wires back to the central office. Even if the power goes out, your phone is powered from the CO (obviously) and they have both battery and generator backup systems to keep their (and your) equipment going.

$20 per month is a complete waste of money for me. The land line was never used once my daughter moved out. I have an inverter to recharge my cell as long as there is service, and my HAM radios when there isn't.

O.k. the cell phone's dead. How fast can you get to your HAM equipment and dial 911? Just sayin'.

I don't dial 911. But to answer your question, I can get out on my HAM radio at least as fast as on a telephone. In an disaster situation, there are numerous nets running, at least in my area.

Hmmm.. From the last time I looked at HAMs, they all required power or battery.. If there is no electricity for a week or a month, will your HAM still work?

I pay $5 a month for my landline, no long distance, nothing, just the dial tone.. I only use it for toll free calls when I need to talk to my bank, or any other institution that requires me to "authenticate" myself. For all other calls, I use my VoIP or my cellular.

First, if there's no electricity for a week or a month, I'll bet dollars to donuts the land line phones are out as well. That said, I easily have enough battery power for my HAM radios, especially if I'm running low wattage locally. Getting on the HF bands running morse code can be done at very low power as well, and requires very little time operating.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying my HAM radios can substitute for telephone, land or cell, in every case. All I'm saying is that I can spend $240 per year on things that will be better for me than a land line phone in addition to my cell.