I've got several Lucent/AT&T phones, bought recently, and they are pretty good phones, with the exception of the newest one, which seems be able to pick up a hum on the line. Anybody know how to ground a demarc? If your demarc isn't grounded, time to call the telco.  (And pray, if you're on BellSouth.   I don't know if grounding will help much on newer phones, since the phones themselves aren't grounded (only tip and ring are used). I have two Lucent/AT&T Trimline 210s, which are IMHO one of the best single-line corded phones on the market today

I thought the Trimlines were always telco powered.   The Princess, big, bulky, heavy-set Princess, doorstop that it was, was plugged into the wall. The original Trimlines required AC current from a transformer, just like a Princess.  For phones that had several, they would plug in a transformer in the _base_ment and run the lamp current through the yellow/black pair. Later they were able to power the light (somewhat more softly) from the central office, eliminating the transformer needs. IIRC, when the Trimline went modular, the handset cord became the same as other modular phones; previously IIRC it was 5 conductor.