Noob looking for advise on creating basic phone system

I want to do a fairly basic deployment for my house with 3 fixed phones and 1 cordless (802.11) that is able to recv/dial from anywhere (onsite or remote with basic internet connection). All phones need separate extensions, 3 voicemail boxes (with phone 3 and wireless sharing), Call waiting, and caller ID. Finally access to the PSTN with unlimited in/outbound calling to continental US (hopefully $30 monthly or less).

Any suggestions on where to start, hardware, providers, or general advised would be much appreciated.

At this time I am thinking about using the budgetone 201 and linksys wip330 handsets.

Unless one of your goals is to learn more about Asterisk, I highly recommend one of the many Asterisk compilations floating around the Interweb:

AsteriskNOW
Switchvox FREE
Trixbox CE
Druid
PBX In A Flash
…and many others.

This way you have a GUI and all the leg work is done for you which will save you hours and potential frustration.

I personally Like Linksys phones…cost effective and very reliable.

For PSTN connectivity, try teliax.com, telasip.com or vitelity.net…all three are excellent.

You can also use your landline, if you already have one, with an analog card.

For hardware, with your low call volume, you can use any old computer languishing in your basement.

Anything sold in the last 5 years with 512 or more RAM will do just find for your purposes.

Enjoy!