Probably not what you want to hear, but the USB port is not going to solve your phone line issue. I believe all known uses of the port (at this time) were already detailed in the post above by Airblair.
I'm a bit confused here... I can't imagine I'm the only one.
To paraphrase what I think I've been reading here:
1) No MPEG2 HD receivers will be activated after Feb 1
2) The new MPEG4 HD DVR (622) will likely not be available (especially in volume) until some time (long?) after Feb 1...
