They are probably a good deal....but Telephone batteries dont always make good RE batteries. They were never designed to be deep cycled. And the reason they often last 30 years is because 29.9 years they are on float charge. Most of these batteries are never put into service, just kept ready for standby.
I have been using them off grid now for 2 years I have both 2 volt and 6 volt. Some are 280 AH, and some are 400 Ah.I left my name in with the local Tel Co and apparently I'm the only one that wants them, cause I'm geting more than I need.. for free. Most are 9 years old. They are upgrading to smaller physical size batteries with higher amp hrs.I have a 990 amp hour set of 2 volt AGM's at 48 volt, a set of 3 strings of 280 amp hr 6 volt 48 volt and 4 strings of 400 amp hr 6 volt.And a set of 6 volt 180 amp hour 48 volt.
I was told in the beggining they may not stand up to much abuse, and I've seen it already. In my string of 400 amp ones out of 24 batteries 2 dropped to 4.5 volts this winter and brought the whole set down to 46-47 volts. Its not a big deal , you just have to change out 2 and reconfigure and go again but thats what they do , they just go bad outta the blue.
They are very heavy to work with, I get the racks too, but I quit using the racks and find it easier to configure them on the floor.
I'm definatley not saying dont get them, but I'm just not sure I'd pay much money for batteries that werent designed for an off grid set up.But on the other hand for me these are great for learning on.
http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2004/10/11/154842/85