Until I got a Droid X with a mandatory data plan, my wife and I paid about the same for two cell phones as we did for a single landline phone with a “friends and family” plan to cut down on long distance charges; about $60/month.
While a landline was fine back when we lived in the woods of NH and worked for a small employer that allowed personal calls during break times, a cell is pretty much a necessity in the since we are rarely home and no longer have such generous employers. There is also the vastly increased likelihood of an emergency (if you ever drove in Seattle, you’d understand why!) so having a phone in the car is a damn good idea.
There are some places (mostly abroad) where, for all intents and purposes, landlines do not exist; it’s all cellphones.
So yes, I would say that landline phones are kind of like CDs; both are still around, but their replacements are selling stronger and it’s only a matter of time (probably not much time either) before both g the way of the 8-track.
@WestRiverrat You still have to have the physical line, but you do not need landline phone service. I have a “dry loop” DSL pipe. If there is a way around that restriction then there must be some new technology I don’t know about. Last I checked, you needed to be within about 2km of a DSLAM.
The real reasons are partly regulatory and partly because the telcos don’t want the cable companies to have a monopoly on home internet. If they didn’t offer “naked” DSL then nearly everyone with a cellphone would have cable providers for their ISP.
And yes, it costs a little more for “dry loop”, but the price difference is far less than the monthly cost of a landline.