Are landlines still useful?

My cell phone is my lifeline, let's just get that out of the way. During the holidays, I misplaced my device and you would have thought the world was coming to an end. I searched high and low for my iPhone but could not locate it immediately... (too bad the thing doesn't have an "I'm lost, come find me" app, or maybe it does and I just haven't discovered it yet.)

For nearly an entire day I was unable to check my work and personal e-mail accounts, texts, update my Facebook wall, or check out my friends' latest pictures on MySpace. (I swear I felt the earth shake during this catastrophe!)

To make matters worse, I couldn't even make or receive calls, because, guess what? Like many people, I don't have a home phone anymore in this age of mobility.

Cell phones, obviously have their pro's and con's... but I stand behind them still and wouldn't trade mine in for the world. Who would want it anyway, I have dropped it in the bathtub, left it in my front yard for a couple of days and ran over it (twice)! God bless its little Apple core.

Although I have openly professed my love and devotion to my cell phone, and admitted that I cut ties with my home phone a couple of years ago, I am still not decided on the issue of whether or not landlines should become obsolete.

Believe it or not folks, SmartMoney.com reports in its "10 Things Not to Buy in 2010" article that "In 2010, consumers should expect to see more revolutionary products supplanting old mainstays." The old mainstays it refers to, my friends, includes landlines.

You can read the full story here: http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/budge....

The basic idea shared, however, is that although it will take a while, " home landlines could become as archaic as the rotary phone."

The publication also highlights that a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, revealed more than one in five U.S. homes (22.7%) had cell phones -- and no landlines -- during the first half of 2009, up from 10.5% during the same period in 2006.

I have to admit, to think of landlines becoming "archaic" as they suggest, is troubling.

I know, I know, to say that may seem contradictory, since I am a percentage of the reported population that does not have home phones. But the suggestion in print, itself, accompanied by the many cell phone trials and tribulations I have shared with you, makes the wheels in my head start turning.

When I lost my phone during Christmas, and many times before, I felt like I lost touch with everything and everyone. What if I was in an emergency situation? I would have had no immediate way to make a call out for help. Heck, I have even felt this way when I broke my cell phone charger and my battery went dead.

Another thought enters my mind. What if I didn't lose my cell phone, but we had another Ice Storm or disaster that interfered with the cellular signals? Where is my landline now? Buried beneath the earths surface "archaic" yet, "protected."

As I said before, although I love them, there are pros and cons to cell phones... They are mobile: Capable of moving or being moved readily. But are we ready to be moved away completely from a form of communication that we have known to be trustworthy and dependable for so long... Perhaps this is how the Pony Express, Stage Coach riders, and Telegraphers felt before Graham and Watson came along and shook things up.

How many of our readers have ditched their landlines completely to go totally mobile? What are your thoughts regarding the subject?