I had DSL, which requires a land line. My research showed that
switching to cable for internet (I already had cable for TV) and getting
the cell phones would save me quite a bit. I've only had the cable a
couple of weeks and it is markedly faster than DSL (I had to run tests
to confirm this, as both cable and DSL are faster than I can see). Now
I'm waiting to see if the cable is reliable, before dumping the land
line. Of course, if cable isn't in your area its not an option.

Rubaiyat of Omar Bradley wrote:
A friend has DirecTV's DirecWay for his internet connection and does
not use a landline [not required].

Yes, I'm familiar with Direcway, but unfortunately it would cost more
than 2 times as much as a landline. It would be much faster than
dialup, but for that kind of money I can afford to wait for a few
seconds for each page to load. Here is a price quote from the DirecWay
website:

"DIRECWAY gives you two ways to pay. Our up-front option lets you pay
$599.98 now, and then just $59.99 for Home service or $89.99 for
Professional service per month for 15 months. Prefer to spread out your
payments? Then simply pay $99.99 up front, and $99.99 for Home service
or $129.99 for Professional service per month for the first 15 months.
After the 15th month, your monthly fee will drop to the $59.99 or
$89.99 rate per month."

John Cowart