We don’t have landline phone dialtone right now. But we do have DSL, even though it comes over the phone lines. But my wife is on the phone, via the cellphone. If the battery runs down, there’s always Skype or Gizmo.
Most of the time, I don’t like phone calls. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t answer the phone unless I knew who it was, and really wanted to talk with them at that moment. If it’s important, they’ll leave a voicemail.
Come to think of it, I like having DSL and no dialtone. I certainly prefer it to having dialtone without DSL.
By the way, we get (or don’t get) dialtone and DSL from Verizon.