As the price of unlimited, or high minute cellular plans continues to become less expensive (but not cheap), many people have already cut their landline service to their home. Even more have at least thought about it. Let's face it, if you have unlimited minutes on your cell phone, or you don't use all of your included minutes each month, why have two phone services? You could save $25-$50 per month by dumping your landline service.

But things are getting interesting in the telecommunications markets. VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol is becoming more widespread. Why? Well, for starters, it's generally much less expensive than the analog POTS (plain old telephone service) plans offered by the big telcos. With a decent broadband connection, VoIP calls are equal in quality to those of the analog services we've used for years, and with the emergence of high definition codecs coming into the VoIP mainstream, the sound quality can be absolutely amazing.

Now, VoIP is starting to make more headway in the mobile industry as well. As the wireless companies start to soften their stance on allowing VoIP over 3G and other networks, the usefulness of using VoIP instead of wireless minutes starts to become much more attractive. Where you were once limited to using VoIP calling while on Wi-Fi only, now you can make those calls anywhere there is 3G coverage. These calls go out over the 3G data network, and do not count toward your cellular minutes.  So, what does this have to do with making a good case for not ditching a landline? It has a lot to do with the fact that, now, there is the opportunity to converge your home landline service with that of your cellular service among other things.

It is now possible to have VoIP phone service for your home, and use that same service to make VoIP calls using your mobile smartphone. If you own an Apple iPhone, you have many available apps that will allow you to do this. Our favorite is the Acrobits Softphone as it has a very nice user interface, is easy to set up, and uses "push technology" to allow you to receive calls without running the app. It also allows you to use the VoIP service provider of your choice, and does not limit you to the software developer's service, as many of the others do. So why keep a landline service and merge it with the mobile service? Here are just a few of our main arguments:

• Use VoIP instead of cell minutes and take your cellular minutes plan down to the lowest tier available.
• Use your VoIP plan to make calls while anywhere in the world when connected via Wi-FI.
• Since you're now using VoIP on your smartphone, you can use that same plan for you home landline at no additional cost.
• Make international calls on your home or mobile VoIp service at very attractive rates.
• There are a lot of COOL, new products available or coming out that will make you the envy of your non VoIP friends.

Personally, I hate using a cellphone when making calls from my home office. It gets hot after a few minutes, I can't rest it on my shoulder while talking and using the computer, and the speakerphone is less than adequate for many purposes. There's just something nice about having a decent desk phone when working at your computer, whether it be a fancy home office, or a little niche in the corner.

Even if you have already ditched your landline, it might be time to think about adding one back. Since you now have a VoIP plan to use with your mobile service, all you have to do is get an analog telephone adapter or a true IP phone to utilize that same service at home. Besides, who's going to be able to resist having some really cool gadgets around the house that work with VoIP. Although, not yet out on the market, we will personally be first in line to get our hands on OpenPeak's OpenTablet 7, and a couple of handsets as seen below.

If nothing else, using VoIP with your smartphone deserves a try. VoIP is the future. With the opening up of VoIP over wireless data networks, it is now much more convenient to use it. VoIP over data networks is only going to get better and more prevelant as the WiMAX and LTE 4G networks become more widespread, and manufacturers gear up to deliver 4G enabled handsets into the smartphone market. So what are you waiting for? Try VoIP on your smartphone, and then, add that landline back into the mix.