Cellphone plans seem to be going up in price, rather than down. The service levels haven't really improved significantly, either. In two years or so, let's hope that the phone companies get a little competition from the Internet. Wi-Fi is the most promising alternative, but a lot of infrastructure would need to be built out. Still, why not?
Voice over IP was the previous great hope for more competition for the phone companies, never much loved by consumers in the first place. I still have to pay $22 a month for a land line to dial into work, and why doesn't that cost $5? What's new in landline technology that shouldn't be an add-on service? Nothing.
If my desktop wasn't in such bad shape, I'd invest in a webcam so I could make free long distance calls to my family, see video of nephew Ryan crying and pooping, and occasionally see Jeff do his Superman impression. On a cable line or DSL the experience is high quality.