Could Cell Phones Replace Regular Phones?

JoseMonkey asks: "The reliability and quality of wireless telephones continues to improve, and the total cost of ownership and cost of use is steadily decreasing.In light of that, I'm starting to wonder if I could forget about conventional phones altogether and simply use my cell phone. Calling plans like AT&T Wireless Services' "OneRate" program make roaming charges a non-issue, and the cost of service is fairly reasonable. In fact, I'm having trouble thinking of reasons to keep my home phone. Can anyone think of a reason not to tell my local phone company to take a hike?" (Read on...)

Although something like this could happen, I think there are several reasons why we aren't-quite-ready-for-it-yet. Cellular coverage is spotty at best across the U.S. and I'm not quite sure how widespread coverage is in Europe (but the information would be appreciated). I mean, I have a new cell phone (a Nokia 6185) and there were times I couldn't make a call from the center of downtown Manhattan which mystified the hell out of me at the time (turns out my phone was somehow kicked out of the system).

Of course, when it comes to signal quality, I think that there are some cellular phones that sound better than your average land-line, but the place where your land-line will win hands down over any of the new wireless upstarts is reliability. On a landline phone, you pick the receiver up off the cradle and you get a dialtone (assuming you've paid the bill, of course). I'm sure many of you will agree that cellular isn't quite at that level yet, although it's getting there. I figure everything will change within a year or two that will make even today's best predictions meaningless.

So how long do you think it will take (if ever) before everyone has a cell phone and land lines become a thing of the past?