Zero cell service at this time, so their carrier sent them some sort of gizmo which equates to a mini-cell tower; problem is, though, that their setup was difficult and only their gear worked in the house....our cell and tablet were worthless there.
It really is dependent on where you live and how you use it. We get pretty good cell service and don’t experience many outages. If I weigh the chance of having some problem (ice storm for example) that leaves me without power for a week or so could I live without the cell phone? At that point the land line payment is an insurance premium for service interruption coverage.