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Where are you located? Different areas have different
broadband solutions available.

I live in maine in a district that has a private phone company. I currently have a regualar phone and three cells and cable internet.

What are you currently using for broadband?

Cable

What sort of speeds are you getting for your service?

Ptetty darned fast

Are you familiar with home networking? I had a network once. I currently have a little netgear box that powers my tenents computer internet. I want a line to the living room computer because I want to watch downloads. I think that they will be faster on cable line.

I've read through the thread and here's my contribution:

Hope the kid emergency has passed and everyone's okay!
I concur with avoiding Best Buy's "Geek Squad." Horror stories.
I further concur with using OpenDNS for your filtering needs. Client-based filters that are installed on the desktop are too easily defeated. Short of installing your own content-filtering firewall, this is the most direct solution. But if you're set on monitoring downloads, both Linksys and D-Link offer content-filtering wireless routers that may be what you need.
As for dropping your land-line phone service, consider your potential need for 911 services and/or sending faxes. Those are typically the only reasons for keeping a land-line. If you don't see a need, by all means...dump it.
If you're going with wireless (and you sound like you have some experience with it), I personally recommend 802.11n for your home network if you already offer 802.11b or 802.11g for your tenants. This keeps things nice and separate.

Hope this helps.