Those new features don't require consumers to buy a new handset, so Embarq can roll them out quickly. But over time, the company hopes to offer a "digital home phone" that will have a screen showing addresses and voicemails and provide basic information like news, weather and sports. The company is already working with manufacturers to build that product. Verizon Communications Inc. is planning to offer a similar device called the Verizon Hub sometime next year.

"I think there's a lot of opportunity to innovate around home phones," said Embarq Chief Executive Dan Hesse, who added that while land-line phones haven't changed much in the past decade, cell phones have seen a boom in innovation. "Why should cell phones have all the fun?"

Equipment makers are already creating more advanced land-line phones for both the home and office. Motorola Inc. has begun offering phones that include ringtones, phone books and instant messaging. One new phone even comes with a portable camera and intercom system that can wirelessly stream video and audio from any room in the house to the phone — serving as a potential replacement for a baby monitor.

VTech Communications Inc. recently began selling a phone offering features like weather alerts, directory search, e-mail and instant-messaging on a small color screen for $129 at select Best Buy stores. A soon-to-be launched GE InfoLink phone, made by Thomson Inc., displays Web content on a miniature screen above its keypad.

Greg Urban, product manager for Thomson's Consumer Network Solutions division, said the technology is designed to "get people going with the things they need to start their day." The device, which costs $179 for two phones and an additional piece of hardware needed to plug into users' broadband connection, will go on sale later this year.

Meanwhile, some Internet-phone start-ups are trying to encroach upon the traditional land-line business by offering features that aren't standard with regular land-line phone service. Internet-calling startup Ooma Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., currently offers users a free second line as well as the ability to listen to voicemails through a Web site.

Ooma's Chief Executive Andrew Frame said the company plans to expand the "Ooma lounge" Web site to offer more premium features, which could include the ability to download ringtones or receive online alerts in the coming months. Ooma is currently charging an introductory price of $399 for its hardware, an answering-machine like box. But after that steep fee, users don't face any monthly charges for U.S. calls.

To be sure, these new land-line phones won't necessarily reverse the trend of consumers giving up land lines for cell phones. There's still one wireless feature they can't match: mobility.