Also, not every cell phone feature translates well to land lines. Embarq began rolling out a service in some markets last fall that allowed home-phone users to assign songs for callers to hear — similar to "ringback tones" on cell phones. But the initiative fell flat in the early trials, because while choosing a ringback tone "is a personal decision, a home phone is a community device," said Dennis Huber, Embarq's senior vice president of product development.

Altman says phone companies don't need to get too fancy too fast. Just building easy-to-update contact lists into phones would go a long way with consumers, he said. "That would solve 70 percent of their problem," Altman said.

AT&T Inc., the nation's largest phone company, isn't fighting the consumer shift, partly because its cell-phone unit, which launched Apple Inc.'s iPhone this summer, is benefiting from the trend. Ralph de la Vega, AT&T's group president for regional telecommunications and entertainment, said in some parts of the country, the company is no longer requiring customers to buy land-line voice service in order to get a discounted rate on high-speed Internet access.

"Our point of view is, if you don't want it, we won't force you to buy it," de la Vega said.

The plan will be available nationwide by the end of the year.