Verizon and others are starting to offer dry-loop DSL or DSL without a telephone landline:

If you've got a cell phone and/or use Skype, Vonage, SunRocket, or one of the other VOIP providers, it's officially time to cut the cord, guys.

They're so embarrassed about it that they haven't told anyone, but Verizon is rolling out 'Naked DSL'.

...

It's less evocatively known as 'Dry-loop DSL'. You can now drop your land-line, but still get DSL from them. Verizon experienced *cough* technical problems issues for about a year with this.

Folk less generous than me might suspect that their marketing and accounting people were totally freaked at the implications of people no longer being forced to pay for their buggy-whip technology to get DSL?

...via BoingBoing