I've got one, right next to the bed.
VOIP goes out with the power. I'm not one of those must be connected 24/7 types, so the cell phone is off if I am in the house. The POTS is there, it's cheap, long distance is free and when bundled with my sat TV makes the sat TV cheaper.
Unless a phone line is cut - and that happened once due to contractors not being able to discern north from south - I have phone service, and 911 knows exactly where I am.