A MiFi portable backup hotspot is a useful thing to have as well if your cable or adsl broadband goes down.
http://www.expansys.com/3-mifi-mobile-wi...se&ito=1701The Huawei E5820 even has a NAS microSD card facility allowing the sharing of upto 32Gb of onboard data.
You can then use smaller potable devices to gain access to the Interweb. The main problem with WiFi phones is the lack of battery life, and the poor man machine interface i.e. lack of screen resolution to display full web pages, hence the reasoning behind the iPad.
I still use an Archos 605 for web browsing even though is now quite old because it has reasonable battery life and a reasonably high resolution screen for such as small form factor. The Interweb radio on the Archos 605 is pretty useful for informational situational awareness. The Archos 605 docking station even has a digital audio out.