I have to disagree. I will have been working remotely for 5 years in November. Yes, there is a time and place for getting on the phone, like for last resort trouble shooting; but that is really a small part of communication in my experience. When initial trouble shooting, architecting, planning, or negotiating you need that time to investigate and consider your response.

For me, my team is mostly +15 or +8 hours from me. So relying on voice is just impractical.