OMG! Just Shoot ME!

Yep! About a year or so ago, AT&T tore into our rural neighborhood up here in the hills. Within about 3 1/2 weeks, they installed a complete and total fiber-optic system including substations and terminals for each and every house in the area - all underground. 

Though not a fan of AT&T (a longer story) I must say that they did a great job. Where they had to cross the very front of people's yards, they finished the work with straw and new grass seed and cleaned up all of their messes.

Now they sit and wait for someone to call them to order hi-speed cable internet or phone service.

@perrone1 Glad to hear they did a nice for 'yall!     Everything (phone, electric, cable etc... ) here is underground too but not everything is fiber.   So...  If I'm ever forced to abandon my landline, I'll miss it.  😫 😫 😫

@chris I still have OLD copper lines (also underground) for my existing landline. They kept them in place - thank goodness!

@perrone1 Same here Tony. My land line is my primary phone.

A couple of years ago British Telecom started progressively retiring their copper wire analogue phone service and obliging us to go digital. That involved buying relatively expensive digital phones from BT because the cheap digital cordless phones you can buy anywhere won't work with their "sophisticated" cloud-based system. And of course if there is a power cut or your internet connection goes down or your router fails you have no landline. Which means relying on your mobile phone, which will last for about a day between charges so if there is lengthy power outage and you are housebound, you are screwed. (Fortunately we aren't. Not yet anyway).

Ah, progress, don't you just love it?

I have no aversion to progress or technology, I'm just slow to make a change. I drug my feet to switch from 35mm film to digital. And now I'm avoiding the mirrorless camera for as long as I can. 

I took part in the automotive bag phone journey but dodged the current cell phone explosion as long as I could. I had no choice but to use a company-supplied smart phone in work. But at retirement (2012) I switched back to a dumb flip phone. It wasn't until recently, with the advent of new tech hearing aids, that I upgraded to a current version cell to control the aids.

And car gizmos. OMG! I was in heaven when I first got GPS a million years ago. I happily tossed all my maps used in calling on clients all over my multi-state regional territory. What an improvement.

And while most of you learned how easy a back-up camera was to use in parking, I didn't have one until a few years ago. I'm happy to say that I've conquered the use of a rearview camera mirror, lane keep assist and accident avoidance with braking, and wish I had done so a long time ago.

I'm slow to accept progress unless it is fun and easy to use.

I worked closely with the issue of maintaining copper in my career at Verizon, primarily in compliance with the antitrust requirements.

Several years after my retirement the FCC ruled the incumbents no longer are obligated to maintain copper if it goes south, so hope your copper wiring stays strong.

Of course that incents the big telecoms to put in fiber and get to have the playing field to themselves like the old days.

Me, I dumped my landline when I retired and moved. Cell phone only through a reseller.