“I don’t know where you live, but land lines are still all over the country, especially in more exurban areas.”
centurylink is essentially abandoning copper lines in my area ... no new lines, no upgrades, and when copper pairs go bad, they switch you to pairs that are less bad ... fortunately, for those who want copper pairs, so many have completely abandoned using them, instead going all-cellular, that more of the better copper pairs are available ...
I prefer the old landlines. The sound quality on cell phones is comparatively dismal - and if power goes out for an extended period, people without landlines are helpless in terms of communication.
I don’t think this transition was well thought-out.