Our national communication grid is actually falling behind in national coverage area and cellular although highly convenient can not do the job.
I find it odd that if AT&T charged someone $800 plus for a standard desk phone which was reliable will not bat an eye paying for a cell phone {radio transceiver} that is hit and miss and drops calls and has to be replaced ever couple years.
On a cellphone today to call anyone but close friends GOOGLE has become the new phone book. To find a person now is all but impossible. And like it or not cell systems do allow Big Brother the means to track your movements aka exact location and I would likely say monitor your communications as well. My dad told me even back in the 80's never assume a call is private.
Yes, back where I used to roam, Verizon has let their SLICs really degrade due to lack of maintenance. It’s frustrating when they can’t even close up their splice boxes. Freeze/thaw cycles are wrecking this part of the infrastructure.