[dvtrn]

The dream is that the PSTN will be done away with entirely, with all traffic going through the internet

How far off the mark am I in thinking that part of this dream you have, that was left unstated is that 'all traffic going through the internet' assumes we've fixed the last mile problem of broadband connectivity to rural areas? Because otherwise that dream effectively cuts a lot of people off from the rest of the world.

[Spooky23]

It’s already happening. My parents regularly deal with days long outages with PSTN service. Hell, in the middle of Albany, NY Verizon landlines were broken for 1-6 weeks due to some legacy hardware failure.

The companies want to replace the copper with wireless service because the regulatory environment is more profitable, even though they sell fully depreciated copper at $40/mo.

[metildaa]

Internet access outside of cities and suburbs is pretty awful, there are lots of businesses and residences plugging away with flakey, capped internet and lifeline phone service.

Worse yet, those running what service there is can go out oof business or hang up on users they don't want, and your totally SOL: https://www.cnet.com/news/in-rural-farm-country-forget-broad...