[mpenick]

“When the phone system went electric”

I have trouble getting past this sentence. Did they mean “digital”?

[kikoreis]

Yeah. It might be a reference to "electronic"; this usually describes the transition from electromag and crossbar to fully digital switching: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_switching_system

[bjornorn]

I guess they're referring to the upgrade from manual to automatic switchboards.

[anpat]

IIRC old telephone lines used to work without electricity not sure if they’re alluding to that. I don’t know how much the modern cellphone infra is grid dependent.

[goodcanadian]

Landlines are still independent of the electric grid . . . that is not quite the same as saying "work without electricity" as they most definitely do work with electricity. The power is provided by the phone line itself, however.