[toast0]

I mean, it was probably all in great shape 40 years ago. But 40 years of missed opportunities to replace cabling failing quality checks (if they were even done) is probably taking its toll. I know of many anecdotes of poor quality lines where trouble tickets end up with a pair swap which works for several months, and then you need to swap to another pair. There's only so many spare pairs, but the silver (lead?) lining is that enough customers leave that you can take their good pairs to serve the remaining customers. I've personally experienced the poor line records that mean connecting a new customer might disconnect an old customer, leading to a service call down the street.

[Aloha]

There are also just so few customers left too.

For me as a phone nerd who would prefer to have a landline, but no longer have a good justification for it, and frankly I'm unsure if I even have a good drop anymore to my house (its not had service since 2010 - before I owned it).

I keep thinking I should reach out to AT&T and try to order services, but I just never quite get around to it.

[toast0]

Be prepared for sticker shock too. I recently set up my MIL with a CenturyLink landline here in WA, and it's $60/month. I could save a couple bucks a month if I declined long distance, but not many afaik. My California landline was less than $15/month with taxes when I turned it off, that was with no long distance and metered local calling (which was fine for me, I mostly wanted it for incoming calls and calls to toll free customer service).

[Aloha]

Oh yeah, I looked up the rate catalog, 50+ a month with unbundbleable LD