>Theoretically copper wires should be very reliable- but carriers are moving large parts of their network to fiber or wireless or other vulnerable electronic technology. Such is life. Lets just hope that the clever big boys who are taking over and improving our lives in so many ways, don't make a little boo boo and relegate things back to the age of horse and cart. ;-)

Biggest problem is carriers are using TCP/IP for almost all communications. Analog is pretty much gone. You can rest assured that government and private black hats know how to shut them down or repurpose.