Thought others may be interested in this programme which tells the story of the evolvement of landline telephone services in the UK:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...f-the-landline
What I found interesting was that, after years of engineers building up the network, it was set to be overtaken by mobile phones.
Then, the lines were needed for dial up, broadband etc, which meant that all that work and infrastructure didn't go to waste!
How different the internet and it's roll out would have been without the humble landline.