This is fake nostalgia. There were a lot of places in the world (and still are many places in the world) where the copper phone lines are anything but crisp an

This is fake nostalgia. There were a lot of places in the world (and still are many places in the world) where the copper phone lines are anything but crisp and clear - lots of noise and hums and clicks and static. That's the rule more than the exception in some places. Now these intrusions are typically not enough to disrupt a voice call, but they were a major issue using modems and DSL.