It is crazy how the 90s were so good but now is so awful. I think that the 80s would have been pretty good, too.

Now, everything is somehow terrible, terrifying, or just boring and pointless.

As long as the land line isn't too expensive to maintain, I guess that could work, although I suspect that modern cell networks are considered pretty good in an emergency. I am not sure, though, since I know that the cell network was brought to its knees in that big blackout over 20 years ago. Capacity had grown since then but usage has, too, so I am not sure how well it would work if everyone in the province tried to initiate a call at the same time.