The Death of the Traditional Telephone System?

Here's the information:

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/01/the-telephone-network-is-obsolete-get-ready-for-the-all-ip-telco/

I'd be very interested to hear what those of you who know the existing phone system have to say.

Many of us keep copper pair connections POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) connections at additional expense as they are believed to be more reliable that either Cellular or Internet connections.  When we get the Big One, there is a chance at least some of the POTS will survive -- at least until the battery runs out. 

The chances of the cell network or Internet surviving are slim...