I find this a fascinating subject. Ma Bell built for survivability. I don't think anyone can really build a case against their engineering.
The bigger problem, Joe, is that we as a society have been "sold on" the bells and whistles of life, rather than the necessities. Our gadgets indicate our social status and our self image. I'm not saying that is a good thing, simply life as we know it now.
As someone with a lot of "crappy old stuff", that will be working long after I'm dead, I can say that I understand your values and (for the most part, anyway) share them. What I don't understand, is how to convince people younger than myself that life existed before the iPad, before the cell phone and before the !@#$% internet. Once we can accomplish that, we can build a resiliant society. A resiliant infrastructure will naturally follow.
