Line of sight communications means you need relays somewhere to go around the curve of the earth. We already cut huge latencies off intercontinental links by going from satellite links to fiber optics.
Or... start drilling!
POTS is not the only service affected. AT&T plans to shut down 2G service and make spectrum available for 4G instead and Verizon is considering something similar. Due to differences in coverage between these technologies some sparsely populated rural areas will be left with no cell coverage. Small carriers may be able to provide an alternative but it will take time and money.
Which would be odd, since once people see that talking on phones is allowed, they're going to just take out their phones and try to connect to the ground towers to circumvent the cost. I have no idea how well that will work.
The on-board cell is fitted with jammers that prevent detecting the ground towers at all. This is to prevent phones from boosting power to reach ground.
Why didn't the meteorite leave a hole exactly the same size and shape as the object itself?
The initial hole was probably smaller and less circular. However, the warm water rising from the meteor has melted the edge.
Pick a government. If you trust the Russians use GOST. If you trust the Japanese use CAMILLA.
Then use all three of them in sequence and hope it would be quite difficult to have them all cooperate to break your encryption.
Hackers of the world, unite!