No-one wrote:
A number of years ago I laughed at a colleague who wanted the master
upstairs for just such a reason. I found myself apologising to him
when I read, within a week of our conversation, of a burglary where
the telephone lines had been cut in just such a manner at ground level
where it entered the house.

The phone line enters my house from underground within the house
boundary (the linebox is on an internal wall). Is that relatively rare?

Dave