Tom Wheeler, the new chairman of the FCC, announced plans to begin a diverse set of experiments next year that will see the nation’s landline telephone system transition from one of circuits and wires to a rather more digital one.

Tom Wheeler, the newly crowned chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has ambitious plans. He’s already on a crusade to get carriers to allow cellphone unlocking, and now he plans to rewrite the technology that supports the nation’s ageing landline phone network.