You've asked the million dollar question @mineopoly.
As the end user you can't do much of anything except vote with your wallet. The cost vs protection balance is the real issue here. Much of the underlying technology was not designed for these types of attacks. Similar to the origins of email, nobody suspected that people would clog up your inbox with junk and yet it is.
The solution is a multi-tiered approach by the providers themselves. Certain companies will do this while others will not. Pay for the quality of service you can afford and expect. A backup plan is essential with whatever you decide in all facets of life. Services will fail at some point and that's a fact of life.
Given that traditional land lines are quickly going away and the cost of copper maintenance is so expensive the switch to fiber is inevitable. Many of those on fiber connections don't even realize their "home phone" is voip and can be hit at any time. Their providers are usually huge national carriers that can afford to pay under the table or have a large enough network to handle these type of attacks.
The internet as we know it was not initially built with security as the forefront ideal. A patchwork of fixes upon fixes is the norm. I don't believe a complete shift to a new network is even possible and would require massive amounts of effort and capital.
As a sidenote, I proofread this article several times and still see spelling/grammer mistakes. I should write something about the decline and recognition of these things. Spellcheckers seem to miss much more and my brain auto-corrects mostly everything I read so I don't see the mistakes anymore.
Thanks for reading and great question.