Telephone wires condemned to history....

[ardcarp]

We all have mobiles of course, but prefer to have a trad landline which also supplies our broadband. I was contacted by BT today to 'discuss' the forthcoming dis-use of telephone wires. First I'd heard of it, but I gather that region by region, new handsets will be dished out using the same system as mobiles when the telegraph poles are dismantled. Any views about this? Is anyone on the new system already? Is it going to spell disaster? Should I brush up my semaphore?

[Serial_Apologist]

[Bryn]

We all have mobiles of course, but prefer to have a trad landline which also supplies our broadband. I was contacted by BT today to 'discuss' the forthcoming dis-use of telephone wires. First I'd heard of it, but I gather that region by region, new handsets will be dished out using the same system as mobiles when the telegraph poles are dismantled. Any views about this? Is anyone on the new system already? Is it going to spell disaster? Should I brush up my semaphore?

I abandoned a copper landline 14 years ago. My broadband connections are fibre and G4 (to be G5 when available via 3/Three in my area) and my telephone mobile.

[cloughie]

We all have mobiles of course, but prefer to have a trad landline which also supplies our broadband. I was contacted by BT today to 'discuss' the forthcoming dis-use of telephone wires. First I'd heard of it, but I gather that region by region, new handsets will be dished out using the same system as mobiles when the telegraph poles are dismantled. Any views about this? Is anyone on the new system already? Is it going to spell disaster? Should I brush up my semaphore?

Not on new system yet but have been informed it is imminent. The only problem seems to be that, as it relies on Broadband, if that is down then cannot use a landline - so anyone requiring use of phone will have to use a mobile. The assumption is that you will have a mobile and a decent signal.

[teamsaint]

I must have missed the public consultation on this.
Pretty bad idea all round , IMO, especially bad in areas with poor mobile signal which is going to be the only back up if broadband goes down.

[oddoneout]

I didn't know about this either and only found out about it yesterday via a consumer query in the Guardian (someone whose promised connection to the green box was given to another customer and there are no more available).
More here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-58233420
As has become the norm these days there are details which have yet to be worked out, one of which is what happens when a power supply fails. "Old" phones plugged straight into a socket didn't need to use the house electricity. It's one of the several things that bugs me about the new phones I bought when I moved, that they are adversely affected by the sometimes twitchy power supply here (doesn't go off but "flickers").
Another issue is that the coverage of usable/reliable internet isn't complete.
Ardcarp, not everyone has a mobile phone, a situation very much highlighted by the pandemic.

[ardcarp]

Thanks for outlining the downsides, Odders. It's as I suspected. By the way, when I said 'we all have mobiles' I meant all in the Ardcarp household. I know several folk who for various reasons don't or won't have a mobile. I myself have considered binning my iPhone with all its diversions, and reverting to a simple pay-as-you-go phone without any frills. (Does such a thing still exist?)

[Old Grumpy]

Thanks for outlining the downsides, Odders. It's as I suspected. By the way, when I said 'we all have mobiles' I meant all in the Ardcarp household. I know several folk who for various reasons don't or won't have a mobile. I myself have considered binning my iPhone with all its diversions, and reverting to a simple pay-as-you-go phone without any frills. (Does such a thing still exist?)

Yes, it's apparently a dumbphone

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/uk/buying-guides/best-dumbphone

[french frank]

We all have mobiles of course, but prefer to have a trad landline which also supplies our broadband. I was contacted by BT today to 'discuss' the forthcoming dis-use of telephone wires. First I'd heard of it, but I gather that region by region, new handsets will be dished out using the same system as mobiles when the telegraph poles are dismantled. Any views about this? Is anyone on the new system already? Is it going to spell disaster? Should I brush up my semaphore?

It sounds like the BT rollout of the digital phone network (Digital Voice) which works off broadband, not wireless or the trad telephone system. It's what landed people in isolated areas in trouble when their power went down recently. Consequently they had no means of communication as the router was knocked out and the old landline system had been cut off. I have it, with the consequent misgivings. If your power goes down, you still have your mobile, right? Yeah, right, except you won't be able to recharge it.

BT issued me with two new requested additional handsets to replace the two cordless handsets which no longer worked. So far , so good. But the old main handset which does plug into the router and is usable to make and receive calls has lost all the contacts, caller display and similar services** The two ancillary cordless handsets would be fine until they needed to be recharged …

** On that handset I tried to dial a local number and was informed (automated message) that dialling numbers without the area dialling code was no longer supported on the service.

[Dave2002]

This is quite interesting. I was aware of possible developments like this years ago, and maybe this approach makes sense for new phone connections in areas with acceptable and appropriate wireless coverage.

The (now earlier) WiMax initiatives supposed a form of wireless infrastructure which could be reliable - and for deployment, rather than send out an installation technician, one idea was simply that phones would be sent throught the postal services and installed by the end user. This was supposedly going to be a lot cheaper for the service providers.

However it seems that WiMax itself has been superseded - see https://www.mwrf.com/technologies/se...pened-to-wimax

LTE is a follow up to WiMax - and should allow data to be transferred wirelessly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_(telecommunication)

Phone networks have evolved over a long period, and hardly any networks now use circuit switching world wide (are there any?). There are some very specific features of (older) phone networks - such as the ability to call up emergency services - which may not be available with newer systems. Also landline systems do not rely on power at the user's location, so can be used even during power outages - though of course the phone systems themselves may also go down. In our house the phones do go off if there is a power cut, as we use cordless phones mostly, though we do have one phone which we can plug in to the phone connection which should work even if there is no electricity supply. Mobile phones in our location only have limited coverage - though possibly that is now improving.

In emergency situations mobile phones can be problematic - and I have had to go out and stand in the road in the middle of the night with a mobile phone on previous occasions to get help for relatives with problems. Landlines - when they work - are usually much better.

However, for many users broadband services in built up areas are supplied by DSL services or by fibre, either to a fairly local box or even direct into homes and offices. VOIP (voice over IP) phones are available which sit on top of broadband connections.

I can imagine that phone providers for "landline" services will in the future either offer services based on wireless networks, or on an underlying fibre network. It seems unlikely to me that the providers will disconnect phones by removing telegraph poles, as most users will already have migrated to some form of broadband and the providers will have put in appropriate new infrastructue - possibly based on copper connections, possible using fibre, or maybe using wireless links. Only a few users will only have landline connections - at least in areas with good infrastructure. Some users who only currently have landlines may be offered special treatment in order to get them to accept new equipment and switch to services the providers want to offer.

There may have to be changes in legislation to ensure that the service provision (including emergency services) is appropriate for customers.

Users in rural areas will probably already be well aware of problems with wireless phone services, so some assurances will need to be made on the levels of service and availability.

[cloughie]

It sounds like the BT rollout of the digital phone network (Digital Voice) which works off broadband, not wireless or the trad telephone system. It's what landed people in isolated areas in trouble when their power went down recently. Consequently they had no means of communication as the router was knocked out and the old landline system had been cut off. I have it, with the consequent misgivings. If your power goes down, you still have your mobile, right? Yeah, right, except you won't be able to recharge it.

BT issued me with two new requested additional handsets to replace the two cordless handsets which no longer worked. So far , so good. But the old main handset which does plug into the router and is usable to make and receive calls has lost all the contacts, caller display and similar services** The two ancillary cordless handsets would be fine until they needed to be recharged …

** On that handset I tried to dial a local number and was informed (automated message) that dialling numbers without the area dialling code was no longer supported on the service.

Thanks for that I’ll make a note of mine before doing the switch!

[french frank]

I can imagine that phone providers for "landline" services will in the future either offer services based on wireless networks, or on an underlying fibre network.

I had accepted their offer a year or so back of FTTP (fibre to the property) which involved drilling a hole through the front wall of the house and installing new socket and router connection. I had somehow thought that subsequently made me a suitable case for transfer to the digital service.

[cloughie]

I had accepted their offer a year or so back of FTTP (fibre to the property) which involved drilling a hole through the front wall of the house and installing new socket and router connection. I had somehow thought that subsequently made me a suitable case for transfer to the digital service.

Ditto, a couple of years ago and I must say I was very impressed with the quality of that work and they routed it through the loft to the location of my router at the other diagonal of the house.

[ardcarp]

We were told, a couple of years ago, that we now had Fibre Broadband. We don't. The Fibre goes just as far as the green box at the end of the road. Thereafter it's just the usual wires on poles to our house and all the others in our lane.

[gurnemanz]

We were told, a couple of years ago, that we now had Fibre Broadband. We don't. The Fibre goes just as far as the green box at the end of the road. Thereafter it's just the usual wires on poles to our house and all the others in our lane.

Likewise. It gives us around 39 Mbps, which is plenty for our purposes. Full fibre would be a welcome improvement but unneeded at present in our case and doubtless more expensive. Anyway, it doesn't seem to be available here.

We only use the landline for incoming calls, since outgoing are free via the mobile. Our children only have mobiles but mostly phone us on the landline, seeming to prefer calling the house rather than either my wife or me specifically via mobile.