Will Telephone Landlines Become Obsolete?

[naomi24]

We got rid of ours ages ago and don’t miss it a bit.

[dinki]

We love ours free calls and have an answerphone if we do not want answer (means we can have time to ourselves when we want it)

[barry1010]

What phone have you got, dinki? Is it VOIP or traditional landline?

[-SharonA-]

I have a landline and it only rings when a spammer calls!
Never use it anymore, just for emergencies.

[Gromit]

I too have a landline as part of my fibre broadband package.
I do not know my number and have never had a phone plugged in.
Stop using house phone in 2008 when I got a smartphone and used Skype a lot.
I certainly don’t miss the phone bill.

[Barsel]

///When the existing landline is disconnected you will be using the same phone connected to the router - talking over the internet using your old phone.///
I have 4 landline phones. 1 in every room except the bathroom, so they can't all be plugged into a router.
What about people who don't have and don't want broadband, how do they make calls?

[New Judge]

//If I unplug it from the electricity socket, the little screen on the phone just says 'searching for base'.//

That’s because you have a cordless handset, Barry. The base station needs power to communicate with the handset. A handset that plugs straight into your master socket will still work. It is true, however, that once you switch over to VOIP your landline will not work in the event of a power cut (in the same way as your computer wouldn’t in the same circumstances). This is because when using the PSTN, the line itself provides power (at 50v, from batteries in the exchange) for the phone to work. Under VOIP no such power is provided.

//In the coming years, there will be no such thing as a landline phone and everyone will have to use a mobile phone.//

Maybe in the very distant future, but not as part of the programme that this question is discussing.

//We (meaning the general public) are already using mobile phones connected wirelessly to our routers when we use WiFi calling, Skype or WhatsApp.//

No you’re not, barry. You’re using a cordless handset, working, via your router, over the fixed landline network. Conventional handsets transmit via the PSTN, "Skype" type devices work over VOIP.

//What about people who don't have and don't want broadband, how do they make calls?//

In the same way as they do now.

[Barsel]

NJ, so in answer to Naomis' question, Telephone landlines will not become obsolete?

[douglas9401]

People don't half just plough on regardless eh?

[barry1010]

New Judge, my Skype phone has its own phone number and works only over the Internet. It does not connect to my Virgin landline and I don't have a BT phone line.
I know that landlines that don't plug in to the electric will work during a phone cut, I said mine doesn't

[jourdain2]

Thank you so much, Barry et all - but I'm just getting more confused. Recently we ended up with a situation where OH was on the landline talking to a bank about something or other and they insisted on sending a 'once and forever code' to authenticate it. They could only send it to a mobile phone apparently, so he gave them my number.

This septuagenarian ended up running as fast as possible up and down the road- in pouring rain, I could add - until I found a spot where I could get a signal and receive the code. I then had to get home and give it to OH so he could repeat it on the phone to the young man.

We complained. Nothing has happened. What the heck are we supposed to do apart from fight our way through a mountain of new technology that we don't understand in the hope that we will end up with a system as simple and reliable as the good old land line?
It's not funny. :(

The first political party to say 'Woah! Let's take a breather on this' will win our votes.

[douglas9401]

"The first political party to say 'Woah! Let's take a breather on this' will win our votes."

I hesitate to draw your attention to Cambodia during the Pol Pot years.

Maybe a quick sprint up the lane's not too bad.

[Barmaid]

We have a landline. I have NO idea what the number is. Mr BM uses it for work and that's it.

[Tuvok]

Barsel - in answer to your comment about multiple phones, are they plugged in to individual sockets?

My setup pre-voip was 2 sockets - 1 with 2 phones and 1 Sky box phone line, the other (via extension cable) had hub and other Sky box phone line and Sky box also connected to hub.

After voip - hub moved to next to socket, both phones plugged into back of hub. Sky box phone lines disconnected. Wifi adapter from ebay for Sky box.

So if yours are connected by extension cables, then the hub will go between the socket and the cables.

[Rosetta]

We are in the same position as jourdain, and i can repeat the current system where there is no mobile signal is a real pain. I can recall when we had some workmen to do some jobs in the house and it was hilarious to see them wandering up and down the village, phone aloft, trying to get a signal and eventually giving up and having to go to the next village. They weren't well chuffed!!

[Barsel]

Thank you, Tuvok. Most of what you have said has gone right over my head.
When I read these sorts of answers, it would be like you reading a foreign language that you've never learnt.
I don't know what a hub is as I don't have one, well I don't think I do.
Yes, my phones are all plugged into a socket in each room.
I've no idea what VoIP means and all the other abbreviations used on here.
I own a desktop PC which is in my spare bedroom.
That's it. No smartphone, no laptop, tablet or any other device.
It's a very comfortable set-up for me, and I have a phone on my desk.
If I'm going to have a long conversation, I use the phone in the living room.
If I'm still in bed when someone phones, the phone is right next to my bed.
If I'm cooking in the kitchen, no problem, the phone is on the worktop.
I really don't want to change any of this set-up, but it looks like I might have to.

[Geoffrey13]

From the BT Website. Note the first sentence.:-

The good news is the landline isn’t going away, it’s simply being upgraded. This is a once in a generation upgrade that will see the vast majority of customers provided with a broadband line, Landline calls will be made using a handset in the same way as today but will use ‘Voice over IP’ technology that uses an internet connection. Most people have been using this type of technology for years through video or voice messaging apps used on connected mobile phones.
Digital networks will be easier to maintain and will underpin many of the new digital services for homes and businesses, providing a better service for customers.
The shift from analogue to digital phone lines is an industry wide upgrade and has already started in many countries including Germany, France, Australia and Japan.
Together with Government, Ofcom, telecoms providers and key industry groups, we’re working hard to make sure that everyone knows about the change, how they will be impacted and what they need to do as a result.

[Maydup]

We still use our landline out of habit and because it’s there. Our mobile signal is pretty patchy but of course you can talk using WhatsApp over the Wi-Fi. I’ll keep the landline until it’s obsolete just for the reliability safety net.

[Tuvok]

Barsel - the hub is your broadband box.

Assuming by what you’ve said, you have wited in sockets as opposed to extension sockets.

A way round your setup would be cordless phones. This means you have the base unit (the bit with the cable) - that would connect to the hub. Then you have additional handsets, all they need is a charger with access to the mains.

eg.

https://www.argos.co.uk/browse/technology/telephones/c:29967/

(Other shops are available)

[New Judge]

//New Judge, my Skype phone has its own phone number and works only over the Internet.//

Yes Barry. What I'm trying to get across here (obviously not very successfully) is to dispel the fears that many people seem to have when they read "Landlines to be abandoned" (or similar). Many (particularly older) people become worried that they will be forced to use a mobile phone (i.e. one which works anywhere and does not rely on a cable network of some sort) which they've never had and do not want.

All the variations being discussed here, in particular the plan to switch over to VOIP transmission and including your Skype phone, will still depend on a fixed network of either copper cables or fibre optics (as does most people's internet service). No "mobile" phone will be forced on anybody. The difference noticed by customers will be minimal and the only significant change is that an ordinary phone will not work in the event of a power cut. It's really little different to when telephone exchange equipment was changed from the old "Strowger" electro-mechanical switches, through the intermediate semi-electronic "crossbar" exchanges, the fully electronic and finally digital switching systems. The customer noticed none of these replacements (which were carried out over about thirty years from 1980 or thereabouts) unless they happened to have a call in progress when their home exchange was switched over (an exercise which was always carried out at 2am).

[piggynose]

VOIP..means Voice Over Internet Protocol. Just in case other people were unsure what it stood for!