Landline Telephone Service - The End Is Nigh! (BT & Virgin)

Technology Technology: Chat / Discussions
1

The DT, today, reminds us that the UK telephone landline services are set to go, 2025.

That may mean that it’s Mobiles or Nowt, from then on.

Does that bother anyone else?

From the article:-

" As is evident from our Letters page, many readers are anxious about the impact of switching landline telephone services to a fully digital network. The existing Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) will be withdrawn by 2025 and all phone calls carried over the internet.

This process is entirely industry-led since decisions on migrating customers are made by operating companies like BT and Virgin Media. They argue that the aging PSTN is becoming harder and more expensive to maintain, whereas digital services offer improved call quality.

This is all well and good but, unlike the existing landlines, an internet-based network requires a modem connection and a mains electricity supply. This means digital phone lines will not work in a power cut and if mobile signals are poor as well, people will be cut off from the outside world, a serious matter for those who are housebound or vulnerable.

The two recent severe winter storms caused widespread power cuts, some lasting for more than a week. People on digital networks found they could not keep in touch with friends and family or call the emergency services. Back-up battery packs do not last long enough – usually just one hour – and alarm systems are being affected as well, requiring yet more expense to make them digitally compatible.

The law requires providers to ensure uninterrupted access to emergency services at all times, including during a power cut. Ministers have said they are working with Ofcom to “ensure that consumers and sectors are protected and prepared” for the switch. They need to work a bit harder in that case."

Will have to get used to fumbling with a handset, in the Supermarket Queue, and being able to see the writing, when out in the sun, Hmmmph!

Edited to say maybe!

.

2 Likes
2

What about my relatives and friends who only have PAYG mobiles? Does that mean we will no longer be able to talk on the phone?

Can’t see it happening, myself.

2 Likes
3

I don’t think PAYG mobiles use Landline!

1 Like
4

I don’t even have a mobile phone and what about the internet using a land line?

1 Like
5

Maybe you misunderstand me. They won’t want to spend a fortune on their PAYG phones, to talk to others, if a landline wasn’t another option.

1 Like
6

So, will you buy a mobile? Or go back to writing letters?

:thinking:

1 Like
7

So you take you current landline handset out in the sun?

1 Like
8

nither it won’t happen , the Daily Ttelegraph , presume you are referring to, is renoun for scare mongering and sensationism. Rags like this can only thrive becuse people believe in the rubbish they print
Simple proof is everyone with a BT or Virgin Mesia would have been notified directly by post, and they haven’t. Also nothing on TV about it either, don’t be a fool and fall for it

read this instead direct from BT

extract for liknk

quote" There’s still lots of work to do. We’re building like fury to extend full fibre broadband and mobile coverage as widely as possible, " unquote

DT saw this mabe quote " limit use of Huawei to 35% of future fixed and radio access networks " unquote and read this a sensationist newspaper blew it up out of all preportions

9

I suggest you do a search on “BT landline service ending”.

Also, if you read your quote, and his last but one paragraph, bingo"

1 Like
10

I don’t take my landline out, at all.

The wire is not long enough!

2 Likes
11

If you reads it what they are actually doing is going digital on the phone lines against analog. In other words another method way of transmitting speech and data on the same phone line usually by means of fibre optics. They are not doing away with phone lines
I can easily understand why this is assumed they are doing away with land lines because the information from BT is not clear enough for some people

1 Like
12

Doesn’t bother me in the slightest I haven’t used a landline for years, even when I did have a landline it was a VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service so it didn’t even need wires to the house (all the copper was pulled out eight years ago).

Funny thing was I recently called a friend of mine on her landline rather than her mobile by accident (to do with setting a contact’s default number in my mobile - corrected now) I was shocked at how poor the quality of the call was because I normally call people on their mobile.

The old copper phone service only had a restricted frequency range (300hz to 3Khz from memory) because of the way it was stacked for transmission but modern multiplexing does away with that narrow bandwidth restriction.

It is a technology that has reached its use by date and no one will mourn its passing (except those enthusiasts constructing dial up step by step miniature exchanges from recovered exchange parts and hoarding their supply of 706 type telephones and trimphones as we speak )

1 Like
13

what will happen to telegraph poles, and will they become the new railway sleepers of yesteryear?

1 Like
14

746 telephones were the last dial telephone in the UK of their type

15

No it does not. It simply means that what we now call landline telephones will become in effect internet (Voice Over the Internet Protocol) phones. So they should become significantly cheaper.

Both BT & Virgin already offer voice over the internet via a fixed home phone. I am not sure about BT, but Virgin call it 21CV, 21st Century Voice.

The move is being made because both BT & Virgin want to cut their costs & loose the expensive to maintain telephone exchanges.

1 Like
16

Don’t you need a router powered by a mains socket for those Gee?

1 Like
17

I get that, and understand that fibre will still bring the internet service into the home, and changing to VOIP might mean changes to the telephone.

Are you saying that the existing landline handsets will still work after the change?

1 Like
18

Yep, I used a set of three DEC3 cordless phones with my VOIP service, the only problem is that using an old er style phone might try to draw too much current from the VOIP system

19

AgeUK provide answers for the obvious questions:

Changes to landline telephones

The UK’s telephone network is being upgraded, which means that landline services are changing. You’ll still be able to have a landline in your home, but the technology that powers it will be a bit different and you may need to upgrade some of your equipment.

1 Like
20

Absolutely Ted, and trying to read texts when you’re driving or have forgotten your specs is impossible. Touch screen phones have a mind of their own and were not designed for engineers fingers or arthritic hands.

1 Like