Will Telephone Landlines Become Obsolete?

[naomi24]

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

[Deskdiary]

I think so - we haven't had a home phone for about 10 years.

[barry1010]

I only keep a landline because my oldsters can't operate a mobile phone and although it is highly unlikely they would need to make a phone call in an emergency, it puts my mind at rest.
For years we had a Skype phone and didn't have a landline. Today there are better options.
Landlines as we know are being phased out and very soon everyone be using VOIP although they may need an adapter if they want to continue using their existing phone.

[barry1010]

What annoys me is that it was cheaper for us to pay Virgin for the landline instead of just the TV and broadband package.

[ToraToraTora]

Oddly enough I have recently installed city fibre and that comes with a landline socket but I haven't used a landline for years.

[david small]

I use a cable landline. I don’t possess a mobile phone.

[theshedman]

I still use a landline and find it easier to use than my mobile. I won't part with it until I have to. Most of the time my mobile is left sat on a coffee table.

[naomi24]

Our landline ended up useful only to scam callers. Getting rid of it got rid of them too.

[lankeela]

Didn't have a handset for years, but still paid for it then last year had the phone line disconnected. Didn't make a lot of difference to the cost to be honest. Wish you could just pay for broadband.

[gingejbee]

Yes, within the next few years when BT/Openreach stop using them.

[MargoTester]

I'll hang on to my landline as long as I can. I find it much easier to hear on that. Only use my mobile for whatsApp and photos

[237SJ]

I have friends who can't get a mobile signal from their homes (under hills, in valleys etc) and they have to use the landline. I suppose VOIP will solve that problem, until their broadband goes down.

[Peter Pedant]

I use a cable landline. I don’t possess a mobile phone.

think about a modern mobile dafydd, VERY useful for messaging.

[Peter Pedant]

and things like - just-three-words.

My brudda fell off his bike, ( hip replacement) and suffered a vancouver 1 fracture - no, the mobile didnt diagnose it and the ambulance woman picked him up, he doesnt weigh much and the sickle and carried him down to the ambulance.

and it was all done with just-3-words - disused railway etc.

vancouver 1 is where the whole thing falls apart

[JimF]

Technology evolves. I've not had a land line for over 10 years. When I started work, telex was de rigeur, later fax. I don't know of any company which has either these days.

[Hopkirk]

I was trying to get a landline for my elderly mother moving into a new retirement flat.

It turned out I could get broadband without a landline, but couldn't have a landline without broadband.

[barry1010]

Was that very recent, Hopkirk? It is possible the flat was not connected to the old telephone system but is VOIP only, requiring broadband.
She should have been offered a restricted broadband package that costs no more than line rental. The phone would operate in exactly the same way as a landline

[Old_Geezer]

Fixed line will remain but via the VOIP.

Bet all get compulsory "upgraded" and offered no compensation for the equipment made obsolete.

[Hopkirk]

I think it's VOIP.

In practice it's good that she has broadband even though she is incapable of using it herself.
I often play things from iPlayer on her TV for her.

I'm not sure VOIP was the issue, no one offers landline only except some social contracts for those on limited income.

[New Judge]

//Landlines as we know are being phased out and very soon everyone be using VOIP although they may need an adapter if they want to continue using their existing phone.//

There seems to be confusion over terminology here.

Currently most people receive their telephone and internet services over a landline (that is, a pair of physical wires - or sometimes either in whole or in part a fibre optic cable - running from the telephone exchange to their premises). The data transmission for their internet service is provided over those wires but is actually facilitated by a system known as "Asynchronous Digital Subscriber's Line" (ADSL). It is termed "asynchronous" because the transmission speed from the customer to the exchange is far slower that from the exchange to the customer. This is because the information the customer needs to send (to, say, find a certain website) is usually far smaller than the information the website needs to send to the customer (say, to stream a film).

Alongside this data transmission (but sent over the same pair of wires) are sent signals transmitting their voice when they make a voice call. At present most customers' voice calls are dealt with by the Public Switched Telephone Network (PTSN) - sometime known as "POTS" (Plain Old Telephone Service). These calls are connected in response to the numbers the caller keys in to his phone's keypad and are switched by telephone exchanges.

The programme which is termed as "ending landlines" is not really anything of the sort. Customers will still need a pair of wires connecting their premises to the exchange. What is happening is that the PSTN is gradually being wound down and instead voice calls will be facilitated, as you say, by "VOIP" (Voice Over Internet Protocol). The PSTN uses "channel switching" where a dedicated "channel" between the two participants is set up when the call is initiated and it remains exclusive to them for the duration of the call. VOIP uses "packet switching" where packets of data (in this case the digital translation of the participants' analogue voice signals) are transmitted in chunks, but not necessarily over an exclusive or dedicated connection. (That's it in very simple terms).

Telephone users will notice no difference between the two as it's simply the method of transmission that is being changed. But they will still need a "landline" to make such calls.

[Tuvok]

“will notice no difference”

I beg to differ - I get a lot more echo (ie. hearing yourself back over the call)

Al, if there is a powercut, you’ll loose the phone until power is back