Landline phones to cease in 2025?

[MissMoppet]

I may, just, know how to clean an EGR, but am all at sea when I read that "Landline phones will cease in 2025." Reading the press I think they may have it a bit wrong for those of us who have a poor WiFi signal and have to wave the mobile out of an upstairs window.

We already have a digital handset but I think they're talking about old analogue phones that have to be plugged into a BT Master wall socket? After 2025 our phones will work via the internet and rolled out fibre-optic cables so we won't get a signal if the internet goes down or we get a power cut.

Am I correct?

[macafee2]

I dont believe it.

I suspect we have areas in the UK with no Broadband and no mobile phone signal.
In years gone by it was recommended that people had a land line that used 50v from the telephone exchange so in the event of a power cut and an emergency they still had phone service. I think the mobile phone has done away with that thinking

macafee2

[Lancpudn]

I've been trying to convince my Missus to get rid of the landline for years & save the line rental fee but she's always wanted to keep it , It gets used on average about twice a month We both have mobile phones so it's been obsolete for years.
I can see a lot of older people who don't have mobile phones or use the internet especially my Mam not being happy about them being axed.

[clf]

A bit of scaremongering by the daily.mail lol.

VoIP is widely used and in have actually used it in domestic setting in the early 2000s. Our service in work is entirely VoIP based. We have phones, phone numbers and an internal network (like the old switchboards) which are free.

Ultimately, providing the service providers can allow people to retain their phone numbers, most people will notice no difference, except perhaps a new phone.



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[VVC-Geeza]

I can't see it.There are lots of area's with poor to non existent mobile signal.

[steve-45]

My ex has one of these alert systems, she’s disabled, which requires a land line to dial out when she pushes the panic button.

Not come across one of these systems that work via a cell phone.

[SCP440]

We recently had an engineer out to sort out our landline ( crackling at our end ), he was saying that BT is reluctant to spend any money on the exchanges at the moment because of the new system that is going to replace the existing system. Apparently it will be better with more features than are possible at the moment.

He was saying that the system we have at the moment is just an electronic version of the original mechanical system. I remember visiting an exchange when I was at school, lots of Strowger switches moving and women taking calls and putting plugs into holes on a board, sounds mad now but it was only 45 years ago. The building it was housed in was one of the biggest in the town I lived in and I bet it would only need a room the size of a cargo container to do the same job.

[macafee2]

Originally Posted by SCP440

We recently had an engineer out to sort out our landline ( crackling at our end ), he was saying that BT is reluctant to spend any money on the exchanges at the moment because of the new system that is going to replace the existing system. Apparently it will be better with more features than are possible at the moment.

He was saying that the system we have at the moment is just an electronic version of the original mechanical system. I remember visiting an exchange when I was at school, lots of Strowger switches moving and women taking calls and putting plugs into holes on a board, sounds mad now but it was only 45 years ago. The building it was housed in was one of the biggest in the town I lived in and I bet it would only need a room the size of a cargo container to do the same job.

And for some reason the electronic exchanges we have now wont allow or is it just BT wont allow you to take your phone number to another area. That old mechanical exchange did. My first year with BT was Internal construction, putting Exchanges in. Your right, for some exchanges a cargo container will do.

macafee2

[clf]

Originally Posted by VVC-Geeza

I can't see it.There are lots of area's with poor to non existent mobile signal.

dont need mobile.

landline, used as network/data line only (requires less cabling than a voice line apparently). Therefore even a standard (current) phone line could be used more efficiently, if voice wasnt carried on it directly. Voice calls made using data instead of the current set up of voice and data.

[clf]

Originally Posted by macafee2

sorry I dont understand. Strowger allowed for OOA, Out Of Area phone lines.

The exchanges themselves had phone lines from another exchange in case an exchange went down. The engineers could then call other engineers for help etc. If that clunky noisy mechanical equipment could do it, I see no reason for a modern digital exchange not to be able to do it.

These phone numbers were at the time and I only worked in London so that is all I can comment on in the format of, 01 London, 992, in this case Acton but could have been 994, 995 etc and then 4 digits.

I am a bit hazey but the exchange OOA lines did not have to have the last 4 digits everytime.





System x and y the digital exchanges that replaced Strowger slashed staff numbers but the redundancy payment was something like 3 years plus something to do with the pension. Nearly 40 years ago some engineers were walking away with best part of £100,000. When I retired I visited a few of the exchanges I worked in when I started with BT, wow, at times hardly recognisable, no permanent staff, equipment just gathering dust, equipment I spent hours and hours installing now gone. Parts of buildings sold off.

The biggest problem with selling off an Exchange is or was the MDF, main distribution Frame. This is where the exchange equipment connects to the cables that go to peoples houses and business premises. The cost to move the MDF to another site was prohibitive but as technology improves I suspect the cost has come down. Some prime real estate!



I was lucky to be allowed to have two work benches used when strowger was around. My job allowed me to visit many exchanges so I picked two of the best. Damn good, solid, quality, work benches. My lathe sits on one and a vice is bolted to the other.



"Those were the days"





macafee2

I dont know how they worked themselves,but imagine an ooa (from a different exchange) moving to another area, with the same digits would cause an issue on even a digital line. Simply because it wouldn't know which one was correct. Unless you were suggesting you were remaining within the same exchange radius, but couldn't hold the number (assuming too that it was with the same provider - which used to be an issue, likely down to contract agreements, eg sky, talktalk and bt etc)

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