The death of the landline?
Discussion
We are moving house next month. Apparently we cannot have a landline as these will cease to exist after 2025. All households will be moved over to VOIP.
This is new technology to me. I understand that the phone now gets plugged into the router. How does this work with extensions? I guess we will need to buy new phones.
And apparently the VOIP won't work in a power cut.
This is new technology to me. I understand that the phone now gets plugged into the router. How does this work with extensions? I guess we will need to buy new phones.
And apparently the VOIP won't work in a power cut.
Slow.Patrol said:
We are moving house next month. Apparently we cannot have a landline as these will cease to exist after 2025. All households will be moved over to VOIP.
This is new technology to me. I understand that the phone now gets plugged into the router. How does this work with extensions? I guess we will need to buy new phones.
And apparently the VOIP won't work in a power cut.
It's called Digital Voice - or at least the Openreach version of it is. You will need either a router with an analogue phone socket (not all have them) or a VOIP interface which connects to the router & you plug your phone into that. I haven't worked out what is going on with extensions yet.This is new technology to me. I understand that the phone now gets plugged into the router. How does this work with extensions? I guess we will need to buy new phones.
And apparently the VOIP won't work in a power cut.
You are correct when you say your phone won't work in a power cut so you may have to consider a UPS battery back up if it's important to you.
Scroll down this page to see more information:
https://www.zen.co.uk/move-to-digital-voice
The best part? You're going to have to pay extra now to get the same facilities you currently have.
Yep, as someone who works in a NOC known this was coming for a long time even though I'm a little shocked that PSTN/POTS will go in it's entirety with some remote places still depending on ISDN services and because of it's potential in a disaster.
That said we're at the point now that it's believed that 1) everything will be migrated 2) a potential disaster will not be that great and 3) we can rely on cellular in emergencies.
As for switching to VoIP, it's seemless and even this technology is old hat now.
That said we're at the point now that it's believed that 1) everything will be migrated 2) a potential disaster will not be that great and 3) we can rely on cellular in emergencies.
As for switching to VoIP, it's seemless and even this technology is old hat now.
TikTak said:
Yep, as someone who works in a NOC known this was coming for a long time even though I'm a little shocked that PSTN/POTS will go in it's entirety with some remote places still depending on ISDN services and because of it's potential in a disaster.
That said we're at the point now that it's believed that 1) everything will be migrated 2) a potential disaster will not be that great and 3) we can rely on cellular in emergencies.
As for switching to VoIP, it's seemless and even this technology is old hat now.
Loosing ISDN is a right pain for some users. it was a good technology.That said we're at the point now that it's believed that 1) everything will be migrated 2) a potential disaster will not be that great and 3) we can rely on cellular in emergencies.
As for switching to VoIP, it's seemless and even this technology is old hat now.
Slow.Patrol said:
We are moving house next month. Apparently we cannot have a landline as these will cease to exist after 2025. All households will be moved over to VOIP.
This is new technology to me. I understand that the phone now gets plugged into the router. How does this work with extensions? I guess we will need to buy new phones.
And apparently the VOIP won't work in a power cut.
Correct, the phone will connect to your home network (i.e. the router for most people) - you will need a VoIP phone - these can be cabled or WiFi. Lots of different options on Amazon for example (search for VoIP or IP phone). This is new technology to me. I understand that the phone now gets plugged into the router. How does this work with extensions? I guess we will need to buy new phones.
And apparently the VOIP won't work in a power cut.
Basically all existing analogue phones will stop working after 2025 - and analogue faxes - remember those? The date may end up getting pushed back but it will happen. Some routers may offer an analogue conversion, but I don't expect these to be mainstream or particularly long-lived.
You could have a UPS to power your router and phone in the event of a power cut if you really wanted. Or have a mobile for emergencies.
Point being that most people no longer use home phones - given that mobiles are so prevalent and often have cheaper line rental and include free calls The old analogue network is troublesome and expensive to maintain and limited in what broadband speeds can be achieved over it.
Finally the annoyance of having to have a landline that you don't use in order to get broadband is finally going away - I appreciate it is a pain for people that rely on a landline, and appreciate that there will be costs to replace the phone hardware for some people, but it really is the right thing going forward.
Edited by TriumphStag3.0V8 on Thursday 2nd November 11:54
The last time I was performing the idiotic price reduction ritual with Virgin, they said I could get a better deal on broadband if I added a landline. Despite the fact I haven't had a landline for at least 6 years, they were really keen that I pay a one-off fee to install one to reduce my broadband bill.
That must have been about 18 months ago and even then it seemed a very odd thing to offer as an incentive.
That must have been about 18 months ago and even then it seemed a very odd thing to offer as an incentive.
Mr Pointy said:
Slow.Patrol said:
We are moving house next month. Apparently we cannot have a landline as these will cease to exist after 2025. All households will be moved over to VOIP.
This is new technology to me. I understand that the phone now gets plugged into the router. How does this work with extensions? I guess we will need to buy new phones.
And apparently the VOIP won't work in a power cut.
It's called Digital Voice - or at least the Openreach version of it is. You will need either a router with an analogue phone socket (not all have them) or a VOIP interface which connects to the router & you plug your phone into that. I haven't worked out what is going on with extensions yet.This is new technology to me. I understand that the phone now gets plugged into the router. How does this work with extensions? I guess we will need to buy new phones.
And apparently the VOIP won't work in a power cut.
You are correct when you say your phone won't work in a power cut so you may have to consider a UPS battery back up if it's important to you.
Scroll down this page to see more information:
https://www.zen.co.uk/move-to-digital-voice
The best part? You're going to have to pay extra now to get the same facilities you currently have.
wombleh said:
The cell network is going to replace airwaves for emergency comms by police, fire, ambulance, etc, (ESN) so hopefully they have beefed up all the base stations with UPS/generator.
The Airwave network has had / is getting a full base station upgrade to allow a move to Ethernet transmission so it’s not getting decommissioned anytime soon. The ESN network sites will have battery backup and either full time generator on standby (remote sites) or a towed to site solution for sites that can be responded to quickly.
We still have one, never use it to dial out. I've even managed to get my parents to call my mobile now. I was going to cancel then realised it is actually "free" as part of our Sky package so couldn't be arsed.
I think it's only rung once in the last 2 years - I remember the dogs looked up as if to say "what the hell is that noise"
I think it's only rung once in the last 2 years - I remember the dogs looked up as if to say "what the hell is that noise"
Mr Pointy said:
The best part? You're going to have to pay extra now to get the same facilities you currently have.
Vodafone want £8 a month for the benefit. We are trying to work out if we need it. I don't know how my profoundly deaf sister will cope as her hearing aids don't work well with mobile or cordless phones. Zetec-S said:
We still have one, never use it to dial out. I've even managed to get my parents to call my mobile now. I was going to cancel then realised it is actually "free" as part of our Sky package so couldn't be arsed.
I think it's only rung once in the last 2 years - I remember the dogs looked up as if to say "what the hell is that noise"
Yep we have one as part of our Virgin broadband package, always thought it odd that in this day and age a landline is still pushed by these companies, anyhow the only people who ring us on it are either cold callers or my Grandma (I've said to use my mobile, she still doesn't), however she hardly calls, we never use it to ring out.I think it's only rung once in the last 2 years - I remember the dogs looked up as if to say "what the hell is that noise"
Hopefully when I have to go through the dance to negotiate a new Virgin package in March, landlines won't be a thing to them and it will be cheaper!!
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