Landline telephones.

seth plum

I heard on the wireless that landline telephones will go in 2025.
Very poor decision for those in remote areas without a signal from outer space, who arguably have more need for a telephone than most.
It will also have a negative impact on the older and poorer people.
What happens to telephone boxes?

ShootersHillGuru

seth plum said:

I heard on the wireless that landline telephones will go in 2025.
Very poor decision for those in remote areas without a signal from outer space, who arguably have more need for a telephone than most.
It will also have a negative impact on the older and poorer people.
What happens to telephone boxes?

Won’t the 5G network be complete by 2025 so signal shouldn’t be an issue ? As for public telephones. Who on Earth needs them now ? 

Dave Rudd

The World has gone mad.

Bring back the sedan chair, I say ... and rickets.

HastingsRed

ShootersHillGuru said:

seth plum said:

I heard on the wireless that landline telephones will go in 2025.
Very poor decision for those in remote areas without a signal from outer space, who arguably have more need for a telephone than most.
It will also have a negative impact on the older and poorer people.
What happens to telephone boxes?

Won’t the 5G network be complete by 2025 so signal shouldn’t be an issue ? As for public telephones. Who on Earth needs them now ? 

Tourists, well the red ones anyway.

cafcdave123

so what will ticket offices/call centers etc do? forward calls to staff mobiles?

Stig

If there are any areas not covered by 5g, I'd suggest a satellite phone is probably a better alternative that maintaining a whole network just for a few outliers.

You asked what would happen to phone boxes, but we know what's happening to them anyway don't we. Some are taken down and sold off as garden ornaments or shower cubicals. Some are left in place and used as internet points, book-swap shelves or defibrillator cabinets. Most of them around my way are used us urinals - it was ever the same.

suzisausage

cafcdave123 said:

so what will ticket offices/call centers etc do? forward calls to staff mobiles?

I would assume they will use Teams or Skype or other such internet based call systems? 

SporadicAddick

cafcdave123 said:

so what will ticket offices/call centers etc do? forward calls to staff mobiles?

the physical unit of a telephone will still be there, just that the call will get there via a different route. Call centres will still be staffed by people with phones and headsets...

O-Randy-Hunt

Stig said:

If there are any areas not covered by 5g, I'd suggest a satellite phone is probably a better alternative that maintaining a whole network just for a few outliers.

You asked what would happen to phone boxes, but we know what's happening to them anyway don't we. Some are taken down and sold off as garden ornaments or shower cubicals. Some are left in place and used as internet points, book-swap shelves or defibrillator cabinets. Most of them around my way are used us urinals - it was ever the same.

Urinals and a place for the brothels to put their advertisement cards in.

ShootersHillGuru

O-Randy-Hunt said:

Stig said:

If there are any areas not covered by 5g, I'd suggest a satellite phone is probably a better alternative that maintaining a whole network just for a few outliers.

You asked what would happen to phone boxes, but we know what's happening to them anyway don't we. Some are taken down and sold off as garden ornaments or shower cubicals. Some are left in place and used as internet points, book-swap shelves or defibrillator cabinets. Most of them around my way are used us urinals - it was ever the same.

Urinals and a place for the brothels to put their advertisement cards in.

After careful consideration I think perhaps we should keep the phone boxes.

Lazy_eye_metaphor

I think this means that everyone who still needs a landline will need to get a new IP phone to replace their existing analogue phone. After that, the user will have the same use and service as before. Please do correct me if I'm wrong.

Derek1952

my computer,also I have a Internet radio both connected with a ethernet cable because its better than wifi.

shine166

Will somebody please think of the brasses and the calling cards 

cafcdave123

shine166 said:

Will somebody please think of the brasses and the calling cards 

we'll have to put a concert on for them

Derek1952

mobile signal is terrible,anyone who listens to phone in programmes will know.

mcgrandall

Lazy_eye_metaphor said:

I think this means that everyone who still needs a landline will need to get a new IP phone to replace their existing analogue phone. After that, the user will have the same use and service as before. Please do correct me if I'm wrong.

Exactly, nothing will change, except some cables being swapped, a new socket being fitted and changing phones and tariff with a provider.

Fibre cables will be connected to everything, from bus stops to street lamps. We are going to get a network that is fit for purpose and that should eliminate many of the problems of the old one. 

ricky_otto

shine166 said:

Will somebody please think of the brasses and the calling cards 

Even they don’t seem to care anymore. The one I contacted last night wanted to do a Zoom call between 1pm - 2pm today. As if I’m paying her by the hour when I only need 2 mins of her time. 

fat man on a moped

Lazy_eye_metaphor said:

I think this means that everyone who still needs a landline will need to get a new IP phone to replace their existing analogue phone. After that, the user will have the same use and service as before. Please do correct me if I'm wrong.

This is pretty much it. All that's happening in 2025 is that BT will be turning off the old public switched telephone network (PSTN) so all calls will be carried by the IP network. This will also affect ISDN services.
Existing handsets and equipment such as shop  EPOS (electronic point of sale) terminals won't work on the new system by default but where they need to stay (for the time being at least) then they can be connected to the new IP network via an ATA (analogue telephone adapter).
My guess is that the 2025 date may eventually be extended but who knows. 

SantaClaus

I've got a landline but the only people who ever ring it are elderly relatives and scammers. If I had my way it would have gone years ago.

McBobbin

Moved house and haven't set the landline up,.used to only get text messages sent to it by one of my wife's friends. At work we are moving to "micolab" which means you make calls through your mobile or computer with a headset, and since lockdown there have been more Teams and Zoom calls

seth plum

My understanding is that landlines are connected by wires, either underground or from up telegraph poles.
If that stops happening then people will be obliged to be connected through the air somehow.
Leaving aside issues regarding who might provide that service and costs, what about if you live somewhere, I dunno, a deep valley or something, and the signal doesn’t get through?
I seem to remember one of the earlier set ups to deal with that kind of thing was something called Plumstead Cable TV because of the topography in the hilly part of Plumstead leading up to the commons.
Is the loss of landlines really going to be easy peasy for everybody?

Chizz

seth plum said:

My understanding is that landlines are connected by wires, either underground or from up telegraph poles.
If that stops happening then people will be obliged to be connected through the air somehow.
Leaving aside issues regarding who might provide that service and costs, what about if you live somewhere, I dunno, a deep valley or something, and the signal doesn’t get through?
I seem to remember one of the earlier set ups to deal with that kind of thing was something called Plumstead Cable TV because of the topography in the hilly part of Plumstead leading up to the commons.
Is the loss of landlines really going to be easy peasy for everybody?

Yes.  No-one is going to be cut off. 

In the same way that no-one lost the ability to cook when we moved to North Sea gas, no-one was unable to drive when two-star petrol was phased out; and no-one was unable to spend money when decimal currency was introduced.  

I suspect you even know people that can still receive BBC television without an aerial.  

jimmymelrose

SantaClaus said:

I've got a landline but the only people who ever ring it are elderly relatives and scammers. If I had my way it would have gone years ago.

I didn't know that you had one. Can I just call you in late November rather than making a list?

Dippenhall

Stig said:

If there are any areas not covered by 5g, I'd suggest a satellite phone is probably a better alternative that maintaining a whole network just for a few outliers.

We are an outlier in a valley where we don't even get 4g.  With fibre ending half a mile away and copper overhead wires to the house we only get 12mb internet download on a good day.  BT say that's as good as it's ever going to get.

Sometimes have to switch off video on Zoom calls so I stay connected and on Charlton Live streaming I expect to lose 10 minutes of the game with signal failures.

Never answer the landline but use it to call people back on the landline when the mobile signal fails, so unfortunately it continues to have a use.

Satellite phones with download speeds of 2.4kbps are OK for voice calls but nothing else.

Don't care if there's no landline as long a I have been supplied with the same access to a communication network as most everyone else.

ME14addick

cafcdave123 said:

so what will ticket offices/call centers etc do? forward calls to staff mobiles?

I have my office phone on my desk at home with an ethernet cable plugged into my router. Work calls are received via that phone. I have a wireless headset connected to my work phone.

Ferryman

seth plum said:

I heard on the wireless that landline telephones will go in 2025.
Very poor decision for those in remote areas without a signal from outer space, who arguably have more need for a telephone than most.
It will also have a negative impact on the older and poorer people.
What happens to telephone boxes?

Mobile networks wouldn't have the capacity. 

EricBanterna

One of my mates has the old red phone box converted into a shower, looks the bollocks.

guinnessaddick

EricBanterna said:

One of my mates has the old red phone box converted into a shower, looks the bollocks.

I bet he takes a piss in it.

stevexreeve

seth plum said:

My understanding is that landlines are connected by wires, either underground or from up telegraph poles.
If that stops happening then people will be obliged to be connected through the air somehow.
Leaving aside issues regarding who might provide that service and costs, what about if you live somewhere, I dunno, a deep valley or something, and the signal doesn’t get through?
I seem to remember one of the earlier set ups to deal with that kind of thing was something called Plumstead Cable TV because of the topography in the hilly part of Plumstead leading up to the commons.
Is the loss of landlines really going to be easy peasy for everybody?

Wires will be used for Wi-fi  and a landline if you want one for a while yet.  They're digging up my pavement at this moment putting in new fibre wires so I don't think there's any way they will not be sing them in 5 years time!

Carter

Seth, chill your tits 

Its been a desire for some time to go full fibre in the UK which is a good thing, its a hundred times more reliable and less complex than a copper network. Nobody will be losing their landline but you will have a strand of glass acting as the conduit for your phone calls as opposed to a copper wire. Voice over IP, which is phone calls over broadband is the norm for so many businesses now and it is also a huge factor in enabling desk based workers to work remotely through this pandemic

The phone network will largely look the same with poles and underground boxes with metal lids as well as the green boxes at the side of roads. One thing that may change is telephone exchanges won't be needed, just hubs. So whilst we may all rub our hands together thinking of the positive impact that will have in BT group shares remember all those vehicles that are currently parked in these exchanges will be coming to a residential street near you 

No service provider wants to send phone signal over airwaves if they can help it as that requires a line of sight and trees can be pesky for interfering with that line of sight as well as that method being expensive 

swords_alive

The Mail on Saturday 'broke' this story I believe, short on detail, authoritative sources (or any sources!), and pitched to scare and satisfy it's readership. It was then picked up by the media group's news network  I presume, including the radio  station Seth first heard it on.