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