signalmankenneth
Verified User
The only thing I miss about the old landline phones is the alphanumeric telephone numbers?!! In my city where I grew up we had prefix AM and BA that's Amherst and Baltimore?!! I like to give people in my age bracket or a smart young person my phone number with a letter prefix as in KL, that Klondike, 520-KL2-####, example?!!
More people who are still using telephone landlines will soon need to decide if they want to finally hang up on their service.
Just last week, AT&T applied for a waiver that would allow it to stop servicing traditional landlines in California. AT&T and Verizon previously stated they want to be fully operational on newer infrastructure within the next few years.
That’s part of a sweeping move by phone service providers to replace older copper wire-based telephone systems lines, also known as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), with faster and more advanced technology that doesn’t work with landlines.
Providers worldwide are shifting toward offering fiber optics and ethernet access and retiring older equipment, including the copper wires themselves. The process is also currently underway in France and the UK.
Consumers will have to decide whether to give up their landlines or potentially face higher costs because of complex, expensive workarounds from the phone companies. The alternatives might not be as reliable as old-fashioned landlines either, and the process of switching the old equipment for the new could be a massive undertaking.
“We’ve seen a precipitous decline in demand for telephone services provided over our copper networks,” an AT&T spokesperson told CNN. “We are focused on enhancing our network with more advanced, higher speed technologies like fiber and wireless, which consumers are demanding.”
The spokesperson added that AT&T is “not canceling landline service in California” and none of its customers will lose access to voice service if the waiver application is approved by the California Public Utilities Commission.
As part of the change, US service providers are required to offer customers an alternative to landlines and use devices to convert analog signals to digital, either through fiber optic cables or wireless technology, like LTE/5G.
In the United States, the shift away from copper landlines will most likely impact people over age 65 and small business owners.
“The impact is pretty wide – certainly seniors or people living in areas where reliable power is a problem … so areas prone to hurricanes have a higher incidence of analog service than, say, Pennsylvania,” said Lisa Pierce, a research vice president at market research firm Gartner.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/still-love-landline-phone-providers-212342370.html
P.S. Pierce projects there will only be about 5% of landlines remaining by 2030. But to remove all of them, she said, it "could take even longer – decades." About 100 million landlines between business and residential are currently active in the US, she said.
More people who are still using telephone landlines will soon need to decide if they want to finally hang up on their service.
Just last week, AT&T applied for a waiver that would allow it to stop servicing traditional landlines in California. AT&T and Verizon previously stated they want to be fully operational on newer infrastructure within the next few years.
That’s part of a sweeping move by phone service providers to replace older copper wire-based telephone systems lines, also known as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), with faster and more advanced technology that doesn’t work with landlines.
Providers worldwide are shifting toward offering fiber optics and ethernet access and retiring older equipment, including the copper wires themselves. The process is also currently underway in France and the UK.
Consumers will have to decide whether to give up their landlines or potentially face higher costs because of complex, expensive workarounds from the phone companies. The alternatives might not be as reliable as old-fashioned landlines either, and the process of switching the old equipment for the new could be a massive undertaking.
“We’ve seen a precipitous decline in demand for telephone services provided over our copper networks,” an AT&T spokesperson told CNN. “We are focused on enhancing our network with more advanced, higher speed technologies like fiber and wireless, which consumers are demanding.”
The spokesperson added that AT&T is “not canceling landline service in California” and none of its customers will lose access to voice service if the waiver application is approved by the California Public Utilities Commission.
As part of the change, US service providers are required to offer customers an alternative to landlines and use devices to convert analog signals to digital, either through fiber optic cables or wireless technology, like LTE/5G.
In the United States, the shift away from copper landlines will most likely impact people over age 65 and small business owners.
“The impact is pretty wide – certainly seniors or people living in areas where reliable power is a problem … so areas prone to hurricanes have a higher incidence of analog service than, say, Pennsylvania,” said Lisa Pierce, a research vice president at market research firm Gartner.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/still-love-landline-phone-providers-212342370.html
P.S. Pierce projects there will only be about 5% of landlines remaining by 2030. But to remove all of them, she said, it "could take even longer – decades." About 100 million landlines between business and residential are currently active in the US, she said.
