Don't Times Change ?

[SpokeyDokey]

We had fibre fitted last year.
BT had to install a new cable from the pole, but refused to remove the old copper cable.
Apparently they aren’t contracted to do that.

So I now have 3 cables running from the pole.
The new fibre one, the old copper one plus a business line that an old company I worked for installed ages ago.

We have fibre to house and likewise BT will not remove their old line.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I was asked my landline number the other week. I had to tell them I don't know it, as I haven't used my landline telephone for what must be 3 to 4 years. Every blue moon I'll get a call which I won't answer as anyone important has my 'mobile phone' number and other means of contacting me.

 

[Drago]

We have fibre to house and likewise BT will not remove their old line.

See, we're fibre to the street and my router talks to a box on a pole jn the street. No cable for the last 25 feet or so, although the olde copper job is still there.

 

[newfhouse]

A decade or more ago I ported my landline number to sipgate.de . I recall it cost me about a tenner to set up but there have been no further charges since. I could make outgoing VoIP calls for a penny or so a minute but have never bothered. If someone calls the number I get whatever voicemail message has been left sent to me by email; these days they are a rare novelty. Great value but I’m not sure if the same free service still exists for new customers.

 

[Alex321]

We have a landline still and use it regularly. But then my wife rarely has her mobile turned on and within hearing range, while reception on mine is poor at home.

We need it anyhow for the broadband. Phone and broadband both through Plusnet, with whom I have been very happy over the years (Now owned by BT, but still run a s a separate company).

 

[geocycle]

We have full fibre which works very well. But until I upgraded my mobile I couldn’t make Wi-Fi calls and we needed the landline because the reception is awful. We have been transferred to digital voice by BT and they will at some point turn the copper network off, so in theory could continue to use the landline, however they want £2 a month plus call charges or we continue with our £7 a month deal. The last advantage of a landline was it working during power cuts but that will also go when they turn off the copper wire. So given we can both make wifi calls from mobiles now the landline is going. I do worry for people who do not use mobiles and rely on landlines for emergency calls.

 

[Peter Salt]

Never had a landline.

By the way, all telecom companies are now rapidly heading towards completely retiring the copper network (voice and broadband). Main drivers for this is that fibre is much less power-hungry than copper. Also, a lot of used technologies/architectures - like System X, are being sunset and will lose support in the upcoming years.

 

[Chislenko]

A landline is a must in our house as mobile reception is totally pants.

If you are awaiting a text code to log into a bank account etc on the pc upstairs you have to go downstairs, out the house and about a hundred yards up the road before you have any signal for the text to come through, then leg it back within your alloted log in time.

Trying to have a conversation on the mobile is just a big no no.

 

[Dogtrousers]

A landline is a must in our house as mobile reception is totally pants.

If you are awaiting a text code to log into a bank account etc on the pc upstairs you have to go downstairs, out the house and about a hundred yards up the road before you have any signal for the text to come through, then leg it back within your alloted log in time.

Trying to have a conversation on the mobile is just a big no no.

You might want to look into something like this: A mobile that will switch from the cell signal to the house router if possible. So you get good "mobile coverage" inside the house.

Mobile (Voda') switches automatically between fibre to house router or mobile signal depending on where it is being used in the house. Strongest signal gets used and switching is seamless.

Or maybe not. Up to you.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

See, we're fibre to the street and my router talks to a box on a pole jn the street. No cable for the last 25 feet or so, although the olde copper job is still there.

Attach some tin cans and make free calls

 

[Fnaar]

I only have landline for internet purposes ... Haven't actually had a handset for about 7 years :-)

 

[ColinJ]

You might want to look into something like this: A mobile that will switch from the cell signal to the house router if possible. So you get good "mobile coverage" inside the house.

That's what my sister in Devon relies on. She can only get a mobile signal at the far end of her very long garden. It doesn't work for me when I visit though - my phone supports it, but my network (Giffgaff) doesn't (yet).

 

[geocycle]

A landline is a must in our house as mobile reception is totally pants.

If you are awaiting a text code to log into a bank account etc on the pc upstairs you have to go downstairs, out the house and about a hundred yards up the road before you have any signal for the text to come through, then leg it back within your alloted log in time.

Trying to have a conversation on the mobile is just a big no no.

Yes, that was my experience with dreadful mobile reception. Wi-Fi calling is the answer but you need a fairly recent mobile and a supplier who will enable it for you. My old android didn’t work with EE/BTs Wi-Fi calling whereas Mrs Gs iPhone was fine, so in the end I replaced it with a recent iPhone.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

We still have the landline becuase mobile reception is a bit variable round here

my wife's phone can be unusable in the house
I bought mine about a year after she got hers - same make and stuff but mine is the newer model and has wifi calling hence it is fine in the house
at the time I didn;t know about wifi calling so didn;t think to include it on the list of requirements for her phone

once her phone gets changed the landline can go - it only gets used when she asks people to call her back on it because she can;t hear them on the mobile!

 

[NorthernSky]

we went to a broadband only contract a few years back, the handset went into the roofspace
we're now considering FTTP which will mean a defunct copper line. that will be strange but we'll all go that way eventually