Just now, williamweb said:

At the moment BT won’t let us have fibre.Because we live close to an exchange they are saying our analog signal is good enough.

That's more based on the broadband speeds. You will be switched over to fibre eventually.

15 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Demand for analog already has. Most people don't want it.

 

You know, a decade ago people didn't want 'vinyl' records, now it's a blossoming industry LOL

Hopefully my mothers emergency call button that she wears on her wrist will still work with the new system.

BT have installed a full fibre system where I live right up to the Telegraph poles in the gardens, but at the moment it is run in tandem with the old system and you need to pay to be connected to it if you want access to Broadband. None of my neighbours have done so yet.

There does seem to be a bit of inequality with broadband depending on where you live. My street was one of the first to have cables installed years ago and we now have second cable system as well as the BT one on the poles.  

35 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

You know, a decade ago people didn't want 'vinyl' records, now it's a blossoming industry LOL

I don't see anyone reminiscing about 56k dial up though!

Remember the good old days when connecting to the internet was a visceral experience?  The sound of the dial tones...  The slow emergence of pictures appearing line by line...  And of course having to get off the computer if your Mum wanted to use the house phone...

 

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

You seem to know a bit about this - will the new digital service still maintain your 'old' number? Interesting about the  battery power backup, I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere in the googling I have done...

Its more to do with the phone boxes than the actual landlines. 

Iirc, if the phone box is used for more than 50 times a year or is in a remote/ known accident or suicide spot then it wont be removed.

42 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

.  And of course having to get off the computer if your Mum wanted to use the house phone...

 

I swear, thought that sentence was going to end differently 😂

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

I don't see anyone reminiscing about 56k dial up though!

Remember the good old days when connecting to the internet was a visceral experience?  The sound of the dial tones...  The slow emergence of pictures appearing line by line...  And of course having to get off the computer if your Mum wanted to use the house phone...

 

Or forgetting to check if anyone was on the phone before you tried to connect and suddenly voices are coming from the computer. 😅

I'm on Virgin so technically cable not analogue unless i misunderstand [probably]

Analogue is out digital is in, like it or not.

Personally I don't like it. My voice is analogue and so are my ears, converting my voice to digital and sending over the broadband line won't improve the quality, the change has benefits for the telecom providers but not for me. It's a bit like digital music and digital TV, the quality tends to be lower than the old analogue equivalents but it allows more music to be compressed onto a USB stick and more channels of rubbish to be transmitted to our TVs.

On the new VOIP system you plug your home phone into your broadband router, when the power goes off your router stops working and so will the phone. It is possible to install a UPS to support the router during a power cut but that's another bit of equipment to buy. Your phone extension sockets around the house also stop working unless you buy more equipment to get them working again. 

I don't know what they are going to do for the people, like my mum, who just have a phone line and no mobile or internet connection or router or devices.

I tried recently to upgrade my broadband to BT fibre but if I do so they won't let me keep the analogue phone line that I currently have.

 

The phone audio quality is already digital. The analog line connects to the exchange which converts it to digital and sends it over the internet already. There haven’t been analog interconnects between exchanges for decades. 

Interesting Discussion.

Digital Terrestrial TV was launched in 1998, as a supplement to the Analogue.  The Digital Switchover began in 2008 and the last analogue stations were turned off when DSO finished in October 2012. Fourteen years.

I cannot remember when DAB was launched, but FM is still going, and last time I looked AM was still on !

In conurbations, the digital line to the consumer to provide "landline" functionality, with UPS support of some sort, will work for the majority of the population, and provide internet. (But just think of all those batteries and power supplies, and who has carried out the energy and environment audit?)

But how about those isolated properties that have a couple of miles of copper between them and where the nearest digital multiplexer might be sited ?  Will they get Fibre or a microwave link (if LIne of Sight is possible) ?  And this last week, mobile network sites have failed with flat batteries after the prolonged Mains outages ?

No doubt digital will come, but in the mean time, I still have a 'phone in the house plugged into a BT socket, and ADSL over the same line.  I do have an 8 year old android 'phone which I do use as a mobile hotspot for a laptop when not at home, but as I age, I am fed up with obsolence being forced upon us under the guise of an "upgrade".

 

 

You need to think of the copper network as a clapped out old banger that’s more rust and filler than anything and constantly being patched up to barely scrape through its MOT. 
 

Fibre is the much needed replacement. Not an upgrade for the sake of it.

12 hours ago, alexp999 said:

The phone audio quality is already digital. The analog line connects to the exchange which converts it to digital and sends it over the internet already. There haven’t been analog interconnects between exchanges for decades. 

Agreed, and that part of the connection works well. VIOP over a fibre broadband connection which may already be saturated with video streaming and downloads does not work so well.

11 hours ago, alexp999 said:

You need to think of the copper network as a clapped out old banger that’s more rust and filler than anything and constantly being patched up to barely scrape through its MOT. 
 

Fibre is the much needed replacement. Not an upgrade for the sake of it.

mmm... kinda like a battery car, new & shiny - still works, but has nowhere near the range of a proper car, and without electric, useless 🤣

I cancelled  my phone line a while ago being on Virgin Media and had a mobile SIM only contract,i have virgin mobile as well which is £8 a month unlimited calls/text 15gb data and cheaper than line rental which is around £14 a month,does me fine.

2 minutes ago, jace1969 said:

I cancelled  my phone line a while ago being on Virgin Media and had a mobile SIM only contract,i have virgin mobile as well which is £8 a month unlimited calls/text 15gb data and cheaper than line rental which is around £14 a month,does me fine.

I've never had the experience, but how easy is it to maintain your mobile number if you lose your phone? (I've never lost my landline LOL). Considering the number of companies (including your bank) that use your mobile as a security device to send out verification texts, the loss would be more than inconvenient etc...

58 minutes ago, pcaouolte said:

Agreed, and that part of the connection works well. VIOP over a fibre broadband connection which may already be saturated with video streaming and downloads does not work so well.

Which is what qos is for. 🙂

We have 6 voip phones where I work on a 25 mpbs connection. I can saturate the connection with downloads and the phones work flawlessly because of qos. 
 

The routers supplied by ISPs for use with digital landlines will already have qos for voip configured. 

1 hour ago, jace1969 said:

I cancelled  my phone line a while ago being on Virgin Media and had a mobile SIM only contract,i have virgin mobile as well which is £8 a month unlimited calls/text 15gb data and cheaper than line rental which is around £14 a month,does me fine.

I pay £6.00 a month for a similar service amount with carphone warehouse, if you monitor your data usage, many use packages that have data allowances far in excess of what they need or use, as data is generally the most expensive bit. The main use of my data is in sat-nav mode.

28 minutes ago, JImpster said:

I pay £6.00 a month for a similar service amount

Me too... (actually, it's £6.26 LOL)

8 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Me too... (actually, it's £6.26 LOL)

thats cos you work in Euros hahahahahahaha

 

25 minutes ago, JImpster said:

thats cos you work in Euros hahahahahahaha

 

Oh dear oh dear, you do know that I live in Northern Ireland, which as we all know, is definitely a part of the UK - I use £ sterling, just like you!!  🤣

12 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Oh dear oh dear, you do know that I live in Northern Ireland, which as we all know, is definitely a part of the UK - I use £ sterling, just like you!!  🤣

🇬🇧👍

1 minute ago, williamweb said:

🇬🇧👍

It's OK, even our very own PM often forgets we are part of the UK as after Brexit, he accidentally left us in the EU LOL

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

Oh dear oh dear, you do know that I live in Northern Ireland, which as we all know, is definitely a part of the UK - I use £ sterling, just like you!!  🤣

oooops my baaaad !

On 12/5/2021 at 9:12 AM, StephenFord said:

I've never had the experience, but how easy is it to maintain your mobile number if you lose your phone? (I've never lost my landline LOL). Considering the number of companies (including your bank) that use your mobile as a security device to send out verification texts, the loss would be more than inconvenient etc...

To be honest, i have never lost my mobile in the 30 or so years i have had one.

The convenient of a mobile is great for me and a lot cheaper as i never used a landline it was always my mobile with the deal i had.

I think everyone needs are not the same.