To think removing Analogue phone systems by 2025 is too soon?

[bigbluebus]

I know many on MN don't have phones plugged into landlines but many of us who are in slightly older demographic probably still do as our older relatives like to ring on landlines and also mobile reception is not always brilliant in more rural areas.

We were one of the unfortunate households who suffered recent power loss for 3 days and nights in freezing temperatures so keeping in touch with elderly neighbours and relatives was quite important. Of course our cordless phones don't work without power so, as advised, we have an old phone which plugs into a phone socket in such circumstances.

BT plan to get rid of this option by 2025 and landline services will only be available via broadband. As far as I'm aware the plan is to bring in a cheap basic broadband option for those who have no broadband service. But broadband needs electricity. So all those elderly and vulnerable who only have an 'electrically powered' phone line will be totally without any means of communication if the power goes off and they don't have a mobile phone.

The last 3 days here have taught us that the powers that be don't give a shiny sh*te about those on their supposed welfare list in times of crisis. My elderly neighbour (all electric) was not offered any assistance by the energy company and if she had lost her phone line too it would have made life even more difficult.

Whilst we are rural enough to have so many overhead power lines that the storm caused major disruption we are far from being out in the sticks. I feel that once again those not in towns/cities are not being considered in the name of 'progress'.

I appreciate there will come a time when the 'new' older generation will all have mobile phones but don't think that time is here yet nor will it be by 2025.

And don't get me started on the all electric agenda being pushed in the name of global warming - without our open fire we would have been frozen at the weekend!

I’m 57. We don’t have a landline.

I think it’s going to happen. I know no one who has one except businesses.

I’m 42. We do. Invaluable in the many rural power cuts we get and very little mobile signal here.

My parents are 80 and haven't had a landline for years. I expect it will be problematic for areas with no broadband, more than for older generations.

We rely on our landline. We don't live in the middle of nowhere - our house in sits in a mobile signal blackspot. If anyone rings my mobile when I'm at home, I have to go outside and stand across the road.

Currently sitting here with no power. It’s due back on by 4pm according to the website.

If my mobile goes down Id be screwed without a landline. I’m disabled and I’d have no way to contact anyone.

My internet cuts out regularly. It's a rare day when it doesn't cut out for several minutes a couple of times a day. This would make phone calls very difficult. Currently my landline has a much clearer line than my mobile but I won't be able to use it after the changeover.

What’s the justification? Surely it uses less power than broadband line and then wifi box being plugged in then an electric phone plugged in so can’t be green agenda.

The backhaul systems are being switched over as well (most already have), without the PSTN systems being analogue even if your phone had power the wider network would end up going down. The old systems cost a lot more to run, to offer it as a service prices would need to rise significantly, in some cases the equipment is not even made any more so replacement is becoming much more difficult.

BT actually offer a backup unit, there are plans to roll these out to vulnerable people when the switchover happens, although I don't know what state those plans are in.

That was the old one, but there will be a new one for FTTP when it is all switched over.
shop.bt.com/products/cyberpower-back-up-for-bt-digital-voice-service--non-fttp--091297-FV54.html?

I've recently moved into a newbuild house my landline goes through my broadband, which obviously means if my broadband or electricity is down my landline phone doesn't work.

Openreach advice everyone to have a back up in the form of a mobile phone in case of emergencies.

Yes, the vast majority of people have mobiles now but there are still older people and people in rural area whose mobile reception is poor who rely on landlines. I imagine that will still be the case in 2025.

We have a landline and quite a few relatives and friends do.

I have a mobile but if there’s a complete power out the mobile masts go down as well don’t they?

I was caught up in the Jul 2005 London bombings, travelling to work on the tube. Mobiles stopped working as over capacity. I knew my parents would be frantic so I joined the queue at a phone box and rang them on their landline.
I hope the mobile system has improved enough to cope with possible future disasters.

@Skyll

I have a mobile but if there’s a complete power out the mobile masts go down as well don’t they?

They almost always have battery and generator backup, depending on the mast they can run without grid power for 2-48 hours.

Thanks @MatildaIThink. The last time we had a decently long power cut the phones were down too?

Mobile phones that is

I'm rural and rely on landline for emergencies. We don't get perfect phone signal but landline never fails us. Lots of people find landlines and larger phones easier to use and as they're in one place are easier to find and get to physically.

It just seems like choices are being taken away from us.

Similar with the broadband connection itself. Apparently Open Reach will only install full fibre now, they won't reconnect standard copper broadband. We moved 6 weeks ago and we're still waiting for Open Reach to pull their finger out. I asked if we could have the copper broadband turned on while we wait for fibre to the door but that was a big fat no.

@pigsDOfly

I've recently moved into a newbuild house my landline goes through my broadband, which obviously means if my broadband or electricity is down my landline phone doesn't work.

Openreach advice everyone to have a back up in the form of a mobile phone in case of emergencies.

Yes, the vast majority of people have mobiles now but there are still older people and people in rural area whose mobile reception is poor who rely on landlines. I imagine that will still be the case in 2025.

Most people's "broadband" is via their phone line (and vice versa). For most of us it's still a single copper wired connection.

Exceptions are the fibre to property and the cable providers like Virgin.

I totally agree OP. I’m well under 50 but have always had a landline. I don’t think people should be so reliant on broadband for absolutely everything. Having analogue back up is so nessecary for so many people.

The copper network, originally built for us to talk to each other but now mainly used to carry broadband, will be phased out but it will take years and years. VOIP (voice over internet) will replace it all eventually but the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) isn’t fit for purpose any more.
Landlines work during power cuts because there are massive backup batteries in the exchanges. The broadband that uses the same line won’t work because the router at the house end needs power.
As for Fibre To The Premises for every house in the country, hahaha no. There is so much copper to be replaced!!

@MatildaIThink that backup lasts for around 1 hour. That's not much when your power is off for 3 or 4 days - especially if you're trying to ring the power company to try and get information and your in a queue for an hour and a half.

There have been many power cuts in the 30 years I've lived here - we've had 4 in the village in the last 2 months. The others were all caused by agricultural vehicles taking power lines out when harvesting! Fortunately the mobile mast doesn't always go off but it has been known. But depending on which provider you are with the signal can be patchy at the best of times. I used to have enough signal for the mobile to ring and me to be able to shout "I'm at home, ring me on the landline". I've now switched providers but DH is still with the old one as it works better when he's out and about.

I couldn't get 4g on my phone the other day. Not sure if that was because so many people were using it as there was nothing else to do or if the signal dropped out due to reduced power at the mast.

So what's the solution? Do we all need to buy diesel generators to power our broadband? I think someone near us actually had one as I could hear it running. But it seems such a massive expense for the odd occasion and hardly fits in with the green agenda.

@bigbluebus

Where did you read it that landlines are going to be gone by 2025?

I hope not! Where we live has a shit signal - like some other posters. I have had important calls due, (like from a doctor ringing for a phone consultation I have been waiting for all day, or the dentist who is cancelling my appointment for tomorrow morning and re-arranging it for the late afternoon.) They have my landline and mobile phone number.

On a number of occasions, the landline has rung, and they have said 'oh there you are...I tried your mobile and it kept going straight into voicemail.' It was switched on and I was not on the phone; the bloody signal is so weak sometimes where I live that it just goes straight to voicemail. Some people don't/won't leave messages either. And if it's the doctor, you lose your phone consultation!

Texts get through OK, as if the signal is weak, they still find their way through, but phone calls don't.

No WAY could I be without a landline. I hate the thought of being forced into not having one. Like I hate the thought of being forced into having an electric car - which will happen eventually!

We are not older either, (we are under 50.)

Having just spent 4 nights without power in NE Scotland, we would have had no information had we not had a landline with an analogue phone - kept for just such emergencies.
SSEN and our local council posted any and all updates on the internet, including where to get help and progress.
You couldn’t make up the scale of ineptitude and lack of comprehension
So while most of the time I don’t need a landline, I do need an alternative available, even publicly, via which I could contact emergency service, access information etc.

I work in a retail shop and people would be surprised by the number of landline phones we sell per week . Cordless and plug in . I guarantee we sell a number every single day just in our store and as a company on a whole the number would be a lot lot more so they are obviously still being used by a lot of people ???