Home Telephone Service.

[MMikeJBenN27]

Shame how so many people no longer want a home phone.  Home telephone service has some important advantages, providing you are using a standard phone with cords.  1)  Your call is pretty secure.  The only way it can be hacked is for a tap to be put on your line, or a listening device put inside your phone, which will require breaking into your home.  2)  Being that most hackers are teenagers and young men, most of them do not have the money for the required equipment.  It is quite expensive.  Cell, (and cordless of any kind), phone calls, on the other hand, are actually a type of radio broadcast, which means that anybody with a scanner can pick up your call.  That means you should not use a cell phone to call your Doctor, your Lawyer, your insurance company, or your bank.  Your call is not confidential, and those are the type of calls you want confidential.  You don't want your identity or your private information stolen by hackers and spread around the world.

[Ktownphoneco]

The days of being able to use a radio frequency scanner to listen in on cell phone calls is pretty much over.     Cell phones of the 1980's and 90's were primarily analog, and could be intercepted by only a few scanners that were able to scan the 800 mc band.     There may still be some wireless cell phone providers in North America that still use an analog signal, but if they do exist, I'm sure there aren't many left.     The vast majority of today's cell phone carriers use digital radio frequency signals which are almost impossible to scan without specialized equipment, and, in addition to being digital, a lot of companies are now are encrypting their cell phone transmission signals.    Law enforcement have specialized and expensive equipment to intercept private cell phone voice and text message signals once they get a court order authorizing them to do so.    To the average individual the equipment is just too expensive.     Anyone who happens to have the money to buy the necessary equipment, would be only able to listen in to conversations on cell towers in their immediate area.   A top quality antenna might increase the reception range somewhat, but not by much.    If you happen to find someone talking on an old analog cell phone, and they are in a car and moving, your scanner will drop the call as soon as the subject's cell phone call jumps to another cell site (tower).    Cell phone carriers are offering some pretty good packages now for telephone service, long distance, internet access and text messaging, and depending on the package, they're beating the cost of land line phone service, so it's not hard to see why people are switching to cell phone service and getting rid of land lines.  I have a home telephone on fiber optic service, and I prefer that, especially with all of my old telephones which still work on that system, but I'm in my 70's, and an "exception" today, and not the rule.     I have a cell phone on a real cheap voice & text package, which spends most of it's time in a drawer, but I put in my pocket or my wife puts in her purse if I, or we, are going somewhere and want to be able to call someone or some place if need be for safety sake.

Jeff Lamb 
       

[Stormcrash]

Cell phone calls are encrypted and encoded, and cannot be read with a simple scanner.  A "hacker" would need to be able to break the encryption along with the equipment to properly demodulate the cellular carrier signal.  Now this isn't impossible, I believe the encryption on 2G GSM can be defeated but don't know about others. But it's not like your call is being sent over the air in the clear.  That hasn't been the case since early analog AMPS, and even AMPS got scrambling added onto it.  (Analog AMPS died in 2008 along with DAMPS/TDMA) So saying a cellular call is not confidential is wrong.  An analog landline though is completely in the clear on the wire, so someone wanting to listen to your calls would just need to put a headset on the copper line before it reaches the concentrator or central office, the difficulty of which will vary depending on the location, but a tap and earpiece would be a lot less expensive than the equipment needed to spoof and intercept a cellular signal.

[CanadianGuy]

Landlines were being recorded back in the mechanical exchange days. Project greenstar was the name, and it was so Ma Bell could figure out how they were going to curb phone phreaking and long distance toll fraud.

Also, once your voice gets converted from analog to digital (likely at your end office) it probably goes over fiber optic (as it has since the 70s or 80s when things like the Nortel DMS were invented) which they've probably intercepted without a traditional wiretap.

[19and41]

My employer requires a fixed home phone.  I use a VOIP service (Ooma).  People act like I am insane having a home phone.  My service is good and I have a running log of my calls, incoming and outgoing.

[Babybearjs]

always hated and always will hate cell phones. they are extremely abused and without regulation the cell phone service providers are raking in the dough! I've always had a land-line and always will... plus the phone scams are out of control! Telephones were made for talking on, not play with! I hate todays technology! too widely abused!

[Key2871]

In a way I agree with John, I think more issues arrise with people using cell phones while driving.
And I just like the feel of a handset I can hold in my hand while using the phone. Sound quality is also better.
But it's nice to have instant communication when I'm out, doing my job, or out with the family.
Problem for me was landline was just too expensive to have and use a cell as well. And I agree cell providers are raking in the bucks, and my wife and I have to keep up on plans to get our best price. Granted it's more expensive having cell service for two phones, soon to be three, then four. And the broken sound one hears when talking on cell phones is a pain. That happens at the worse possible time.
But my wife insists on having landline too. Magic yack is ok, it has its draw backs, having to dial ten digits to call my in-laws. Because we both have service based out of state.
But it's just a sign off the times, everything changes at some point.

[19and41]

I have to say, at least as far as my collectibles go it is a dead heat between playing with them and talking on them. 

[tubaman]

Where I live there isn't any real option but to have a home phone service as the mobile reception is only just about good enough to work inside the house. You certainly can't use it for data at home at all. There's no cable in the village either so it's a traditional copper landline or nothing.
We do get a reasonable internet service (about 40Mbps) via the same copper line so it's not all bad.

[Dan/Panther]

Where I live we have about a 10,000 customer base. Verizon recently sold out to Frontier. I think the landline is close to extinction. My Wireless internet provider also adds the capability for a landline service. It plugs into the wireless box. It supports vintage phones as far as being able to use the ringers are concerned.

D/P

[Fabius]

We haven't had a land line phone in years. For a home phone we use a VOIP (voice over internet) line`. It is a Magic Jack unit that plugs into my router and is connected to my Panasonic 616 where it serves as an outgoing trunk.

[Babybearjs]

the other thing that's happening is fiber. I believe that in all new construction, fiber NID's are being installed. I've seen units that are Copper/Cable ready.... that way you have a choice. I think fiber can be added to that setup also... I love futureproofing stuff.... if the utilities are doing the same, then wouldn't it be nice to see NID's that have Copper, Cable, AND fiber in them.... that way the consumer has a choice!

[andy1702]

Where I live we have about a 10,000 customer base. Verizon recently sold out to Frontier. I think the landline is close to extinction. My Wireless internet provider also adds the capability for a landline service. It plugs into the wireless box. It supports vintage phones as far as being able to use the ringers are concerned.

D/P

This box you have sounds interesting... If I've understood it right, it's a box with a sim card in it that creates a wireless hotspot but you can also plug a phone into it. If there are no wires then it must have an ATA built in to convert the signal from the analogue telephone to VOIP.

I wonder if the box could be hacked so the ATA could be made to point to a C*net server?

[oldguy]

I have a POTS line (very expensive) because we don't get cell service where I live (boonies). I don't have VOIP because in a power outage I wouldn't have a phone. Any other suggestions?

[HarrySmith]

 I gave up my landline when AT&T switched to fiber. First they told me my rotary phones would work with the U-Verse service which I already knew was not true. It took a while for me to find someone working there who knew what pulse dialing was! He finally verified what I already knew, thanks to the people here. I was told I could keep my landline but the cost would be around $85.00 a month! I politely declined. I think it was about $18.00 a month previously.