The end of POTS?

[Matilo Telephones]

Isn´t that what the stamp collectors used to say when the telephone was introduced?

The mobile has much more capabilities than just making Phone calls. So it´s not just shininess why people buy it.

[old_stuff_hound]

I have given up my POTS line. I had AT&T POTS & DSL but almost 2 years ago I gave up on the DSL and switched (back) to TWC RoadRunner internet -- 2.5x the speed of the DSL I had (top tier) for $10 less/month. I used to say that TWC was the only company I hated worse than AT&T but as time wore on I found I couldn't really claim that any more.

My AT&T POTS was getting flaky and the repair service was indifferent at best. So I made the switch to RR voice service. What I was paying AT&T ca. $40/month for, I'm now getting from TWC for $10/mo. Of course if I lose my power I lose my phone, but I already had my internet system (modem, gateway, etc) on a UPS because at work I'm on call periodically and have to be reachable on my cell phone and my cell reception sucks so I have a microcell. So I need my internet service to be up.

Anyway, I'm now on RR voice and all the old phones still work. RR tell me that their modem/ATA has a REN of 8! I tried to stay with POTS but it was a struggle. I finally relented. AT&T was probably happy to see me go -- I was probably more trouble than I was worth. They want everyone on Uverse (even though they wouldn't give me Uverse -- I'm a tiny bit too far from the cabinet).

[m1898]

POTS ended in our house this weekend. The wife wanted to shut it off last summer. The bill was just shy of 40 dollars per month for a no frills line that we hardly used. I talked into keeping it because of my obsession.
Recently, I made her a deal. If she let me (I am unable to work and she pays the bills) get a 616 for my phones, I would no linger need an outside line and she could have the phone line disconnected. Well, I got my 616, along with a second one for a spare, so I kept my end of the deal. I sure won't miss those annoying calls, unless I decide to call myself.    Jim

[Phonesrfun]

I also gave up POTS about 8 or 9 years ago when Vonage was new.  I have since moved to another VoIP service with my cable provider.  This semi-POTS service works great, except now that my wife and I both have smart phones, the "home phone" rarely gets used.  I have been thinking of cancelling my VoIP line now too.

[m1898]

We have cheap $15 a month phones. They serve our needs.   Jim

[jsowers]

My AT&T POTS was getting flaky and the repair service was indifferent at best. So I made the switch to RR voice service. What I was paying AT&T ca. $40/month for, I'm now getting from TWC for $10/mo. Of course if I lose my power I lose my phone, but I already had my internet system (modem, gateway, etc) on a UPS because at work I'm on call periodically and have to be reachable on my cell phone and my cell reception sucks so I have a microcell. So I need my internet service to be up.

Have you had a power outage since you switched? The reason I ask is I have analog cable from TWC and there's an "amplifier" box on the power pole across the road from my house, and it belongs to TWC. One day my neighbor across the road had a power line short, which took out the power to the pole and my house. The TWC repairman was here before the Duke Power truck, which had to come from a neighboring county. That power outage took out the cable and phone service for everyone down the road from me and they were complaining. They had power, but no signal because the amp was dead. So unless TWC has a backup on their amps in your area, you may still be dead in the water when the power goes out.

I'm one of the minority who still has POTS and I don't own a cell phone. So if the power goes out, I have no way to report it. So I'm keeping my POTS, which is only $25 a month from Windstream.

[dsk]

We still have our pots line too, but a few years ago, we lost the connection for a week. A cable was digged up, it was easter time, and it was soooo difficult to fix it.  Lots of neighbors lost their connection too. This grade of service cost them many subscribers.

Here in Norway cellphone are the cheapest solution for the moment. Then VOIP (If you forget the internet costs) and then POTS.

Why do I keep it? 
I'm old fashioned, it serves my alarm system, and I play with it in another way than what is possible to a PABX.

During my lifetime  I have been out of POTS connection for 7-8 days, The mobile network has been down 2 days, (2 years ago)  Internet ar going up and down as an elevator, and GET has about monopole on a fast internet connection where I live. (ADSL are bad because of long lines to the exchange).

Mobile phone with an adapter, and battery backup looks like an almost equal product as a landline, at least if you don't use it for playing. (with old telephone stuff)

dsk

[old_stuff_hound]

Have you had a power outage since you switched? The reason I ask is I have analog cable from TWC and there's an "amplifier" box on the power pole across the road from my house, and it belongs to TWC. One day my neighbor across the road had a power line short, which took out the power to the pole and my house. The TWC repairman was here before the Duke Power truck, which had to come from a neighboring county. That power outage took out the cable and phone service for everyone down the road from me and they were complaining. They had power, but no signal because the amp was dead. So unless TWC has a backup on their amps in your area, you may still be dead in the water when the power goes out.

I'm one of the minority who still has POTS and I don't own a cell phone. So if the power goes out, I have no way to report it. So I'm keeping my POTS, which is only $25 a month from Windstream.

I have. We had a pretty widespread (based on observation, just driving around) outage a month or so ago. I ran off the UPS for a while and when the power still hadn't come back I got the little Harbor Freight 2-stroke generator from the barn and fired it up. My plan had been to feed the UPS with the generator, if for no other reason than to filer the power some. But it seems the waveform from the generator was bad enough to cause the UPS to freak out so I ran all the gear directly off the generator. Everything worked and when the power came back about 2am I switched back to commercial power. Well -- I should probably say, "Everything worked when we went to bed. I assume it was still working several hours later but I did not specifically check."

[twocvbloke]

I was looking at getting a 2-stroke generator (in the UK we can get basically the same thing that's referred to as the "Harbor Freight" generator), but looking at a lot of youtube videos on them, with the noise and the shaky waveform, yeah, they're probably only good for lights really...

[old_stuff_hound]

I was looking at getting a 2-stroke generator (in the UK we can get basically the same thing that's referred to as the "Harbor Freight" generator), but looking at a lot of youtube videos on them, with the noise and the shaky waveform, yeah, they're probably only good for lights really...

Actually, most electronics these days will put up with surprising crappy power. I guess they have to if you can plug them into 120v or 240v, 50Hz or 60Hz, with nothing more than something that changes one shape of prongs to another....

But as far as my little generator goes, I bought it only for short outages. Anything longer than a few hours and I bring the big one online. I have a well and have to have real power to run the pump.

What I'd really like is a Lister Startomatic but those are a little scarce over here. ;-)

[McHeath]

Oh yes the cell phone is far more capable than the POTS phone, and it's not only shininess that drives us to them.   

I guess my main point was that for all this money we spend on our new gizmos we get surprisingly unreliable service.  Just now I had to do the old unplug it and plug it back in for the router, and earlier a reboot of the computer and some memory management on the phone.  I never make critical calls on the cell as it may drop the call at any moment, so I use the landline for those. 

I've noticed that more and more I'm getting a request for a callback number if we get disconnected from the help lines, which recognizes the unreliable nature of the cell phone.

For the kind of money we are spending I believe that we ought to be getting both new capabilities AND old time reliable service.  Instead we are in an either/or era, which feels like we are being cheated.  Why can't the providers make these services more dependable?  Is it the inherent problems of the cell phone, or is it that they don't want to spend the money on networks?

Which is the reason we keep the landline, it always works.  The house alarm is hooked to it, and I know in a power failure, which happens surprisingly often, it will still work.  It's curious how often the power goes out, here I am in central California sitting in the dark more than I care to because PG&E can't keep the lights on.

But that's another issue.

[old_stuff_hound]

Why can't the providers make these services more dependable?  Is it the inherent problems of the cell phone, or is it that they don't want to spend the money on networks?

You forgot the third option -- (most) customers don't seem to care. I think it's a combination of providers not wanting to pay and customers not demanding better.....

[stelcom66]

I have a POTS line connected to a modified 1A2 key system. I use the 2564 keyfields in a wooden enclosure with a standard modern phone. I've replaced the K400E card with a circuit that provides lamps for off hook and hold. Don't plan on eliminating the POTS line, and technically don't own a cell phone. I do have a basic company provided cell phone. If the company didn't provide one I would get something basic - but I much prefer to use a Tip & Ring phone. When a coworker calls I'll usually ask if they're near a phone and call them there. So often batteries go dead - the cellphone is in a bad area - and I think generally have poor audio quality. I'll acknowledge cellphones are great in many circumstances - but not for every conversation. Lately I tend to let calls go to voicemail when I'm driving. In my state a hands-free device is required. Sometimes it's a hassle and unsafe to find the headset, plug it in and put it on. The bluetooth headset will sometimes lose power due to a low battery at times. What I find really annoying is finally getting the headset situated to hear something like - 'I sent you an email...' - a big waste and abuse of the technology. I know I'm in the minority and I hate the fact that at some point due the the cost I may need to consider an voip line. If/when I do I sure hope I can get an adaptor to convert it to tip & ring.

[mrbugsir]

I was worried when I started collecting old phones whether I could even call out with them. A couple years ago, we dumped our expensive and flaky DSL service and got FiOS installed. Part of it was getting a feed for our 2 phone lines from the Optical Network Terminal (ONT) attached to the side of the house that the fiber optic cable tunneled under our driveway connected into. When I received my first auction win in the mail, I was pleased that it was able to dial out without any problem. (I forgot how long it took to dial a number, not having used a rotary dial in 30 years)

I hereby speculate the common battery from the CO is from the battery screwed into the wall underneath my stairs that feeds the ONT on a ridiculously long cable I made the installer run. And since electrical signals do not travel down light (although when I master that I shall be two-thirds completed with my plans for world domination, see my avatar), the copper run to the ONT must terminate at some ATA.

As long as I keep the ONT's battery juiced, I should have POTS phone functions, as long as the other side is alive, which didn't happen after a 6 day power outage a few years ago. darn trees don't like to be pummeled by hurricane force winds and then iced over. And since everything is on fiber optic, I probably won't get dumped into that Cellular-based thing all the phone companies are moving to in the next 5 years. Hoping 

[Sargeguy]

My mother's phone service went out recently.  Verizon told her that the problem was "unfixable" and that she needed to upgrade to digital.