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The end of POTS?

Started by Phonesrfun, March 20, 2011, 12:51:45 PM

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Doug Rose

Quote from: Babybearjs on November 07, 2019, 02:28:20 AM
I Refuse to go totally digital! as I have stated before, I hate cell phones.... I have 3 landlines! 1 home package with the internet and 2 more POTS lines! I tried to use Cableone and their system was all VOIP. Centurylink is what Mountain Bell has turned into.... and it still supports original WE equipment! Long Live POTS! (and Key systems!) I'll never give up my 1A1 system!
Three lines...triple the spam calls! Good stuff!
Kidphone

Western Bell

Quote from: Doug Rose on November 07, 2019, 09:22:46 AM
Three lines...triple the spam calls! Good stuff!

What's good about more spam calls? I don't get it.

Doug Rose

Quote from: Western Bell on November 07, 2019, 03:26:59 PM
What's good about more spam calls? I don't get it.
humor  ;D. ...Don't forget to tip you waiters, they will need it to pay for there lines...Doug
Kidphone

Western Bell

Quote from: Doug Rose on November 07, 2019, 05:56:52 PM
humor

Oh, sarcasm, an ironic or satirical remark tempered by humor mainly used to say the opposite of what's true.

Sarcasm never worked for me in business or my personal life - never knew what the truth really was when talking to anyone who liked to use sarcasm. And, they usually used it to make someone look or feel foolish. Not being a mind reader, I found it best all around to stay away from people like that.

Quote from: Doug Rose on November 07, 2019, 05:56:52 PM
Don't forget to tip you waiters, they will need it to pay for there lines...Doug

Now I'm confused by " . . . you waiters, they will need it to pay for there lines . . ." Waiters? Lines where? Sorry, I'm lost again. Was that also sarcasm, or some type of help I don't understand.


dsk

Could we please get back to the thread?

The end of POTS  ?

dsk

Doug Rose

Quote from: Western Bell on November 07, 2019, 09:49:50 PM
Oh, sarcasm, an ironic or satirical remark tempered by humor mainly used to say the opposite of what's true.

Sarcasm never worked for me in business or my personal life - never knew what the truth really was when talking to anyone who liked to use sarcasm. And, they usually used it to make someone look or feel foolish. Not being a mind reader, I found it best all around to stay away from people like that.

Now I'm confused by " . . . you waiters, they will need it to pay for there lines . . ." Waiters? Lines where? Sorry, I'm lost again. Was that also sarcasm, or some type of help I don't understand.


As stated, humor.  Most of the calls are spam calls on our home line. Three would be three times the spam calls. Humor. Sorry if I offended you. Hence the smiley face....Humor....Doug
Kidphone

andre_janew

I will admit that cell phones are getting popular.  There are programs where you can get a free cell phone and free service.  Because of such programs, now homeless people have cell phones.  You can't do that with POTS.  You need a permanent address for POTS.

Babybearjs

I agree. the government program does offer free cell phones and service, of which I do have, but don't use. they give you a cheap "Q-Link" android phone and for most it works... but I'll keep my Pots service over that because I know it works and always has. at one time the phone company offered a simple pots line to low income people, that I think is gone now. Centurylink offers the POTS line for about $26.00/Mo. which is good if that's all you need. the day they start offering FREE phone and Internet service to low income people... that would be a blessing.... but they'd have to qualify.... as they always have had to... as for the whole POTS system, its not going to go any ware. as long as there are copper and fiber lines.... there will have to be POTS... the problem is, the advertising.... the phone companies don't tell you its still available! they want to lock you into a "Package" and then they make the money. at one point you even could do a 2 line package... and they took that away years ago. but, if you rent, or own your own place, Pots line should always be available... upon request!
John

MMikeJBenN27

The easiest way to preserve regular phone service is to HAVE IT, and not discontinue it!  If enough people have it, it will not go away.  If too few people have it, it WILL go away.  It is that simple.  Want regular phone service, as I have and refuse to get rid of, then subscribe to it.  It is not "too expensive".  If you can afford multiple cell phones and multiple cable services, and an outrageously expensive German car, you can afford phone service.

dsk

Quote from: MMikeJBenN on November 10, 2019, 03:16:01 PM
The easiest way to preserve regular phone service is to HAVE IT, and not discontinue it!  If enough people have it, it will not go away.  If too few people have it, it WILL go away.  It is that simple.  Want regular phone service, as I have and refuse to get rid of, then subscribe to it.  It is not "too expensive".  If you can afford multiple cell phones and multiple cable services, and an outrageously expensive German car, you can afford phone service.

I did believe that too, but now 2 people I know has got the message, your line is faulty, we are not going to look for the fault, thank you for the cooperation, and good bye.

That is the level of service for a line at cost of nearly 3 cellphones.

dsk

Doug Rose

Look up at the telephone lines in your neighborhood, do you see a line with insulation falling off it?  Yup.....It's a copper line for POTS service.

Think there might be some static on that line. Cross talk? It's  not just going to your house, it's going from pole to pole. Same line that was there when Grampy and Nanny got their Telephone installed and paid for it over and over again with the monthly fees.

Wait until it rains.

Think they can find a clean pair to you? For how long?

Why would the Telephone provider go under the enormous expense to upgrade the copper path when it is already there digitally.

If POTS is not dead, it sure is dying....Doug

Kidphone

CanadianGuy

I've been a telco contractor for 13 years now. With my interest in the history and evolution of the telephone network, it's blatantly obvious to me that telecoms (or should I say, giant media conglomerates who happen to own telecoms) want to limp the copper networks along as long as possible and only do band-aid repairs so they can maximize profits from obsolete networks that were probably written off the books years ago.

I've taken many photos of aerial terminals and pedestals that I've worked in, and it's a wonder they even work at all anymore. They'll have techs go around "re-building" terminals, but all they're doing is removing the old metal covers, pulling back the old ring cuts to expose copper that hasn't been weathered, and splicing in a fresh section to join the two ends back together. Sometimes they don't even do that. A new plastic terminal cover is put over top of the existing splices since they're like guitar strings and they break off at the old ring cuts, so there isn't enough to work with.

The spans between the poles get damaged from squirrels, birds, trees, lightning strikes, garage fires, etc. But nothing is really done unless more than one or two people are affected. All we do is line transfer orders (LTO) by hopefully finding a good spare pair. That's nearly impossible, as there aren't many spares left, so we have to look at "drop lines" which are pairs previously assigned to other customers, usually in other terminals and quite often between my customers terminal and the cross-connect. Sometimes we're lucky and the drop line is in a terminal past the customer. If that doesn't work, they say test some pairs flagged defective, which could've been 10 or 15 years ago.

If an aerial service drop is damaged, we hang new ones, but it's still being hooked up to distribution cable that was put up in the 60's or 70's. I still have to work in some super old "Reliable" terminals with rubber covers. Those might be from the 50's but I have yet to find any historical photos to prove it. Only found a drawing of one like this: http://telephone.bouwman.com/Michigan/Lambertville/Terminal.html

I could go on, but I should get to work. I might have a call to go fix someone's line that's randomly dialing 911  >:(

dsk

Yesterday was even the last day of having a regurlar phone number at home, we had ported our old number to Zadarma andu used IP-telephone ...  But the old national "sister of ma Bell"; Telenor made it so difficult = expensive for Zadarma to keep the number so we had to change number or stop...   Now you have to call me via Sipbroker, wait for the message, and dial the rest.  That works  :)   
I will probably put up a cellphone and x_Link too, but the good old +47 67069089 is lost. >:( >:(   The funny thing is that I may still call out, and you will receive a call from just that number  :o
dsk

MMikeJBenN27

The way to preserve "Plain Old Telephone Service" is to try to convince as many people as we can about the dangers of using a cell phone for everything, (not confidential, as radio waves are PUBLIC DOMAIN).  As long as there is a demand, they will offer it, but if the demand falls below a certain point, the point as to where is is costing them money instead of making them money, they will drop it.  I keep wishing for a huge scandal involving cell phones that scares people into resuming Home Phone service.

Mike

poplar1

#194
Quote from: MMikeJBenN27 on September 09, 2021, 02:36:26 AM
The way to preserve "Plain Old Telephone Service" is to try to convince as many people as we can about the dangers of using a cell phone for everything, (not confidential, as radio waves are PUBLIC DOMAIN).  As long as there is a demand, they will offer it, but if the demand falls below a certain point, the point as to where is is costing them money instead of making them money, they will drop it.  I keep wishing for a huge scandal involving cell phones that scares people into resuming Home Phone service.

Mike

An AT&T residential line (served by 5ESS or DMS100 central office) here, with Complete Choice feature package, costs $46 per month -- $66.07 with junk fees.  This increases by $2.00 per month + tax every year. A business line is now $341 per month! That is enough to convince most people (not me!) to drop their 1FR/1FB lines. EDIT: The AT&T website offers "traditional home phone" for "$37 or less "+ taxes and fees and "complete choice enhanced" for $51 + taxes and fees. https://www.att.com/home-phone/landline/

AT&T has already lobbied for, and gotten approved, permission in many states to drop traditional copper lines wherever another service is available. They have been wiring our neighborhood for fiber. While 1 Gig data speed for $40 a month (with discount) beats the 5.0 mb DSL ($45 per month) previously the top speed here, I doubt that the 5ESS will be in service much longer. Most of the outside plant techs have retired. We were on direct copper feed (not SLC) all the way to the CO, which meant if your cable pair was unbalanced or noisy, or even if the line had "no dial tone", you had to wait a week for repairs.

I understand that telco true landline rates went up considerably in California. How much are you currently paying for a residential line served by a Central Office?
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.