The Decline of the Landline 435
Death Metal writes "The phone network is thus not just a technical infrastructure, but a socioeconomic one. The more Americans abandon it to go mobile-only or make phone calls over the Internet, the more fragile it becomes: its high fixed costs have to be spread over ever fewer subscribers. If the telephone network in New York State were a stand-alone business, it would already be in bankruptcy. In recent years it has lost 40% of its landlines and revenues have dropped by more than 30%."
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Fairpoint sucks (Score:3, Interesting)
Here in Northern New England, our telephone company is Fairpoint Communications.
Their billing system is so messed up that the state of New Hampshire will not allow them to disconnect delinquent accounts.
They will undoubtedly be filing for bankruptcy within a year or two.
Fairpoint was not prepared for this. They are a miserable little two-bit operation and have no business even attempting to handle over a million land lines.
Of course Comcast is loving every minute of it.
Re:Dated Technology... (Score:3, Interesting)
In the case of the landline and a lot of other technologies, I agree. Who needs buggy whips when everyone has one of them thar newfangles automobiles?
On the other hand, some very useful technologies have died [kuro5hin.org]. At four years old the linked article is a bit dated; car stereo knobs have made a comeback, for instance. But when your power goes out in a January ice storm, you're going to wish you had a gas gravity furnace with its power pile.
(I followed that article up with Good Riddance to Bad Tech [kuro5hin.org]. Who needs eight tracks? I always hated them!)
Re:why would you ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Landlines & disasters (Score:5, Interesting)
In the area of New Orleans where I live (and didn't flood), the only way for people to communicate with the outside world was with land lines and old phones which are powered completely off the line (no wall warts).
Much of the cellular system didn't work. The remaining working systems were nearly impossible to use.
I hate using cell phones for more than a few minutes and always use a land line for long conversations. I also need to keep the land line for our alarm systems.
I was amazed to discover that my collection of 40s - 70s rotary dial phones dial perfectly on the Cox Digital phone system.
Re:Decline of the Landline (Score:5, Interesting)
I guess I am arguing that land lines aren't as robust as you might think they are. You cell phone battery will likely outlast the battery at the local exchange. Also, if there are major fiber breaks, it might take longer to restore land line service, becuase a lot of cell phone towers use wireless backhauls... Just my $.02.
Re:Decline of the Landline (Score:4, Interesting)
Not necessarily. One of the first targets in most WW3 nuclear scenarios is landline switching facilities, in order to disrupt the command, communication, and control of the opponent. Because of this, "dynamic adaptive routing" technologies, in which telecom links can be dynamically routed around failed links and/or nodes, is viewed in the US as a strategic technology the export of which is controlled -- see 5A991.c.9 in the Commerce Control List (p.8) [gpo.gov].
Demise of POTS, not landlines in general. (Score:4, Interesting)
The days of having "a phone line" are indeed drawing to a close. We are now entering the era where you simply buy a big digital pipe from one of the carriers in your area, delivered as a piece of coaxial cable, fiber optic cable (if you're lucky), or twisted-pair (if you're unlucky), and telephony is simply one of the services delivered over that pipe.
The true endgame, which I hope we see soon, is the dismantling of the PSTN as we know it -- where central offices become little more than colocation centers for telecom gear; telephone numbers will represent nothing more than an address on the network.
Re:Decline of the Landline (Score:1, Interesting)
What are the cell towers powered off of when the grid cuts out? What good would a fully charged phone do you without a signal?
Re:why would you ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Decline of the Landline (Score:1, Interesting)
Most if not all of those battery banks are backed up by generators that at least here in OK are powered by piped in natural gas. It's about as close to perpetual as one can get.
Stephen Hawking? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Land Lines (Score:3, Interesting)
It is illegal for any telemarketer or any organization to call you on a cell phone for commercial purposes, including charities, etc. unless you already have an existing current business relationship with that specific business ("marketing partners, etc." don't count). This is also true for 800 numbers, pagers and any other type of phone line where you might be charged to receive the call.
Yeah, and spam is illegal too. All it means is that the calls you get will be from the least scrupulous marketers out there. I had a cellphone number that regularly got calls about all the same crap most people get in spam - prescription drugs, dick extensions, herbal hair rejuvenators, etc. Most the time these guys don't even have valid caller-id numbers. They are total fly by nights and hunting them and their 'clients' down is almost certainly a lot of work for what will ultimately turn out to be an uncollectable judgment.
I solved the problem by ultimately migrating to grandcentral/google-voice and forcing all calls to go through their screener before my phones even ring.