Are landlines a thing of the past?

[scottish-guy]

It seems I'm one of an increasingly small band who still has a landline telephone for personal (rather than business) use. In fact I have two.

Apart from my main job I have another which involves fielding calls from the public. The demographic of the callers is minimum 60+ and I'm noticing that even around 80% of these calls are now coming from mobiles. I also notice that 20-30% of those are very poor call quality to the extent that the call either drops out or is barely decipherable.

So my question is - how many people here have given up their landlines in favour of being exclusively mobile?

Also, there can surely be little argument that mobile call quality even today is still inferior to landline quality - is this a compromise worth accepting to gain the (dubious) benefit of being always reachable?

Note : I'm talking about personal use only - I realise that business use is a completely different matter

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[cdnmatt]

I think the last time I had a landline was back in around 2002.

So yes, thing of the past...

[scottish-guy]

I don't know if you're exclusively referring to your time resident in Thailand, Matt - but if so I'd suggest that personal landlines in Thailand have never had the penetration that they have in the West.

Of course, I could survive with just a mobile but the comparative call quality is truly shit - that's why I hesitate to dump my landline even though it costs me around £250 a yr in rental alone

[joe552]

My landline comes as part of a bundle, TV, internet and landline. I get free landline calls in ROI and UK (excl. NI as I found to my cost when I rang my nephew up there).

I only use my mobile for the occasional text.

[frequent]

I don't know if you're exclusively referring to your time resident in Thailand, Matt - but if so I'd suggest that personal landlines in Thailand have never had the penetration that they have in the West.Mobile phone penetration is widespread - just stick it up your arse, get someone to call you and you've got an instant vibrator

[scottish-guy]

Yes, Joe - one of my landlines was included in a "bundle" but I dropped the TV because basically I was (with a few notable exceptions like Bates Motel and The Middle) paying for a bunch of third rate tat which I could do without. I was unable to drop the Internet as I have associated email addresses which I would lose if I left, and I must keep the landline to get the Internet (ridiculous I know).

So, I'm kinda in a "no option" situation with keeping that landline if I don't want to lose my email addresses.

The other landline is a legacy British Telecom one - and contractually I could easily drop it but I do still appreciate the superior call quality over mobiles.

For business use (with consumers) I would never consider going mobile only - totally unprofessional image I feel. I don't mind calling a plumber or electrician advertising a mobile number, but if it were e.g. a dentist then I'd be somewhat uneasy!! :p

[justaguy]

Of course it is not a thing of the past. The old plain analogue lines that were used for calls and dialup internet aren't being replaced by mobiles, but by adsl, cable and fiber. And indeed are used for dialling (voip) television and internet. And certainly fiber is light years ahead when it comes to available bandwith,

In thailand, having to go mobile is a necessity due to missing infrastructure.

[justaguy]

Yes, Joe - one of my landlines was included in a "bundle" but I dropped the TV because basically I was (with a few notable exceptions like Bates Motel and The Middle) paying for a bunch of third rate tat which I could do without. I was unable to drop the Internet as I have associated email addresses which I would lose if I left, and I must keep the landline to get the Internet (ridiculous I know).

So, I'm kinda in a "no option" situation with keeping that landline if I don't want to lose my email addresses.

The other landline is a legacy British Telecom one - and contractually I could easily drop it but I do still appreciate the superior call quality over mobiles.

For business use (with consumers) I would never consider going mobile only - totally unprofessional image I feel. I don't mind calling a plumber or electrician advertising a mobile number, but if it were e.g. a dentist then I'd be somewhat uneasy!! :p

In case of adsl, you need to keep the landline, because that is the medium being used. So in that case the need to keep the landline is not ridiculous but a technical requirement.

[joe552]

I negotiated a new deal with Virgin Media, saving me €20 a month. A short time later I decided to get rid of the TV and was told that as it was a new contract, it would cost around €200 to take it out of the bundle. So I still have it, but rarely use it. Except for Bargain Hunt!

[scottish-guy]

In case of adsl, you need to keep the landline, because that is the medium being used. So in that case the need to keep the landline is not ridiculous but a technical requirement.

Except that I don't have ADSL, I have a dedicated cable connection - absolutely no need for the landline which is on a completely separate cable (as was the TV) - but I still must take it to get the "bundled" price.

Having said that, following a fairly recent ruling by some regulator somewhere, some telecoms providers are gradually removing the need to buy a landline to get internet. What many are doing however is to increase the standalone broadband cost to more than the bundled cost so they're still making a mint on it

[justaguy]

Except that I don't have ADSL, I have a dedicated cable connection - absolutely no need for the landline which is on a completely separate cable (as was the TV) - but I still must take it to get the "bundled" price.

Having said that, following a fairly recent ruling by some regulator somewhere, some telecoms providers are gradually removing the need to buy a landline to get internet. What many are doing however is to increase the standalone broadband cost to more than the bundled cost so they're still making a mint on it

Oh in that case it IS ridiculous.

[Moses]

I have fiber-optic channel for internet and security system incl CCTV, also for TV broadcasting. It is quite popular in Moscow (about 70% of apts here have dedicated fiber cuz it is cheap: free installation + from $6 per month, price depends on speed of Internet connection: $6 for 20 Mbit/sec up to $30 for 200 Mbit/sec, 24/7 CCTV watched and recorded by city police cost additional $20/month for 3 cams (balcony, windows and entrance) ). I don't use TV broadcasting since everything I can find in Internet, but can tell price - basic packet with 72 channels is $5 monthly,

+ 3 mobile numbers: 2 for job and private life, 3rd is additional data-channel for security system.

Land line been cutted out 5 years ago at the same time with TV cable and radio broadcasting line.

[joe552]

Moses what kind of area are you living in that you need cameras on your apartment? I live in a 3rd floor apartment in the city centre. The entrance gate (there's only one) is monitored by a camera, and there are a number of others dotted around the complex. Why would I need my own cameras?

[Moses]

Moses what kind of area are you living in that you need cameras on your apartment?

It's small penthouse on last 16th floor, balcony is reachable from roof, and roof has free access from main stairs. Main reason why I need cams - I'm out of country up to 6 months per year. By the same reason there are few water leak and fire/smoke sensors in security system, and police has keys to my apts - to visit and to call to communal services in case of some troubles.

[joe552]

Thanks Moses, that makes perfect sense.

[scottish-guy]

It's a good idea to give the police the keys to one's house - here in the Gorbals (where I live apparently) they just kick the door in

[joe552]

Yeah, SG, but when you've grown up with it, it becomes normal.

I did laugh out loud - if I ever use 3 letters to replace those words, shoot me.

At least your police are kicking in doors. It's kind of what you expect from police. Here, our police are investigating how our police recorded 1.5 million breath tests that never happened, among other scandals which just might bring down the Government.

To paraphrase our former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) a great little country to do illegal business in.

[justaguy]

At my home I have a 40/4 mbit cable connection, that also carries the TV and voip. The voip js not used. My main line is a 500/500 fiber, with no tv and voip that is used to call out using an asterisk pbx. The fiber has a fixed Ipv4 addres and an additional 5 ip addresses and a :48 ipv6 subnet.

This means that unless there is a powercut, I always have a working internet connection, as the two connections are tied to a pfsense virtual machine that acts as a failover/loadbalancing router.

[Moses]

It's a good idea to give the police the keys to one's house - here in the Gorbals (where I live apparently) they just kick the door in

Keys - is mandatory point in agreement for guarding service by city police.

[christianpfc]

For businesses I think it's imperative to have a landline.

Landlines are useful to call a place; before I go to a sauna in Bangkok that is way out I usually call (after having traveled all the way to find a place closed), and then I want to know if the place/business is open, and don't care who is answering the call. Whereas with a mobile number you call a person.

Rarely problems with call quality on mobile here in Thailand (or I don't notice because there is background noise on my side or the other).


...that's why I hesitate to dump my landline even though it costs me around £250 a yr in rental alone
That's awfully expensive!