Landline phone

So the disadvantage is that if the computers are not working neither will the phone, unlike a regular landline.?

 

Thinking about the computer/phone problem...if power goes off the only phone that will work is an actual old phone that plugs into the phone jack only....some where in the house we have an old Pink Princess phone for such emergencies...where is it.....????

 

I guess I am obliged to speak to this thread. As someone who grew up with telecom in the blood (dad was Western Elec) and then I started with Ma Bell prior to the split, married a girl I worked with (but knew her before we started working together), her mother was in personnel at phone co. My brother worked AT&T. I did my 32 yrs as a tech, retired and then taught fiber optics as a contractor for the company for 2 years. Worked with another contracting company for a year installing said fiber equip, then sent an email to the prez of the phone company to tell him what he was doing wrong. I was hired back as a proj mgr to help fix issue.

That being said, I made the quip once to a friend "there will always be a little old lady with a black rotary phone in the corner". Well that day has passed. The cold hard truth is the 'phone company' no longer wants to maintain copper facilities. It is tedious and expensive. Copper has loss and on those copper lines we provided the 'complimentary dialtone' which included 48V. (sometimes 52V). All that power to keep you available and it was fairly reasonable back then. As the copper network aged it became more and more of a hassle to keep it working due to corrosion and all the other obstacles that attack the cable (animals, buckshot, backhoes, lightning, etc, etc). With the advent of cellular communications we found more people were tied to their devices (FB and all the other ills helped to propagate this situation). Since most of the American public has access to a cell phone (even if it's an Obamaphone) we could claim there is no need to maintain/provide POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) anymore. In many cases where it is almost impossible or to expensive to repair a customer's copper, we even provide a cell connection directly to their home and plug a 'landline' phone into that base.

There are many good and bad things about the telecom changes and it's been a good job. I see myself sitting at my computer on this same project another 8 years (so I'm told) . So much easier than climbing poles like I did as a young buck. Work smarter not harder they say.

 

We still have a "land line", "she" doesn't want to give it up...all we get are calls wanting to extend our "vehicle" warranty, and "begging" calls..I don't even pay any attention to it...they hang up when the machine answers....

 

My wife and I both grew up in landline households. We've always had one in our home during our 42+ years together and don't plan to get rid of it for any reason short of our carrier telling us that the lines are being ripped out and it won't work any more. The main reason we keep one is as a sacrificial lamb. We both have cell phones and don't give the numbers to anybody. If someone who isn't either family or very close friend needs a number for us, they get the landline. Consequently, all the unwanted calls go to our landline and answering machine. We filter the calls and erasing 95% of them as you'd expect. As a result of all this, life is much more peaceful. When you're in your mid-60s (like both of us), you need all the peace you can get!