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Norway: Landlines will no longer be supported

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Re: Norway: Landlines will no longer be supported

#31

In the event of a disaster (earthquake, flood, blizzard) is voip infrastructure more or less 'fragile' than a copper landline? I assume this deprication will probably be cost related but I am curious about the implications on the emergency side of things.

Pure old copper-line phones did not need a working power outlet in your home - electricity was introduced to the system at facilities of the phone company (often miles away), and often used a dedicated electric grid. With VoIP, you tend to have your own, plugged-in wall box. Which becomes useless the moment your electricity stops, e.g. in case of natural disasters. Also, analog telephony just sounds better than digit…

and if you want to dial 911 with a land line, you literally only need a speaker and resistor connected to the phone line. you can yell into it as a mic, and just tapping the line on and off dials a number.

Re: Norway: Landlines will no longer be supported

#33
post #30

In NZ, landlines are also on their way out. It's not quite unsupported, but you can't sign up for a new copper landline plan unless there is no mobile coverage and no fibre coverage at your property. Otherwise, for anyone who really wants a "landline" you are getting VOIP over fibre or VOIP over mobile broadband. 87% of population have access to the new fibre network, and the old copper network is just redundant and…

It seems to me that VOIP over fiber is functionally similar to a landline - you pick up a clunky phone and return it to a cradle. I miss that analog feeling! I guess the main difference is that you lose the ability to place a call if the power goes out.

Re: Norway: Landlines will no longer be supported

#35

In the event of a disaster (earthquake, flood, blizzard) is voip infrastructure more or less 'fragile' than a copper landline? I assume this deprication will probably be cost related but I am curious about the implications on the emergency side of things.

Pure old copper-line phones did not need a working power outlet in your home - electricity was introduced to the system at facilities of the phone company (often miles away), and often used a dedicated electric grid. With VoIP, you tend to have your own, plugged-in wall box. Which becomes useless the moment your electricity stops, e.g. in case of natural disasters. Also, analog telephony just sounds better than digit…

Analog telephony doesn’t get used anymore. As soon as the call hits a telco box it’s going digital

Re: Norway: Landlines will no longer be supported

#36
The UK is getting rid of the copper network as well (I think originally it was supposed to be 2025? But I think it’s been pushed back)

There is already a push to not sell phone lines that support voice, so you just get a line that supports broadband only, getting more people used to voip - but there are so many independent ISPs popping up (now that the by ducting is available to use) that they are chucking full fibre left right and centre.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out regarding emergency calls when it’s fully switched off.

Re: Norway: Landlines will no longer be supported

#37
post #30

In NZ, landlines are also on their way out. It's not quite unsupported, but you can't sign up for a new copper landline plan unless there is no mobile coverage and no fibre coverage at your property. Otherwise, for anyone who really wants a "landline" you are getting VOIP over fibre or VOIP over mobile broadband. 87% of population have access to the new fibre network, and the old copper network is just redundant and…

It seems to me that VOIP over fiber is functionally similar to a landline - you pick up a clunky phone and return it to a cradle. I miss that analog feeling! I guess the main difference is that you lose the ability to place a call if the power goes out.

Australia is all voip too now. Although my new apartment has the connections inside the wardrobe which would make it pretty awkward to use for phone calls.

Very convenient for stashing away the router though.

Re: Norway: Landlines will no longer be supported

#38

In the event of a disaster (earthquake, flood, blizzard) is voip infrastructure more or less 'fragile' than a copper landline? I assume this deprication will probably be cost related but I am curious about the implications on the emergency side of things.

Pure old copper-line phones did not need a working power outlet in your home - electricity was introduced to the system at facilities of the phone company (often miles away), and often used a dedicated electric grid. With VoIP, you tend to have your own, plugged-in wall box. Which becomes useless the moment your electricity stops, e.g. in case of natural disasters. Also, analog telephony just sounds better than digit…

Has anyone tried plugging all of their internet-related equipment into a UPS, including the wall box? Will that allow you to keep VoIP working in the event of a power outage, or is it a pointless exercise since the ISP's equipment on the pole will also be down?

Re: Norway: Landlines will no longer be supported

#39

In the UK, unless you're on virgin (there might be a few others I'm unaware of), you're pretty much forced to have a landline for which you're charged line rental, even if you don't or will never use it.

This used to be the case, but these days if you’re in a fibre area or area with BT’s widely available FTTC offering, BT will happily sell you a “no landline” deal on their website.

Incidentally their landlines on fibre are basically VoIP phones with a battery backup.

Same with most other fibre providers, like Vodafone.

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