You Still Use A Landline? FCC Voting On New Phone Rules

[Purveyor]

By TALI ARBEL
AP Business Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The copper network behind landline phones, a communications mainstay for more than a century, is going away, as cable and fiber-optics lines come along with faster Internet speeds.

But the alternatives have drawbacks, including an inability to withstand power outages. The federal government is considering rules Thursday to make sure Americans aren't caught off guard in emergencies if they switch.

Many people already scoff at the idea of a landline. About 45 percent of U.S. households just use cellphones. But outside of cities, cell service can be poor.

Yet even among households with wired phone service, according to a government study last year, about half of them have already ditched copper-based landlines for an Internet-based phone service sold by phone and cable companies and typically packaged with TV and Internet services. That's expected to continue.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEC_GOODBYE_LANDLINE_PHONES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-05-12-41-44

After 50 some years of landline service, we just switched to VoIP provider Broadvoice and love it. Our monthly landline cost was $39.00 for just the basics, no call waiting, caller ID, etc. Now we have all of that and more for $9 a month.

[hobbit709]

1. And when you lose power you have what?

[closeupready]

3. Four bars.

[hobbit709]

6. And if there's widespread power outage, you will have no cell phone either.

A friend of mine in Houston after the last hurricane had no power for 10 days. Cell service was sporadic at best-if a tower had power within reach as even their backup power got used up.
He might have been sitting in the dark but every time he picked up his landline phone he had dial tone.

[NutmegYankee]

22. When Irene knocked all of SE Connecticut in the dark for a week...

The phone and internet providers hooked generators up to power the towers and internet fiber boxes. I didn't have have power for 7 days, but I had high-speed internet and cell phone.

One interesting fact - because this part of Connecticut is mainly rural and filled with trees, losing power is a common event. The gas stations all had generator backups, so I never had problems getting fuel after Irene or Sandy. But the unpreparedness of NYC and Jersey after Sandy was just ridiculous to us.

[hobbit709]

23. you were lucky.

f the cable lines are on the same poles as the power lines, you're SOL.

[NutmegYankee]

28. The same goes for the telephone lines...

I have a U-verse style FTTN system, so the internet is delivered via the telephone wire from a fiber box. Many people with landlines also lost that due to trees. I got lucky in that the fiber never took a hit.

[hobbit709]

30. His landline was buried cable, the electric and cable was on poles.

Houston is a real hodgepodge of utility lines.

[NutmegYankee]

31. Nothings buried out in the sticks of New England.

Just digging the trench can be enraging between the constant boulders and rocks and tree roots.

Typical road view:

[elias49]

38. Wow! Sweet road. Know where it is? nt

[NutmegYankee]

42. Westbrook, CT

But this is a fairly common sight all throughout the region. I'm sure you see even better in your state.

[elias49]

44. Just looks really lush and freshly-paved.

Most of the two-lane roads around my home in western NH are in need of some repair..tight budgets at the state house and all.
Thanks

[NutmegYankee]

46. Connecticut really lets the trees close in on the roads.

That was a major reason for our storm issues in 2011 and 2012, but we like our trees... I accept power losses from time to time to live with beautiful scenery like that.

Some urban people make fun of those who live out in the sticks, but I just love feeling closer to nature.

[TexasProgresive]

61. Don't I know it.

When we visited the inlaws in New Milford in the summer there was the constant sound of blasting for new construction. I watched a phone line (aerial) going up a low mountain and it was hell just getting the poles set in what looked like black schist granite.

Some fellows on the line crew were sent to Arkansas near or in the Ozarks. They ended up burying sections of cable with sakcrete that they laid on top of the cable.

[yeoman6987]

33. 7 homes in my neighborhood have lines to the

Fire department and mine is one of them. We were without power one hour while the rest of the neighbors were without power for a week. Of course out of 77 homes most of them were at our homes getting cleaned up and fed. It was kinda fun as a neighborhood slumber party.

[NutmegYankee]

36. It was an interesting time.

I had a few neighbors over because I was making coffee with a Melitta pour over brewer and had canned milk for creamer. Later on, we had big parties cooking off the meat from freezers that were defrosting. One party by a neighbor was huge, with a side freezer of steak, chicken halves and sausages. Water melons were enfused with vodka and we played croquet games with rules like requiring a drink in one hand at all times.

It was after that week that I decided to install a transfer switch to code as I was concerned about electrocution while drunk with generator operation.

[dixiegrrrrl]

67. Exactly why we have landline AND ISP on phone service

Had Dish for tv, back when we had tv...and lost signal with every rainstorm.
Down here in the sub tropical South, there are a LOT of rainstorms. Having one now, as a matter of fact.
Phone line is fine, ISP is fine, Mr. Dixie's cell phone is cutting in and out.

Redundancy is good.

As an aside.....during last big hurricane in our area, this very rural town was hit, bad.
TV cable provider is Mediacom, they took over 3 months to show up to begin work on service.

Lights and phone and ISP were up in about 10 days.
Mediacom lost a LOT of customers.

[Purveyor]

5. Backup generator with about a 5 second delay. When you live out in the sticks, it is a necessity.

[TexasProgresive]

26. Cell sites have limited backup power

They don't have the generator and battery power of landlines. In a major disaster those small gensets run out of fuel and the techs aren't enough to keep them all on line. A land line central office has major power back up that can last for weeks or months without refueling.

That's a good thing because many of the cell sites backhaul through the Central offices. I don't know what cable companies have for power back up but I but it is not able to handle a wide scale long term outage.

[marions ghost]

70. Good point

I was told by a phone tech that fiberoptic lines are really just stop gap. What the phone companies really want is wireless everywhere, whether we want it or not.

[Travis_0004]

15. No phone I guess

I can't imagine there are that many people that have only a land line, and need to make emergency calls. They can use a cell phone, (or buy one for 10.00 and not activate it, it will still dial 911), or walk to a neighbors house and use their cell phone. Sure cell phone networks can go down, but not very often.

Also VIOP can work during a power outage. If the phone and you modem were attached to a UPS, you would get several hours of talk time before the battery died.

[hobbit709]

17. See my reply #6

[whatthehey]

18. In such TEOTWAWKI scenarios

What response to an emergency call would I receive when the widespread absence of all power and communication has already turned the area into Purge III?

[hobbit709]

19. You'd be surprised.

The streets were clear and dry, there was no power. In his neighborhood the only problem was no electricity.

[Travis_0004]

20. Landlines can go out too

they are more reliable than cell phones, but not 100% reliable.

As I also said, VIOP can work during a power outage if it is on battey backup. That backup can last hours and hours (turn it off between uses). Hurricane country is also a bit different than most of the united states. If a tornado hits me, it likely won't hit cell phone towers several miles away. Since the area affected is small, cell phone towers get back online sooner. So I have no problem phasing out copper landlines a bit slower in Hurricane areas.

[hobbit709]

21. hours and hours compared to 10 days.

[randome]

27. Who do you need to talk with for 10 days in an emergency?

[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

[Orrex]

37. Yes, it's better to assume that you won't need it.

After all, no one's house ever burns down on day six.

[randome]

39. By day six, you'd have cell phone coverage back.

It just seems like always preparing for the worst when the worst is statistically very unlikely makes for a lot of unnecessary angst.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

[Orrex]

45. Would you? And would your phone still be charged?

[randome]

49. Point. But then I'd recharge it for 15 mins and be able to call anyone I wanted.

You know, if I wanted to let civic authorities know that I was without power for 6 days.

I can understand being more cautious in rural areas but in the city, 99 times out of 100, you just wait until power is restored. Unless your house has been destroyed by a hurricane but then you have bigger problems right from the start.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game. -Existenz[/center][/font][hr]

[uppityperson]

48. Hurricane Katrina. Ham radios were great, cell phones weren't working for months.

[randome]

50. A very rare event. Sure, it can happen. But entire neighborhoods were wiped off the map.

Landlines weren't going to help with that. And ham radios are extremely rare.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game. -Existenz[/center][/font][hr]

[dumbcat]

63. It's no lomger rare when it happens to you

Luckily, ham radio is not rare within my circle. I have a primary and two portable backup stations, all capable of grid, generator or solar power. One station has been working on solar power 24/7 for over 16 years. There will be communications in my neighborhood.

[randome]

66. More, more, more solar!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]You have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game. -Existenz[/center][/font][hr]

[uppityperson]

41. Are you asking what emergency would last that long, or why someone might feel the need to talk to

Someone else over 10 days?

[randome]

43. Both. Of course such emergencies are possible but how likely are they?

About as likely as being shot in a movie theater, maybe?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

[uppityperson]

47. The recommendation used be food & water for 3 days. It is now be prepared to be on

your own for a week. I've 2 wks with since it was have the big earthquake, it'll take at least that long to get help to where I am. I would like to be able to call family out of the area to let them know we are OK, or not, as well as get news of what's happening since our local radio will be off the air.

It is not at school uncommon for disasters to last a while before even basic services are up and running. Took 2 wks for my spouse after Loma Prieta quake and they were a ways away. Look at the gulf coast after Katrina.

It is also recommended to have an out of state contact to check in with and get news from as phone lines going out of state will be easier to connect on than local.

A bad ice storm in the north, multiple tornadoes central, floods, wildfires like the entire West coast is experiencing. And it is also possible for it to not be just 1 single incident, but a series. Quake, then fires, then more fires, for example.

[TexasProgresive]

29. You are depending on an unregulated "utility"

To have a massive backup power source.

[Orrex]

40. The same is true of VOIP and cell service, no?

[TexasProgresive]

57. That's what I was referring to.

Landline service is required to have very good emergency back up power. Cell and cable are not particularly regulated and don't really care.

[Orrex]

68. Oh. Um. I totally knew what you meant. Yeah.

Ahem. Kind of got lost in the thread, I think. Whoopsie!

[Go Vols]

52. My VOIP has a 4 hour talk time battery backup.

I still have a couple of real phones that plug in the wall that require no electric.

[TexasProgresive]

58. Are those wall outlets connected to landlines?

Your VoIP phone battery is only as good as the ability of the provider to give you service in a prolonged power outage. I'm talking outage at their end not yours.

[Go Vols]

59. Pretty sure they have a generator

as do I. During the last ice storm no one had power for a few days,I had internet and phone still working the whole time.

[TexasProgresive]

62. Just so you know there is no regulation

requiring them to provide you service.

[csziggy]

72. Yep, that's why I keep my landline

I get no cell coverage here at home even when there is power. The ridge my farm is on causes a cell 'shadow' - east of the ridge there are no close cell towers and poor coverage. On top of or west of the ridge, the coverage is great - we are line of sight with a tower from the top of the hill just above the house.

Often when the power goes out I am the only one to call in the outage from my area since so many people are cell phone only. I will keep my landline as long as the phone company (currently CenturyLink) will provide me with one.

Right now the landline is part of my DSL broadband package along with PrismTV so it's no hardship to maintain it.

[Orrex]

2. VOIP is notoriously unreliable for use with alarm systems

Digital phone service might not be ideal for other secure communications, either.

[Skidmore]

4. We have a landline and intend to keep it.

For the service we need, we do not require the expensive services of cell phones. We live in a rural area which does not have fiber optic cable yet available.

[Purveyor]

8. We don't have fiber optics either but standard "copper" comcast cable that streams everything I need

just fine. Getting around 30 Mpbs.

[procon]

34. Same here.

I'm in the fringe for cell phone service, there is no fiber optic available, a single raindrop routinely causes a power outage that takes out my digital phone, and my internet connection drops off several times a day, but in spite all that, my old plug-in landline phone still works reliably so I'll keep it.

[phylny]

71. Landline here, too.

We have cell phones, but living in a rural area (and near a lake, which they told us causes problems with signals "bouncing&quot , we're going to keep the landline. Our Internet is satellite - no cable or fiber optic here.

[clydefrand]

7. We have comast tv

and they said they would never run internet capability in OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. So, what would I do, no land line, hate cell phones, no internet, hate COMCAST in the first place but is
our only TV option. Don't even take the newspaper. Kinda glad I'm already 80 yr. old, and
may not live to see all this happen, but, with my luck, I'll live to 110 and just have to do without all information, which in this time of our lives, might not be all that bad a deal. Oh, well, back to talking to the neighbor I guess.

[Purveyor]

10. I would have never cut the landline if all I had to depend on was cellphone service. Sucks around

here.

[GeorgeGist]

11. Ditch comcast ...

and get satellite TV.

[Orrex]

13. A great way to pay close to the same amount for 75% slower internet speed.

[hobbit709]

14. Poster stated comcast would not provide internet to them.

[Orrex]

24. Still, Dish needs a better slogan than "arguably better than nothing"

[hobbit709]

25. Dish sucks big time.

[Orrex]

35. I confess that I was posting from my own experience...

Rather than realizing what the poster was addressing.

When I was eager to ditch Comcast in 2008, I checked with Verizon, who assured me that FIOS would be coming to my area "in the very near future."

When I asked Verizon again in 2012, they assured me that FIOS would be coming to my area "in the very near future." Doh!

So I check out Dish, and for 75% of Comcast's price, they were able to offer a top speed that was 25% of Comcast's.

No other cable provider covers my area--but of course Comcast denies they're a monopoly!

[broiles]

53. I love Dish.

[closeupready]

9. I got rid of my landline AGES ago, as did many others.

They were tacking on SO many fees and taxes, it got ridiculous. $85/mo. or something for a fucking phone.

[TexasProgresive]

32. That's part of the long term strategy

to get people to give up there service. Once it no longer exists in an area it will never come back. Then they can have their way -really raising the prices and decreasing the service of cell service.

I know, I am Cassandra.

[Binkie The Clown]

12. I have only a pay-as-you-go cell phone. $25 every 3 months...

...covers all the minutes I ever use, and then some. That's $8.33 per month for phone. So far, it has continued to work even when the power goes out.

Of course once the combined forces of climate change, energy shortages, and financial collapse bring about the end of industrial civilization my cell phone won't work any better or worse than a land line since they will both be dead in the water.

[Purveyor]

54. Same here. Tracfone works fine for me and I use very little of data since I go through my comcast

wifi both at home and at my stores since I can connect to most all comcast routers (hotspots) which are all over the place.

[olddots]

16. progress doesn't only move forward

[snooper2]

51. Based on some in this thread- "You'll pry my Tip & Ring out of my cold dead hands!"

[Purveyor]

55. I suspect it is going to be "cold dead dialtone" relatively soon. Michigan gov't has o.k.ed the

elimination of the landlines if the phone company sees fit.

Only a matter of time and where it might still be available, the costs will skyrocket to support the antique infrastructure.

[snooper2]

64. Yeah the DMS is going the way of the dodo bird just like Nortel did

innovate or die!

I get get the same number of VoIP subscribers on redundant hardware in one rack that the DMS takes 4 aisles to do LOL

[catrose]

56. I had both land & cell

But every month I had to call AT&T to fix the line; they couldn't keep mice from chewing them out here in the country.

[B Calm]

60. Land line sucks out here in the country. Every time it rains you have so much static

you can't even carry on conversation. So we gave it up and use our cell phones about a year ago.

[Juicy_Bellows]

65. Another thing to consider.

Land lines don't have many regulations as to who can call them and for what reason. Cell phones have strict rules in place about when they can be dialed and they are getting more so.

So there is that to consider as well. I would get all sorts of dumb calls when I had a land line - and I was on the do not call list. I do miss the random weird survey calls though. I like surveys I guess, never did get polled though.

[question everything]

69. Is there a link, or something, for regular citizens to voice their opinion?

When the temp. drops below 0, we lose cable. We can do without TV and the Internet, but we need our landline phone. And we have one extension that it is just the phone. No answering machine, no handset and base. Just plain old instrument form the 80s, I think.

[ladyVet]

73. I looked into dropping our landline while keeping the internet service.

It would have cost us more for internet, so we gave up on that idea. Can't afford to go through the satellite company, either.

We have crappy cell service out here in the boonies, so a landline is necessary if we want to talk to anyone without having to stand out on the porch. Me, I'd be happy to never talk on the phone again. I hate it, and especially when people want to just keep going on and on and on... because I don't work outside the home, so it's not like I have anything to do, right?

[elias49]

74. How long before everybody uses the same NSA exchange! nt

[Samantha]

75. If you have ever experienced a national emergency -- such as a terrorist attack

you know the government delegates priority use to those considered very important people. Here in Washington, on 9/11/2001, cell phone usage by the ordinary person was blocked. I could not even make a call to my brother to pick me up in DC because the subway was shut down. The only thing I could do was wait, and wait and wait. I made a decision then and there I would never get rid of my landline, and I haven't.

The biggest reason service providers do not want landlines around is because they make so much more money from cellphones.

Sam

[still_one]

76. I have a landline through a company called sonic.com, which uses

existing ATT copper line using their equptment through the CO

I will be very disappointed if they force me to go exclusive VoIP or cell. Power goes out land lands still work

I suspect the ISO providers are forcing people to to use their internet service at higher prices, and screw the consumers