What happens to landlines in 2025?

[exxos]

By 2025, traditional landline phones, using 100-year-old technology, are set to be switched off in favour of a digital network fit for the modern era. This will apply to both home and business phone lines, so if you're still relying on analogue equipment, you'll need to make plans now to upgrade.

OK so now then ?

Seems I will need a VOIP phone.. or to use the current phone a VOIP adapter.. But this still pugs into the router ?! I can't figure out what's supposed to plug into what.

I can't really run a LAN cable from the phone to the router. There are wireless VOIP phones, but I don't think my router supports VOIP stuff ?!

[PhilC]

Great, something else to have to sort out and then have the wife moan about when she doesn’t like it.

[alexh]

There are no analog phone lines in the new housing estate near here. But they all have analog phone sockets on the wall. They have adapters in the sockets I expect.

I pay for a telephone landline here but it's only because cable broadband is 50% less if you take a phone contract too. The discount is far more than the extra cost of the phone contract. I don't have anything plugged into the phone socket for 10+ years.

[terriblefire]

I pulled my phone out of my landline out in 2013 when i realized that only scammers called the landline and we had a newborn to deal with. When we moved house i didnt bother to plug one in and i dont even know my landline number here.

[exxos]

There are no analog phone lines in the new housing estate near here. But they all have analog phone sockets on the wall. They have adapters in the sockets I expect.

Possible. Though the adapters from what I see adapt from the analog phone to network LAN which plugs into the router.

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So I assume you still need a router, or a very dumbed down version of it to still use a phone.

[alexh]

It's all "fibre-to-the-home" on the new estate here and while I have heard you can still choose your internet provider presumably the house requires a special fibre capable modem and I imagine the "magic" to break out analog handsets happens there.

https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/whats ... -modem-ont

[Steve]

Nobody I know who has a land-line even plugs the damn thing in anymore. All it does is open you up to the continuous spam callers. Even my Grandad who is on virgin media got his VoIP kit delivered, he said 'put the bloody thing in the bin don't even use it anymore'

But in all seriousness, if you actually want to keep using your landline, the back of your modem should have two phone-line RJ sockets, your provider will send you RJ > BT connection converters. You just plug your phone into that and you're done.

[stephen_usher]

Nobody I know who has a land-line even plugs the damn thing in anymore. All it does is open you up to the continuous spam callers. Even my Grandad who is on virgin media got his VoIP kit delivered, he said 'put the bloody thing in the bin don't even use it anymore'

But in all seriousness, if you actually want to keep using your landline, the back of your modem should have two phone-line RJ sockets, your provider will send you RJ > BT connection converters. You just plug your phone into that and you're done.

Bah! I have two phones connected, one in the living room and a wireless handset upstairs.

Having lived with VoIP at work I'd far rather analogue for voice as it degrades far more gracefully. It also works during a power cut.

[Danoo]

Have not had a landline connected since I sold a property and moved in 2018. The property purchased was in a rural area and only had wireless broadband available, which turned out to be extremely fast, with low latency and jitter.
Moved properties again in 2020 and now just run two mobiles and wireless broadband which covers all our communication needs.

Damn scammers are now becoming more active on mobiles, which in turn has caused me to block the 03 area code (state of Victoria in Australia) as a high percentage of them use this prefix. Only have the in-laws that live down that way

[alexh]

Damn scammers are now becoming more active on mobiles

If you have android you could consider moving to the latest google phone apps (dialer & messenger?) which includes online AI based detection for txt msgs from unknown numbers and an online blacklist for calls (at least here in the UK). It also uses your contacts as a whitelist (just in case it misidentifies someone).

There are some privacy issues for txt msgs from unknown numbers (i.e. they get sent to google for AI testing) but I find the advantages more than outweigh the risk. But you can turn this feature off.