AT&T will eliminate its landline phone service in almost every state in its service area, including Michigan, the company announced this week.
Since early this year, AT&T has said its copper wire phone lines are "antiquated" and require costly service that is not as effective as wireless broadband networks.
However, critics say landlines are a crucial service for people who live in rural areas with limited cell service, particularly older people who are more likely to rely on landlines.
AT&T currently operates a landline in 21 states and plans to eliminate the service in every state except California, according to reporting from USA TODAY.
Copper theft is rampant in our area.
I have two VoIP fiber analog phone "landlines" that cost $11.51 each per month including tax. The quality is excellent.
The new cordless phone system I have allows it, via Bluetooth, to connect to our cell phones to make calls. I've tested the feature and it works very well. Panasonic read the writing on the wall regarding the demise of copper and introduced this feature that combines the best of a multi-instrument cordless system and cellular.
I've heard stories of people climbing electricity posts to steal the transformers and get the copper inside it.
Also, my grandma's house was once robbed. The house was inhabited but they stole all the copper piping used for water and gas.
As to VoIP. My ISP provides a telephone line using VoIP. It works really well and I've had no problems with it. Although I barely use it and avoid giving out the number to prevent robocalls and unsolicited sales calls.
Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consumavi, fidem servavi.
The VoIP port on my AT&T fiber modem is a lot more expensive than the 1-VoIP service.
1-VoIP is like a big virtual PBX with a Grandstream 2 port interface at the customer's endpoint.
The VoIP port on my AT&T fiber modem is a lot more expensive than the 1-VoIP service.
1-VoIP is like a big virtual PBX with a Grandstream 2 port interface at the customer's endpoint.
I guess that I don't get NoMoRobo with my subscription because they are the ones selling my information.... Not long ago I needed a credit card. So I applied for the credit card and it was granted to me but I started receiving tons of robocalls afterwards. Bear in mind that I signed in some documents which claimed that my information was private and being safeguarded by bla bla bla.
Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consumavi, fidem servavi.
While the "death" of Ma Bell copper doesn't directly affect me, it raises some interesting questions.
I live in a small-ish city in Kansas (Salina....pop approx 48K). Most of Salina (including my neighborhood) has only two sources of direct connections (ie NOT wireless) to homes and businesses. Ma Bell copper or Cox cable...which is actually another copper connection. What little fiber being installed here (interestingly, NOT by AT&T) is going in along the Main Drags, such as 9th street where Walmart, Sam's, Target, all the other Big Box stores and chain restaurants etc are located. The only other new fiber installs are in the Rich pockets of town with small clusters of classic mansions ....or areas with the new McMansions.
While there is still a "legacy" overhead Ma Bell line (not activated) coming to my house from the pole on the back alley, my connectivity (besides my inexpensive cell flip phone) is solely from Cox.....another overhead line from the alley. When Ma Bell exits, I have only Cox left. Not that AT&T offers anything besides DSL at 5 Megs. There are ZERO plans in place here to retrofit new fiber in any form (overhead or buried) or install new fiber into anywhere besides the few new McMansion areas under construction.
Yeah....yeah...T-Mobile and maybe Verizon are trying to sell 5G radio alternatives for internet here. I trust that crap as far as I can throw my house <g>. A couple of tech savvy friends tried it and it is beyond a disaster....fortunately they kept their Cox Cable accounts as a backup when they dumped the 5G joke. 5G for connectivity reminds me of my hobby days of SWL DXing on the shortwave bands.
"Oh boo-hoo, Brian...you should have stayed in your traffic grid-locked, crime-ridden hometown of Oklahoma City! Then you can have several fiber companies competing for your business!!!"
Hence my point. Fiber is ONLY for the rich folks in the densely packed Mega cities. Screw the flyover rural folks like me. I guess I should feel lucky to have a single aging coax Cox Cable monopoly wire after Ma Bell quits. And Ma and Pa Jones running the wheat farm or cattle ranch 100 miles west of me, well VERY sorry, folks. You are stuck with your CB radio or Elon's over-priced satellite spyware.
I hope Ma and Pa Jones can keep providing food for me and all the rest of the USA......
My bottom line, I guess, is that fiber for everyone is a pipe dream. 5G or similar is a science fair project. Starlink is an overpriced privacy nightmare.
Ok...enough of my bitching!
Bri
Bri
Professional audio and video systems design/installation/maintenance. www.BrianRoth.com
Prior to my VoIP landline alternative I had a Verizon "modem" for voice service with an RJ-11 POTS port. It worked very well probably because it wasn't 5G.
Verizon after hurricane Sandy didn't rebuild their copper network.
I agree with Brian that this is going to be a problem in rural America and places like Salina KS and Pottsboro TX.
Here they jacked the price of landline connections up and up until demand fell away , then the network was allowed to fall into dissrepair ,
Even a working public phonebox in a city is hard to find nowadays , if you do it costs 2 euros minimum connection fee ,even if the the phone your trying to call goes to message minder , it swallows the money .
Its a smart plan , make the service prohibitively expensive then gradually wind down the whole loss making mess ,
Eventually the cable hawks will steal the wires and once its gone its gone , never to return .
I remember in the old days you would often see a P&T(Post and Telegraphs) tent over a hole in the ground and there'd be a man in there crimping wires , often up to his ankles in grey water .
My Dad worked for the phone company as a splicer. I've been pulling wires from this for the last 30 years as hookup wire. 2400pr #26awg Maybe I should preserve it.
mediatechnology wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2024 4:03 am
Prior to my VoIP landline alternative I had a Verizon "modem" for voice service with an RJ-11 POTS port. It worked very well probably because it wasn't 5G.
Verizon after hurricane Sandy didn't rebuild their copper network.
I agree with Brian that this is going to be a problem in rural America and places like Salina KS and Pottsboro TX.
Several places around the world are still using 56 Kbps Dial Up. I've had fiber for like 5 years now, And, honestly, it is great.
Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consumavi, fidem servavi.
flyboy71 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2024 6:39 am
My Dad worked for the phone company as a splicer. I've been pulling wires from this for the last 30 years as hookup wire. 2400pr #26awg Maybe I should preserve it.
I do the same thing. I have some 50 pair station wire for multi-line phones that I use for the Protoboard.
I had a studio client up in Denton that told me the story about GTE trunks not being color-coded. When one would get cut they would have to tone every pair.