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The Humble House Phone.

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Comments

  • #62
    KungPao
    Registered Users Posts: 4,781 ✭✭✭KungPao


    Phone port long plastered over. No need for it, as we have VM BB.

    Sure I can dig it out if I ever need it in the future.

    Do Telecom Eireann still charge north of €20 per month to rent the line?


  • #63
    boardlady
    Registered Users Posts: 251 ✭✭boardlady


    KungPao wrote: »
    Phone port long plastered over. No need for it, as we have VM BB.

    Sure I can dig it out if I ever need it in the future.

    Do Telecom Eireann still charge north of €20 per month to rent the line?

    Last time we had it, it was €50 per month!


  • #64
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    My phone started ringing while a Neighbour was in the house. He asked if I was going to answer it. I told him that I had not given the number to anyone so the only people calling would be random cold callers who I don't want to speak to.
    My router logs show when calls have come in. It rings occasionally.
    I have unlimited free national calls but still it is seldom that I use the phone.


  • #65
    riclad
    Registered Users Posts: 8,184 ✭✭✭riclad


    Most people were paying a few quid rent for the phone, as well as 20 euro for the phone line per month .
    You could buy a phone in a shop, and give the Eircom phone back. Saving a few euros every month
    If you are too far from the exchange the line will not be good enough to be used for broadband.
    This is why we need a new broadband network.


  • #66
    Greyfox
    Registered Users Posts: 3,720 ✭✭✭Greyfox


    riclad wrote: »
    Most people were paying a few quid rent for the phone, as well as 20 euro for the phone line per month .
    You could buy a phone in a shop, and give the Eircom phone back. Saving a few euros every month

    25.50 is the minimum you have to pay for line rental with no free calls which is a rip off. Loads of older people in Ireland are still paying Eir for handset rental for a handset they dont use any more, if they move provider usually the handset rental carries over to the new provider, it's one of the many things people forget to cancel.


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  • #67
    DM_2092
    Registered Users Posts: 194 ✭✭DM_2092


    Oh we haven't had a house phone in about 10 years. But whenever someone rings it, it rings out and you get my mam's voice message. I hope it stays that way when I'm like 80 & she's well and gone. I can ring it & hear her voice. But me being only 28 means house phones will be all gone by then!


  • #68
    YellowBucket
    Closed Accounts Posts: 491 ✭✭YellowBucket


    Ger Roe wrote: »
    I still have a landline - costs about €5 per month on a broadband package and I can talk all day and night on it, to other landlines, for that cost. Worth it for family member chats. It has also proven to be more reliable than mobile networks.

    I also have a 1970's rotary dial phone, using break loop dialing, and I am amazed that it still works on modern exchanges - I thought they would have all been changed over to DTMF only. I took it to a group of teenagers recently, hooked it up to a phone line and asked them to make a call. Out of a group of twelve, none could do it. Some didn't know to lift the receiver, some didn't know what the dial tone was and none knew how to rotate the dial. Some said that they vaguely remembered their grandparents having a phone like it.

    How times have changed... it made me feel very old(er).

    No particularly reason why they couldn't understand pulse-dial. The 'modern' exchanges are mostly 1980s/90s technology at the edge of the network. So, your dial tone and the analogue voice signals to your house are still probably being generated by the same kind of technology they have been since the early days of digital exchanges.

    The exchanges' 'brains' have been removed and replaced with modern IP technology though. So it's really only the most basic functions that are being handled by older digital tech.

    Beyond your local exchange, it's likely carrier grade VoIP at this stage though, so basically the local exchange is just acting like a rather retro ATA on a larger scale.

    There's no immediate plan to shut that stuff down, just scale it back and encourage more people to get off the landline networks and onto voice-over-broadband instead.

    If you've ordered a landline / broadband bundle and your landline's now provided by plugging the phone into the back of what's being referred to as a 'modem' or 'router' (technically should be called an access gateway) then it's VoIP all the way from the phone jack basically.

    Also if you're using Virgin media it's VoIP all the way too.

    The issue there is the ATA built into the router doesn't understand pulse dial because they're too cheap to support it - few pulse dial phones around and it saves a few chips. You can order an adapter online if you want to use an old dial phone though it's not that difficult to convert pulses to tones - just a little box that plugs in between the router and the phone.

    My Digiweb landline's on a FritzBox, which just hosts the cordless phones directly - so there's no need for any plugged in phone at all. It's just cordless straight into VoIP and out - digital all the way.


  • #69
    salonfire
    Registered Users Posts: 3,078 ✭✭✭salonfire


    YellowBucket wrote: »
    No particularly reason why they couldn't understand pulse-dial. The 'modern' exchanges are mostly 1980s/90s technology at the edge of the network. So, your dial tone and the analogue voice signals to your house are still probably being generated by the same kind of technology they have been since the early days of digital exchanges.

    The exchanges' 'brains' have been removed and replaced with modern IP technology though. So it's really only the most basic functions that are being handled by older digital tech.

    Beyond your local exchange, it's likely carrier grade VoIP at this stage though, so basically the local exchange is just acting like a rather retro ATA on a larger scale.

    There's no immediate plan to shut that stuff down, just scale it back and encourage more people to get off the landline networks and onto voice-over-broadband instead.

    If you've ordered a landline / broadband bundle and your landline's now provided by plugging the phone into the back of what's being referred to as a 'modem' or 'router' (technically should be called an access gateway) then it's VoIP all the way from the phone jack basically.

    Also if you're using Virgin media it's VoIP all the way too.

    The issue there is the ATA built into the router doesn't understand pulse dial because they're too cheap to support it - few pulse dial phones around and it saves a few chips. You can order an adapter online if you want to use an old dial phone though it's not that difficult to convert pulses to tones - just a little box that plugs in between the router and the phone.

    My Digiweb landline's on a FritzBox, which just hosts the cordless phones directly - so there's no need for any plugged in phone at all. It's just cordless straight into VoIP and out - digital all the way.

    But VOIP is terrible compared to landlines.

    At work, I instructed anyone who wants to contact me to do so via a landline. Not through Teams/Skype. VOIP is too choppy.


  • #70
    YellowBucket
    Closed Accounts Posts: 491 ✭✭YellowBucket


    salonfire wrote: »
    But VOIP is terrible compared to landlines.

    At work, I instructed anyone who wants to contact me to do so via a landline. Not through Teams/Skype. VOIP is too choppy.

    That’s a bit like saying all roads are bad because you once drove on a boreen in west Donegal.

    A very high % of Irish landlines are already VoIP - all of the Virgin media voice services, a lot (probably at the stage the majority) of office systems, Digiweb voice, recent Eir lines on fibre or fttc are all VoIP etc etc

    Much of the trunk network nationally and internationally is VoIP.

    If you’re connecting to Skype or teams on a bad quality 3G connection or poor quality broadband, it’ll will be choppy. Or, if your office network is too low bandwidth.

    Overall, VoIP is capable of delivering FAR superior audio quality to the PSTN, but you can’t just run streaming audio over choppy connections.

    The underlying technology of the phone networks is rapidly transitioning to VoIP, but there’s a huge difference between properly setup carrier grade VoIP and some messy Skype links.

    The other issue with Skype / Link is a lot of people use horrendous headsets or have them configured badly.

    If your Skype calls are always poor quality there’s something wrong with your office internet connection either in terms of the broadband or the local network.


  • #71
    Oink
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 2,150 Mod ✭✭✭✭Oink


    Nigel Fairservice wrote: »
    I don't have one at my place. Just use my mobile.

    My Dad has a landline and uses it occasionally but even he is using his mobile more these days. My mother spent 2 years on a waiting list to get the phone from Telecom Eireann in the early 80s.


    God we’ve come in leaps and bounds. It only took me 5 months and 6/7 onsite visits to get a landline. It would have been even faster if I wasn’t a whole mile away from town!


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  • #72
    JeffKenna
    Registered Users Posts: 4,510 ✭✭✭JeffKenna


    salonfire wrote: »
    But VOIP is terrible compared to landlines.

    At work, I instructed anyone who wants to contact me to do so via a landline. Not through Teams/Skype. VOIP is too choppy.

    You must be a very important person.


  • #73
    YellowBucket
    Closed Accounts Posts: 491 ✭✭YellowBucket


    Oink wrote: »
    God we’ve come in leaps and bounds. It only took me 5 months and 6/7 onsite visits to get a landline. It would have been even faster if I wasn’t a whole mile away from town!

    To be fair it has.
    My grandmother was telling me about having to join a 2+ year waiting list for a phone and they were only “given” a line when someone in the area (of Dublin) died as there were no spare terminals on the old exchange, which was so old that the parts were only available from museums!

    In the end they only got granted a line because my grandfather had a hart attack and the GP sent a letter to the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs explaining the need to be able to call an ambulance!

    1970s Ireland.


  • #74
    SouthWesterly
    Registered Users Posts: 6,452 ✭✭✭SouthWesterly


    I don't even know my own house number.


  • #75
    riclad
    Registered Users Posts: 8,184 ✭✭✭riclad


    In many area,s broadband is not avaidable, so basic non voip phones will be around for at least 10 years .
    in some area,s 3g mobile phone reception is still very bad.
    fibre is only avaidable in certain area,s.


  • #76
    theteal
    Registered Users Posts: 7,593 ✭✭✭theteal


    It's part of the VM package but never been plugged in. In fact, I never reattached the master socket to the wall after refurbing the room 2+ years ago - it's just hanging being a book shelf now. If I ever change to back a VDSL provider that'll change but the way Virgin keep giving discounts each year that's not looking likely. It's a good thing though as it forced the MIL to learn how to use whatsapp and also saved me a fortune in international calls.


  • #77
    salonfire
    Registered Users Posts: 3,078 ✭✭✭salonfire


    YellowBucket wrote: »
    That’s a bit like saying all roads are bad because you once drove on a boreen in west Donegal.

    A very high % of Irish landlines are already VoIP - all of the Virgin media voice services, a lot (probably at the stage the majority) of office systems, Digiweb voice, recent Eir lines on fibre or fttc are all VoIP etc etc

    Much of the trunk network nationally and internationally is VoIP.

    If you’re connecting to Skype or teams on a bad quality 3G connection or poor quality broadband, it’ll will be choppy. Or, if your office network is too low bandwidth.

    Overall, VoIP is capable of delivering FAR superior audio quality to the PSTN, but you can’t just run streaming audio over choppy connections.

    The underlying technology of the phone networks is rapidly transitioning to VoIP, but there’s a huge difference between properly setup carrier grade VoIP and some messy Skype links.

    The other issue with Skype / Link is a lot of people use horrendous headsets or have them configured badly.

    If your Skype calls are always poor quality there’s something wrong with your office internet connection either in terms of the broadband or the local network.

    Not in the office but WFH I mean.

    The bolded line justs proves by point to be honest. PTSN is much more reliable. If you have a 3G signal, you can make a normal mobile call. Try make a VOIP call with the same 3G signal, it's a choppy mess.


  • #78
    salonfire
    Registered Users Posts: 3,078 ✭✭✭salonfire


    JeffKenna wrote: »
    You must be a very important person.

    Thanks, I am.

    And intelligent. So much so to come up with a solution to choppy conference calls while everyone is WFH.

    Everyone uses the landline.


  • #79
    YellowBucket
    Closed Accounts Posts: 491 ✭✭YellowBucket


    riclad wrote: »
    In many area,s broadband is not avaidable, so basic non voip phones will be around for at least 10 years .
    in some area,s 3g mobile phone reception is still very bad.
    fibre is only avaidable in certain area,s.

    That applies all over the world though. Most of the country can get reasonably decent broadband, and the rural areas that can't are being built out with FTTH.

    I keep encountering businesses in areas with FTTC or even FTTH who've ADSL, so there's something clearly gone wrong with the marketing.

    Just looking at the stats there from ComReg's data portal:

    ISDN & PSTN paths: 1,181,735 (down from over 1.5 million in 2015)

    There are currently 506,897 VoIP based VoBB (over broadband) lines in use of 1386305 lines - 36% and that's growing quite rapidly.

    That figure also does not include the rather large number of VoIP 'lines' used by business systems, which would be a significant %

    Contrast to mobile phones: 5,121,253 (excluding mobile broadband and machine to machine) (6,737,414 if you include those)

    1st Quarter 2020:

    Mobile minutes voice: 3,317,906,000
    Fixed minutes voice: 676,410,000

    So basically 4.9 times the traffic going through mobile networks as fixed and that's not even including all the calls going through WhatApp, FaceTime etc etc.

    The landline's going to end up as a niche business product / very niche residential one by the end of the 2020s and it will be probably almost exclusively delivered as an IP application i.e. VoIP.

    It's going to go the way of telex, fax machines and payphones.


  • #80
    YellowBucket
    Closed Accounts Posts: 491 ✭✭YellowBucket


    salonfire wrote: »
    Not in the office but WFH I mean.

    The bolded line justs proves by point to be honest. PTSN is much more reliable. If you have a 3G signal, you can make a normal mobile call. Try make a VOIP call with the same 3G signal, it's a choppy mess.

    That's nothing to do with VoIP vs the PSTN. 3G data is high latency and was entirely designed for consumption of media on early smartphones, not for reliable 2-way streaming of audio/video. It allows buffering and bursty flows of data which is a disaster for any streaming service.

    3G mobile voice is handled in dedicated bandwidth and with its own protocols. Proper VoIP uses QoS priorities and is managed too, so it's really just bad quality because it's being used across inappropriate infrastructure

    In fact, I'd go a step further, when the 3G protocols were designed, mobile companies saw VoIP as a threat to revenue. They're less worried about it these days, but many of the design basics in the 3G protocol almost go out of their way to trip up VoIP and similar services that might compete with the telcos. Some networks in other countries still actively block VoIP.

    4G improves things drastically and 5G much more so still and you've seen the mobile networks start to consider their primary purpose being to provide data, not really charge by the minute for voice and SMS.


  • #81
    arctictree
    Registered Users Posts: 4,283 ✭✭✭arctictree


    Never mind landlines, I had to explain to my 6 year old that a phone (mobile) can be used to talk to people. (Instead of just youtube, making videos etc...)


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  • #82
    YellowBucket
    Closed Accounts Posts: 491 ✭✭YellowBucket


    If you try explaining that we used to make calls using big green card phones that were actually screwed to the wall, and that was considered the height of modern technology, you'd probably cause their minds to melt!


  • #83
    riclad
    Registered Users Posts: 8,184 ✭✭✭riclad


    There's probably young people out there who have never used a land-line phone or used a printed telephone directory.
    Old houses in rathmines used to have one coin operated phone in the hallway before smartphones were invented.
    There.d be be 10 tenants using one phone line.


  • #84
    screamer
    Registered Users Posts: 6,131 ✭✭✭screamer


    Have one still so we can throw mobiles away at weekends and know that if any of our family want to speak to us they’ll call us on the landline


  • #85
    foozzybear61
    Registered Users Posts: 136 ✭✭foozzybear61


    I ve just dialed my old family house number

    No answer . Made me sad
    not hearing my parents voices


  • #86
    Hello 2D Person Below
    Registered Users Posts: 13,755 ✭✭✭✭Hello 2D Person Below


    My grandmother is the only person I know that still uses one and even she is probably 99.9% mobile.


  • #87
    markc1184
    Registered Users Posts: 3,075 ✭✭✭markc1184


    Still have a landline. I get free calls included with my broadband package, but I also have free calls from my mobile so the landlines is really only used when receiving scam calls.


  • #88
    YellowBucket
    Closed Accounts Posts: 491 ✭✭YellowBucket


    My guess is that in a few years time you’ll mostly just see landlines used by businesses and personal use will be entirely mobile.


  • #89
    CoBo55
    Registered Users Posts: 8,723 ✭✭✭CoBo55


    YellowBucket wrote: »
    My guess is that in a few years time you’ll mostly just see landlines used by businesses and personal use will be entirely mobile.

    It's that way now.


  • #90
    YellowBucket
    Closed Accounts Posts: 491 ✭✭YellowBucket


    CoBo55 wrote: »
    It's that way now.

    It’ll accelerate though. A lot of landlines are probably not being used and are bundled with legacy broadband packages that were built around the concept of a landline voice subscription. As those die off, a lot of landlines will just vanish.

    There are plenty of people I know, myself included, who have landline numbers that are more or less never used anymore & mine is a VoIP service on a FritzBox from Digiweb. Sound is fantastic, but everything is by mobile.

    Also with Vodafone and Eir you can assign business landlines numbers to a mobile anyway, so it’s all becoming a bit obsolete.


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