BT Digital Voice.

[kevinlms]

10 hours ago, spamcan61 said:

Absolutely, they gloss over this potentially major drawback, and let us not forget that power backup needs to be end to end, not just your phone.

So advising you to have a back up mobile, isn't telling you that there is a drawback?

[Hroth]

2 hours ago, kevinlms said:

So advising you to have a back up mobile, isn't telling you that there is a drawback?

 

Being told face to face isn't enough for some...

 

"I forgot"

 

or

 

"I didn't realise you actually meant it"

 

and other such excuses.

 

[RFS]

If you don't have a mobile phone as a backup, then your landline phone is a single point of failure regardless of whether it's digital or analog. Power cuts are just one issue and here we've only had one in the last 12 months that was only for about 2 hours. Equipment failure is a more likely cause of failure, and BT's analog equipment is getting very old.

 

About 4 years ago we had a major failure in our village caused by cable failure that took out half the phones from the 40 or so properties. As the remedy required digging up the road, it needed emergency road-closure authorizations etc, which meant is was nearly 3 weeks till the service was restored. The failure was between the street cabinet and the exchange, and at that time our internet service was fibre-to-the-cabinet, so we retained full internet access all the time. Spent that time wishing BT would get a move on with DV. If this happened again, we would be fine with DV but our neighbours still with analog would not. 

 

And what about emergencies away from the home? You're driving home late at night, it's dark and freezing cold, and your car breaks down. What do you do if you don't have a mobile? I went to Tesco's the other day (a 6-mile drive) and half way there realized my mobile was still at home in the charger. A bit of mild panic set in!

Edited April 30 by RFS

[Reorte]

3 hours ago, kevinlms said:

So advising you to have a back up mobile, isn't telling you that there is a drawback?

Not if they're making the assumption that you will anyway.

[Reorte]

55 minutes ago, RFS said:

If you don't have a mobile phone as a backup, then your landline phone is a single point of failure regardless of whether it's digital or analog. Power cuts are just one issue and here we've only had one in the last 12 months that was only for about 2 hours. Equipment failure is a more likely cause of failure, and BT's analog equipment is getting very old.

It is, but it's less likely to fail by all accounts. I've never had the phone line go down but I have had power cuts.

 

To be honest it's all more of a minor nuisance than a worry, but overall the replacement of something with a less capable system isn't something to cheer about.

 

Quote

And what about emergencies away from the home? You're driving home late at night, it's dark and freezing cold, and your car breaks down. What do you do if you don't have a mobile? I went to Tesco's the other day (a 6-mile drive) and half way there realized my mobile was still at home in the charger. A bit of mild panic set in!

Same as anyone would've done before anyone had a mobile, i.e. not really worry about it happening, and just figure out how to deal with it there and then if it does.

 

Doesn't it worry you that you had a bit of a panic, even if only a mild one, when you realised you didn't have your mobile with you? Not having one shouldn't cause anxiety.

 

[kevinlms]

1 hour ago, Reorte said:

Same as anyone would've done before anyone had a mobile, i.e. not really worry about it happening, and just figure out how to deal with it there and then if it does.

 

You don't need any money to make calls within Australia from phone boxes. They made such calls free a few years ago.

The problem is that there are far fewer, than there used to be. But that is one thing you don't need to worry about, no coins or card required.

[Hroth]

The main problem with BTs conventional telephone exchanges is that they're all very elderly.  They're also all digital electronics and many of the electronic components are obsolete, not manufactured any more and are consequently impossible to replace.  "Soon" it will be impossible to maintain a functional conventional telephone system.

 

Its cheaper to install full fibre and implement VoIP over it than to find someone to develop a completely new digital/analog exchange system that won't contain creeping obsolesence due to electronic parts becoming unobtainable as the system is brought into service...

 

The other factor is that full fibre is cheaper to power than the old copper wired system.  Yes, BT has to power the exchange computers at the other end of the fibre optics but they don't have to provide the 60v* or so that powered the subscriber telephone at the end of the copper.  The consumer now has to power the fibre terminating equipment and the router box** out of their own pocket 24/7 as well as pay for the call package.

 

* Can't remember the exact voltage, but I remember it was something like that!

** A plug PSU for each - I'd have to look to see how many watts each consumes🤔. Not that many, but it all adds up. When the power is on, that is...  🙂

 

Edited April 30 by Hroth
tidy up...

[Reorte]

6 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

You don't need any money to make calls within Australia from phone boxes. They made such calls free a few years ago.

The problem is that there are far fewer, than there used to be. But that is one thing you don't need to worry about, no coins or card required.

Still quite a lot of phone boxes around here but not all that many have phones in them, a lot have been repurposed in to defibrilator stations, book exchanges and various things like that.

[kevinlms]

6 minutes ago, Reorte said:

Still quite a lot of phone boxes around here but not all that many have phones in them, a lot have been repurposed in to defibrilator stations, book exchanges and various things like that.

None of that happend here, shortly after disconnecting they were recovered.

Are the repurposed ones repainted a different colour, or some other distinctive feature, such as a new logo, so people don't waste time going to them, hoping to make a call?

[Hroth]

3 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

None of that happend here, shortly after disconnecting they were recovered.

Are the repurposed ones repainted a different colour, or some other distinctive feature, such as a new logo, so people don't waste time going to them, hoping to make a call?

 

People here would miss their phone boxes and will pay for them to be left in situ...

 

They're largely left painted red.  Sadly passers by realise that they probably won't contain a working telephone.

 

 

Edited April 30 by Hroth

[Reorte]

12 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

None of that happend here, shortly after disconnecting they were recovered.

Are the repurposed ones repainted a different colour, or some other distinctive feature, such as a new logo, so people don't waste time going to them, hoping to make a call?

Ones with defibrilators often have a different coloured sign, e.g. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.336105,-1.9695366,3a,40.3y,15.9h,91.85t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1saPuF_8edK8YXspkBRz9Ipw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?ucbcb=1&entry=ttu.

 

No colour but it doesn't say phone:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3299181,-1.9840673,3a,40.8y,308.26h,93.42t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sYWg91RMOUo7ttvyCOqB17A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?ucbcb=1&entry=ttu

 

It's mostly the old red phone boxes that have been kept like that, since they're pretty much an iconic part of the scene throughout the country. The later ones are less likely to have stayed (although some have).

 

I hadn't realised until now that the second one of those looks like it's been moved to that location, it's not there in older Streetview pictures (I suppose it could've been removed, cleaned up, and put back).

Edited April 30 by Reorte

[Izzy]

I may be wrong but I don’t believe there are any public telephone’s in the UK anymore, certainly I don’t encounter any in my daily life. Do they still exist? Although I have a mobile - one I now mainly use on Wi-Fi - it’s just on a PAYG tariff which I only have to top up when I need to. I am told this type of PAYG is hard to find now, that most demand a monthly top-up, which I don’t class as PAYG. £10 a month for something only for use as a ‘backup’ I find extremely expensive.

 

I do see the advantages of only having a mobile for most people these days, and especially those renting or having to move around regularly. Several times it has been remarked when I have given my landline number that having a home telephone is unusual these days. 
 

Bob

[Hroth]

Keeping a landline is due to several factors.

 

Little or no mobile coverage at the location

Inertia

Age

 

If I were younger, I'd probably drop the landline, but as I'm not fully integrated with the smartphone culture (I loathe the things, even though I have one), I'll stick with my landline, even though its more or less a tethered mobile phone...

 

[Reorte]

12 minutes ago, Izzy said:

I may be wrong but I don’t believe there are any public telephone’s in the UK anymore, certainly I don’t encounter any in my daily life. Do they still exist? Although I have a mobile - one I now mainly use on Wi-Fi - it’s just on a PAYG tariff which I only have to top up when I need to. I am told this type of PAYG is hard to find now, that most demand a monthly top-up, which I don’t class as PAYG. £10 a month for something only for use as a ‘backup’ I find extremely expensive.

 

I do see the advantages of only having a mobile for most people these days, and especially those renting or having to move around regularly. Several times it has been remarked when I have given my landline number that having a home telephone is unusual these days.

I take the view that if I've got a comms connection in to the house anyway (whether it was originally designed for a phone or not) it makes sense to use that for the phone, rather than have something additional, and I really can't see the bandwidth existing for 100% mobile for everyone connections, what with everyone wanting high speed internet.

 

There's the odd payphone around that I think's still nominally in use. Whether they actually work or not is a different matter. I always used to regard them as handy enough on the rare occasion I needed to make a call when away from home, but they're not any more. That was usually no more than once a year - nowhere near often enough for it to make sense to carry something around with me all the time just in case.

Edited April 30 by Reorte

[C126]

57 minutes ago, Izzy said:

I may be wrong but I don’t believe there are any public telephone’s in the UK anymore, certainly I don’t encounter any in my daily life. Do they still exist?

 

'Fraid you are wrong.  One in my local railway station for a start that I use to 'phone my beloved when I am arriving late but have arrived at home (if you see what I mean).  God rot the dratted invention of the mobile phone.  Harrumph!

 

 

[RFS]

59 minutes ago, Izzy said:

 Although I have a mobile - one I now mainly use on Wi-Fi - it’s just on a PAYG tariff which I only have to top up when I need to. I am told this type of PAYG is hard to find now, that most demand a monthly top-up, which I don’t class as PAYG. £10 a month for something only for use as a ‘backup’ I find extremely expensive.

 

No problem with having PAYG contracts. Both the wife and I have had one for years and I think all providers have these available. We use them sparingly in the house using the wifi, and when away from home just for emergencies. 

[spamcan61]

Just now, RFS said:

 

No problem with having PAYG contracts. Both the wife and I have had one for years and I think all providers have these available. We use them sparingly in the house using the wifi, and when away from home just for emergencies. 

They exist, but I agree with Izzy that finding one you don't have to use and/or top up regularly is becoming more difficult.

[Michael Hodgson]

47 minutes ago, spamcan61 said:

They exist, but I agree with Izzy that finding one you don't have to use and/or top up regularly is becoming more difficult.

Getting one on a contract removed that problem, but you would also have to keep it electrically charged.  We bought a mobile for my mother when Dad died, in case she broke down and needed to call the AA while driving on country roads to town.  She kept it in the car, but never remembered to bring it in and put it on charge.

[mezzoman253]

8 hours ago, Hroth said:

The main problem with BTs conventional telephone exchanges is that they're all very elderly.  They're also all digital electronics and many of the electronic components are obsolete, not manufactured any more and are consequently impossible to replace.  "Soon" it will be impossible to maintain a functional conventional telephone system.

 

Its cheaper to install full fibre and implement VoIP over it than to find someone to develop a completely new digital/analog exchange system that won't contain creeping obsolesence due to electronic parts becoming unobtainable as the system is brought into service...

 

The other factor is that full fibre is cheaper to power than the old copper wired system.  Yes, BT has to power the exchange computers at the other end of the fibre optics but they don't have to provide the 60v* or so that powered the subscriber telephone at the end of the copper.  The consumer now has to power the fibre terminating equipment and the router box** out of their own pocket 24/7 as well as pay for the call package.

 

* Can't remember the exact voltage, but I remember it was something like that!

** A plug PSU for each - I'd have to look to see how many watts each consumes🤔. Not that many, but it all adds up. When the power is on, that is...  🙂

 

Close, 50V

[kevinlms]

9 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 She kept it in the car, but never remembered to bring it in and put it on charge.

Plenty of car chargers around!

[Reorte]

8 hours ago, kevinlms said:

Plenty of car chargers around!

Not very useful if you hardly ever use it. No-one's going to get in the habit of keeping a phone charged that they never use.

[Suzie]

Does anyone know if text messaging will still work with the new digital VOIP service like it does on the analogue lines? Users the callerID signalling apparently, but I cannot find any documentation on it anywhere.

[kevinlms]

1 hour ago, Reorte said:

Not very useful if you hardly ever use it. No-one's going to get in the habit of keeping a phone charged that they never use.

The answer was in response to the fact that it isn't taken in the house to recharge. It could be left in the charger, in a car indefinitely.

[RFS]

1 hour ago, Suzie said:

Does anyone know if text messaging will still work with the new digital VOIP service like it does on the analogue lines? Users the callerID signalling apparently, but I cannot find any documentation on it anywhere.

 

I think this answer in the BT Comminuty Forum might help. 

Edited May 1 by RFS

[Suzie]

2 minutes ago, RFS said:

 

I think this answer in the BT Comminuty Forum suggests that it does not work.

Thank you. Sad to lose it because it is quite useful to get notifications on all the handsets in the house when a text comes in and be able to reply without having to find the mobile.