A Blast From The Past

[securespark]

How far we have come with internet in a couple of decades.

When we moved here, we were still on dial up. Now, we have ultra fast FTTP.

As far as telephone is concerned, the copper in this house is now obsolete.

Having the builders in has made me think about stripping it all out.

I have previously asked BT on behalf of an ex-customer of mine who wanted to get rid of their redundant BT sockets and cabling. They were happy to arrange a visit to do that, but at a cost.

Has anyone done this?

 

[Brigadier]

Talking of obsolete, I called a mate the other day from my car handsfree.

For whatever reason, my phone chose to call him on his landline - which, as his wife answered the call - is still working!

(I had two mobiles and a landline stored under his contact details, but I never gave a thought to his landline being operational).

 

[Jurassicspark]

A lot of people still use landline phones because they can still make calls if the power is out etc.

 

[Ihavenojob]

A lot of people still use landline phones because they can still make calls if the power is out etc.

Not for much longer, most providers are switching to internet phones.

 

[Brigadier]

A lot of people still use landline phones because they can still make calls if the power is out etc.

How big a power outage would it take, to render a charged-up mobile phone inoperable?

Local, regional, or WWIII?

 

[Jurassicspark]

How big a power outage would it take, to render a charged-up mobile phone inoperable?

Local, regional, or WWIII?

I know some people who have been living without power for more than a week!

 

[ajohn]

You could just leave the master socket in and take out the rest. I suspect the land line may generate a fault automatically if that is taken out. Also we are not supposed to play with that.

I had a BT engineer in - free - to sort out a land line problem. One of the pair broken. I mentioned going to fibre and he said the master socket would still be there. Also that I may have problems finding someone who would fit fibre. It's there in a duct along with the land line cables but a feed needs to be added to the house.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Yeah I'm sure my Internet activity started on dial up (remember the connection noises? A bit like a ZX Spectrum game loading.)

Our first high speed was Telewest's 512k which was like night and day!

I'm now on Virgin's 300Mbps service.

Funnily enough as I type this, I'm glancing at some old 3.5" floppy disks lying on my desk.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I have previously asked BT on behalf of an ex-customer of mine who wanted to get rid of their redundant BT sockets and cabling. They were happy to arrange a visit to do that, but at a cost.

Has anyone done this?

I installed sockets in most rooms, even the garage, 45 years ago, during a back to brick refurb.. All the sockets, except the master, became redundant when DECT phones came out. I just take the sockets out, as and a room is decorated, insulating the cable ends, before plastering over.

 

[Exedon]

We still have a land line it's main use is to phone national grid
Over last 2 years have had multiple power outages 22 this year anything fron 2 minutes to 2 days.
Zero mobile coverage inside very poor outdoors.
We use wi fi calling which works well till power goes down.

 

[securespark]

We have FTTP now. We do still have a landline, but it is VOIP. When I made the order, I was told I could have FTTP and a copper line, but when the guy came, I got VOIP.

The disadvantages?

If the power goes down, so does the dog.
You have to dial the STD, even for numbers in your area.

Advantages?
Crystal clear line.
And two "lines": if one call is in progress and another comes in, you can pick it up. Similarly you can make a call if someone is already on one.

There is of course the issue of power outages and I'm thinking of a UPS. All the FTTP gear and the router are in the same location. So if that gets plugged into a UPS, it will stay online. And we can have a plug in phone which attaches to the router.

But back to the redundant phone lines: at one time, we had three lines, two business and a Dom line. So there's lots of NTE boxes, extension sockets and junction boxes all round the house.

I have used my plug-in line tester and all 3 lines are as dead as a dodo.

I've had to take two off the wall for replastering and decorating and I will take 3 more off later when work starts in those rooms. The rest are in rooms we are not working in.