Landlines versus mobiles

Our internet went down yesterday for a brief time. Same thing happened a few months ago after installing a new router! Luckily....we still have the landline.

I live in Germany - probably the most technophobe country in Europe. Here no one would use their mobile when in their own homes - I certainly wouldn't. The reception is bad inside buildings.

However, the powers that be have now recognised that we are behind here, especially following the pandemic with everyone WFH. We shall be getting fibre installed in our village in the next few months.

It does worry me that the world is relying more and more on the internet and cutting off backup systems, though. This bothers me more than people collecting my data.

I live in Sweden and Swedish Telia has long ago cut the landlines and dodgy broadband in our area - 2018 I think.

We have an internet phone with the same number as the old landline (and no you don't need a landline for the internet). We live in an extremely rural area and receive our internet from so called "air fiberband"

We have terrible Mobile reception in our village, so we have to boost it with our wifi, via the landline, indoors, outside we can’t use it unless we go down to the bottom of the village.
I can’t see anyone laying cables out to us any day soon as we are 4 to 5 miles from the nearest village.
But we are trying to remember to use our mobiles to phone a mobile number as the cost is included in our Landline fee, but MrOops usually reaches for the home phone…….

I use my landline all the time, I take my mobile out & about "just in case ", that's if I can find it and it's charged.

henetha

My landline sounds like someone is frying sausages in the background. So I hardly use it. I much prefer my mobile.

Mine too henetha. BT dug up street to the nearest junction box and lifted slabs in the garden and still not fixed. Mobile is better.

Ijust do not understand why people want to walk around all the time holding a phone in their hand. It is irritating, reduces your manual dexterity and why does anyone constantly want to send messages to people. I managed very well before mobile phones were available and continue to manage perfctly well now.

Do not get me wrong, I do believe that mobile phones are a boon and blessing to all, but i really doubt if even one in a hundred of the messages people seem constantly sending could not wait until the person sending it was back in the comfort of their home.

I have my phone always on me. I rarely use it.

For a long chat I prefer my landline, the handset is easier to hold , the sound is better . I like my mobile for texting and quick updates …. Where are you ? … IM AT THE CORNER , sort of things ?

We've still got a landline, but never use it for calls. I still love those old phones with the dial. You still see them for sale in antique shops sometimes. Our old phone was in the hall and I remember it always being quite exciting when it rang. Sad I know! I think they were more comfortable to speak on than mobiles actually.

I hate mobile phones. they work on the assumption that you have nimble fingers and can feel your fingertips. I have mild dyspraxia, which means I am clumsy and am forever hitting the wrong keys and buttons and because, following an operation to remedy carpal tunnel syndrome, I cannot feel the tips of my fingers so I am constantly pressing the screen to softly or too hard so that nothing responds as it should.

I also hate getting phone calls when I am out and about and unless I can see it is urgent I do not bother to answer it.

I like my landline that I can answer in the quiet, concentrate on the conversation, whether personal or in arranging an appointment or delivery.

Yes, I can see all the advantages of having a mobile phone and I do always carry mine with me for emergency use - for sat nav and, occasionally for looking things up on google.

But i am much more comfortable with a computer with a decent size screen and a phone with proper buttons that are a decent size that I can be sure I am pressing the right one in the right way.

Mobile phones are only for those who are nimble fingered and dexterous. As far as phone manufacturers are concerned, they do not give a toss for anyone with any kind of manual disability.

MerylStreep, you can have internet connectivity through a router without paying for a landline. But, nevertheless, unless you have a very special arrangement, you do have landline technology to carry the signal to the internet - it's semantics. You can't make or receive voice calls over it.

You can also get the internet through a cable provider. No landline needed but still a 'pipe' for digital signals.

Not sure if you can use satellite but it would be really expensive.

You won't need a router for mobile data - your mobile provider provides the routing to the internet.

At home I access the internet via my broadband package, so it’s ‘free’. Out and about I get it via whichever provider I’ve signed up with. Free calls and texts are pretty universal now so I look for a good level of data for a small price. It’s always worth haggling as we pay well under £10 for 12gb. I only ever use that much when I’m on holiday or away for the weekend.

Calmlocket

You need a landline for the internet, I use my landline phone more than my payg mobile as its cheaper.

I get my internet through cable with Virgin, no need for a landline. My landline if from Virgin as well so included in the package. Sky also provide internet through their dish.

Neither of my children have a landline.

I still do as I get calls relating to the WI on it, although I might change that when I next renew.

We have both, and I do sometimes find that the sound quality is better on the landline.
I use WhatsApp on my phone for making nearly all calls to friends and family though.

I wouldn’t be without the landline, in case my mobile got lost or broken, or I dropped it down the loo, like dh once did.

People need to be aware that the conventional landline will be phased out by BT (and other providers using their network) by 31st December 2025.

The only way to use a landline (digital) telephone after that date will be via broadband, customers who do not have broadband, will have to have this fitted.

Currently landline phones still work during a powercut but this will not be the case, BT are advising customers to have a mobile phone available for emergencies.

This is all well and good but if there is a power outage in your local area it will also mean that mobile phone masts may be down. Not sure how much backup supply they have.

We still have copper, no fibre.

Forgot to say that I don't have a watch with my mobile. I'll have to consider it but they are expensive.

Both DH and I have had mobiles for more than 25 years. We have lived in this house for about 35 years and brought our old house number with us so have had the same landline number for long before mobiles were able to go in a pocket.

We get our broadband through our landline which is currently copper cable and have a broadband and landline package. Voice calls are made via the landline at lower frequencies and broadband signals use higher frequencies on the same copper cable. A filter, plugged into the incoming landline socket stops the broadband signals from interfering with voice calls.

Our 'house phone' (two handsets) is cordless and the handsets have their signal from the control unit attached to the voice side of the filter. The handsets use Bluetooth to communicate. I can also transfer phonebook numbers between the handsets and the mobiles using Bluetooth. I can bar numbers and use the caller ID to see who is calling. I can access messages remotely. One handset lives upstairs and the other downstairs. They have a really loud ring and we can hear them anywhere in the house and garden. We have many callers, old friends use the landline and so do family. We recently had a lot of crackling on the line, our provider sent out an engineer and now it is crystal clear again. I don't carry my mobile around at home (shortage of pockets deep enough).

Current mobile phones use masts which need 'line of sight" (5G is different). One house can have a good signal and its neighbour awful if the area is hilly or heavily populated. If you are using the mobile for the internet, you are using mobile data, which you switch on your mobile. You pay for a data package to your mobile provider. You can also use WiFi calling in your house with a mobile phone using the broadband line if the mobile signal is poor (if your provider supports WiFi calling).

In 2025 BT will be switching off landline signals. This does not mean the end of landline phones but there will be a problem with supplying electric signals to the handset and battery backups may be needed. There will also need to be a conversion from the analogue signals still used for voice to all digital. This will probably mean an extra 'box'.

New houses no longer have copper cables and are all digital (voice over internet protocol-VOIP) and many houses are switching to fibre optic cable to the house.

I would not be without my mobile but find that the house phone has its uses too especially while in lockdown and I've been at home.

I agree with Meryl , we havent had a landline for years. When we moved earlier this year we even removed the old BT wires before decorating.
We have fast Broadband delivered through a separate cable as well as 5g internet.
It does depend on where you live as to whether you can get this service but good broadband means that you do not need a phone of any kind to communicate. I can chat to my children through my TV or even my watch.

Calmlocket

You need a landline for the internet, I use my landline phone more than my payg mobile as its cheaper.

NO YOU DONT.
And yes I am shouting because I posted earlier that I don’t have a landline and I’m communicating here through the internet on my ipad
My daughter has never had a landline, and yet has successfully run a business from home for years. How can that work.
My next door neighbour doesn’t have a land line yet manages to work for the council from home. How can that work.
My step daughter doesn’t have a landline yet manages to work for Deloitte fixing companies internet problems all over the world. She must be using alchemy because obviously she can’t have the internet because she doesn’t have a landline.
I think I’ve made my case that YOU DONT HAVE TO HAVE A LANDLINE TO HAVE THE INTERNET.

SueDonim

There is almost no mobile signal here, unless I stand on the pavement at the end of our drive or next to one particular window upstairs. We also can’t get satellite signal for internet so a landline it is for WiFi. It’s mainly my mum who calls the landline, though.

Do you live in my house?

We now use our mobiles via the Internet but prior to that I have been found in the middle of the road when the signal is really bad.

We have a few relatives who only call the land line and people who have that number from before we were able to use our phone on the Internet.

I prefer to use my landline for important calls, bit hardly anyone uses it.
I spend my calls with the doctor pacing around the house, bellowing "Hello! HELLOO!!!", despite having told them the landline is better to contact me on.

I prefer landline to mobile any day, but it’s cheaper to just have the mobile really, chill continue as I am for now.

I've still got a landline. I prefer it to talking on my mobile.

I prefer to chat on the landline as I think the quality is better. Mobile is ok for short calls but I often miss a mobile call whereas I always hear the landline ringing.