Are landlines more reliable than digital phone?

[Morpheus 02]

I was wondering because i have the (perhaps) unsubstantiated notion that landlines are more reliable than digital phones.


I have ATT, and have heard horror stories about Comcast (i.e. frequent outages).


I am also worried about things like storms & electrical outages...again, i am under the impression that "traditional" phones are more reliable.

Why not use my cell phone? Well, i have situations, like now, where i lost my cell phone.

Also, the landline is WAY MORE clear than my cell phone when i try to have conversations.


So those are my garbled thoughts. What is you clear advice on this matter?

 

[MacLeod]

Lets not confuse digital phones with mobile vs landline. As you can get digital phones that use a landline. I think you mean non-wireless phones, were you have a physical connection to a phone line. And yes in a power usually still work.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yes, I would say landline phones on the public-switched telephone network are more reliable overall than mobile phones and voice-over-IP phones. The technology is simpler and has been around a lot longer, plus it was built for redundancy in a way that mobile phone networks weren't.

That said, most people will trade reliability for convenience, as has happened with mobile phones.

 

[clint g]

Purely anecdotal but in my experience, land-lines are FAR more reliable with much better service than cellphones.

 

[farmkid]

I traded my traditional landline for a VOIP line a couple of years ago for price reasons. It goes out briefly every now an then. However, I think that's because I have wireless internet (neither cable nor DSL are available at my home) with is inherently less reliable than many others. My cell phone is more reliable than my VOIP (digital) line.

 

[Morpheus 02]

So is AT&T's new u-verse landline phone VOIP, like Comcast? Is that why it's offeed at a cheaper rate?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yes, it's VoIP. Telcos seem to be moving away from the old copper lines and going to fiber. Verizon is phasing out their DSL service in favor of FiOS, and AT&T seems to be going down the same road with their Uverse package.

 

[stonester1]

Land lines are much more difficult to intercept and spy on.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Land lines are much more difficult to intercept and spy on.

Not if you have physical access to the line. Then, it's about the easiest thing in the world to tap.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Mechanically easy, yes, but then you have to go to the trouble of physically trespassing on the target's property, or somewhere in the phone network, which would open up some risk for the would-be wiretapper.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Well, if you're using a digital phone, I highly recommend not using a wireless phone. Why? Well, for example, we had a long power failure a few nights ago that lasted more than 4 hours. We have a wireless phone, and while the modem itself has battery backup, we weren't able to use the phone because it needs to be plugged into an outlet for it to work. This is one of the biggest downsides of having digital.

 

[farmkid]

If the power is out, a digital phone (we're talking about VOIP here, right?) won't work anyway because the VOIP box requires power from an outlet. The only phone that will work during a power outage is one plugged into the wall (not wireless) and on a traditional analog line. Your cell phone might work, or might not, depending on the local towers and whether the outage affects them.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Some of the boxes have battery backup like I mentioned to prevent this kind of thing from happening, but yeah, the phones need to be the kind that don't use any electrical outlet to work when that happens.

 

[RobertVA]

In many developed countries most or all calls are at some point digital, but there are differences with where the conversion between digital and analog takes place. The equipment that accomplishes that conversion will need electricity from a battery, backup generator or DC power supply. VOIP acomplishes that conversion inside your home. Some Cable/Internet providers install conversion equipment at or near the entrance to your home and bridge television signals to coax at the same point. Other Cable/Internet providers install conversion equipment that serves multiple homes in the neighborhood (still using fiber for important parts of their network without calling themselves "fiber"). Old fashion telephone service usually accomplishes the two way conversion between digital and analog at a central switching center that serves hundreds of subscribers (with seperate pairs of thin wires extending to each home or business). In modern "standard" telephone systems the calls are still completed between the two (or more) parties by digital technology for the portion of the route between different telephone company switching offices. If you were able to use a dial up modem at a speed higher than 32mps before you upgraded to broadband you were using a line connected to an switching office that uses digital technology to complete calls to other switching offices.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

POTS is more reliable than all alternatives, but digital communications in general can be made more reliable than analogue ones with enough effort. The additional points of failure can be offset by increasing redundancy which is easy when you're dealing with digital communications. It's just not worth the effort for anybody, while POTS has reached the point where it's reliable by default thanks to its simplicity.

On a similar note, there is something awesome in POTS. It's a technology is so simple that managed to remain compatible throughout its really long life. You can almost take a 19th century phone and plug it to your landline. Does wonders for time travellers.

 

[Amaris]

POTS is more reliable than all alternatives, but digital communications in general can be made more reliable than analogue ones with enough effort. The additional points of failure can be offset by increasing redundancy which is easy when you're dealing with digital communications. It's just not worth the effort for anybody, while POTS has reached the point where it's reliable by default thanks to its simplicity.

On a similar note, there is something awesome in POTS. It's a technology is so simple that managed to remain compatible throughout its really long life. You can almost take a 19th century phone and plug it to your landline. Does wonders for time travellers.

I can take a 19th century phone and plug it into my phone line, if by "plug" you mean a little 2 minute wire work.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Just don't be messing with the wires while the phone is ringing. You'll be in for a rude surprise.

 

[Amaris]

Just don't be messing with the wires while the phone is ringing. You'll be in for a rude surprise.

Pff. A little electrocution is good for you. Gets the blood pumping!

 

[RoJoHen]

Just don't be messing with the wires while the phone is ringing. You'll be in for a rude surprise.

Pff. A little electrocution is good for you. Gets the blood pumping!

Although sometimes it makes the blood completely stop pumping. Those are the bad kinds of electrocution.

 

[Amaris]

Just don't be messing with the wires while the phone is ringing. You'll be in for a rude surprise.

Pff. A little electrocution is good for you. Gets the blood pumping!

Although sometimes it makes the blood completely stop pumping. Those are the bad kinds of electrocution.

Yeah, that isn't the best way to go out on a high note.