So it seems my ATT landline now includes unlimited free calling to Mexico...

[tridacna]

I doubt that my grandkids know what a phone booth is, but their parents have landlines - at home, at office and cafe.

No they don't. Not the same ones that you had in your office or home in the 60's or 70's. Those are VOIP connections using the internet just like we re using now. If the router fails or loses connectivity, so do those landlines.

True landlines were not subject to IP points of failure. They just worked. 99.99999% reliability ain't what it used to be...and that's not a typo.

Welcome to the IOT. Ask your grandchildren what that means or just use use Google on your 'landline'.

 

[DandyDon]

No they don't. Not the same ones that you had in your office or home in the 60's or 70's. Those are VOIP connections using the internet just like we re using now. If the router fails or loses connectivity, so do those landlines.

I don't think my son-in-law's cafe has a router. He has landlines tho. I saw on FB that people need to call-in orders on a different number today, as line 1 is out. Lubbock doesn't handle blizzards well.

 

[tridacna]

No DD-you're not going to win this. The underlying technology is no longer analog switching. It is completely digital and uses VOIP at the CO level. Routing is no longer on copper lines. I promise not to argue insurance with you because I have no understanding of that just like you have no understanding of this. I mean this in a nice way.

 

[kss1dvr]

Telcodata.us shows Lubbock, TX CO's with a mixture of DMS 10's, 100's and 5ESS switches.

They may be digital, but they definitely are not VOIP.

I'll wager that any other AT&T CO in Texas will be the same, with an odd Ericsson thrown in there.

You're about 5 years ahead of yourself.

 

[Jax]

No they don't.

So sure you are, and so wrong, too.

Twisted pair will exist in the rural world for a long time. I don't give a damn about the digital switches - they have back-up generators, etc. But when the power goes down in a big way for a small rural town, landlines still work.

---------- Post added December 30th, 2015 at 03:02 PM ----------

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Actually - old neighborhoods, too, where it is not cost effective to upgrade. They still retain their twisted pair.

 

[tridacna]

...and the connection to rest of the world from Lubbock? Nope the network has changed. PSTN is never going to be the same. Wow, I remember when NT ruled with those suckers. We installed a DMS 100 at Merrill Lynch just for internal use!

 

[kss1dvr]

The fact that a call touches an IP pipe along the way does not make the call an VOIP call. Don's Uverse call is IP based, therefore it is in a relatively free regulatory environment. Free calls to Mexico and Canada being among the advantages.

Backprop and Don's son-in-law's service are apparently PSTN based, which puts them in a regulatory environment under FCC and state corporation commission oversight. My point being that there are still large numbers of circuit based switches in the network being used. These switches are not providing VOIP, but are a legacy that the RBOC's are desperately trying to get rid of.

But I think you knew that.

 

[DandyDon]

Well, we're just not going to discuss my question. FYI: everyone with "house phones" ask your service provider if you now have unlimited long distance calling for free - and to what countries...?

I have talked with Verizon agents several times about why my old fashion flip phone wouldn't work from Cancun to Cozumel last trip and got a large number of different answers. Next trip, they'll loan me a global ready phone for $20 round-trip shipping. I think Mexcio moving away from CDMA is the main problem. I am not giving up my tough, waterproof Barrage until I have issues in the US - which is how I gave up my last flip phone, donating it and several spares to recycling.

 

[kss1dvr]

Don, sorry. I tried to touch on it but apparently wasn't clear.
You will get the calls to Mexico and Canada if you have Uverse voice, because it is VOIP.
Someone who has AT&T legacy POTS telephone service (plain old telephone service) will not have free calls to Mexico and Canada, mainly because it is not VOIP.
Uverse voice is relatively free of the regulatory burden that POTS is encumbered with.
There are advantages to each, but VOIP is where the telephone companies are headed. They are just not totally there yet.

 

[cvchief]

I have a landline just to give to people I don't want to talk to.