TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Home Phones Face Uncertain Future

Re: Home Phones Face Uncertain Future

AES/newspost (siegman@stanford.edu)
Sat, 23 Oct 2004 08:20:48 -0700

In article <telecom23.508.7@telecom-digest.org>,
Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Nokia in the UK seems to feel landline phones will be gone entirely
> in the next few years, at least in many countries, replaced by
> cellular phones. Check out this link:

> < http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/technology/3762844.stm >

> The fixed line phone in the home could soon disappear, a study by
> mobile firm Nokia shows.

Even if this happens -- and it doesn't seem to be an unreasonable
prediction -- the portion of the existing landline infrastructure
running from local telco offices into homes and commercial buildings
would continue to exist for a long time, and would only slowly decay
even if no longer regularly maintained.

Continuing to maintain this infrastructure at a low level, while also
adding comparable minimum-level hardwired infrastructure into new
construction (perhaps as a minor side effort while adding cable, or
basic electrical service, or fiber, or whatever) could also be
comparatively inexpensive, even in quite low density areas.

I put up a long post earlier expressing some thoughts and ideas about
how a minimal hardwired infrastructure of this sort, with no residual
connections to longline networks or services, could be re-purposed to
provide useful services and purposes other than telco -- e.g., emergency
services of multiple types.

I'll refrain from repeating these ideas here; but it still seems to me
that thinking about creative ways of using these potentially
disappearing fixed lines could be a useful as well as interesting
exercise.

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