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  #46  
Old 02-17-2019, 07:12 PM
Electronic M's Avatar
Electronic M Electronic M is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie View Post
So THAT, my friend, is a great explanation as to how I'm able to have a phone line that only does pulse dialing for my seldom used house line.

Very well put, Tom!
Yup. Sadly it is that way for most tel-com utilities.

A few years ago Spectrum decided to switch off analog cable here. It used to be I had probably 10+ NTSC tuners driving TVs (and several more in VCR's/DVR's/DVD-recorders) for me alone, and if I so wanted I could go to goodwill get 70+ TVs for $0.49 a pop plaster a wall with them and watch every analog channel at once. When they went digital instead of going with unencrypted QAM (which though I'd have to buy new tuners I could BUY and OWN my own tuners in whatever quantity I see fit) they went with encrypted QAM...This meant that only Spectrum issued boxes will tune cable. That wouldn't be so bad if they didn't charge rent (they were free for the first year to help cook us frogs...Er..Um..Customers). So now I have 3 tuners. And each of our 6 boxes is costing ~$6 a pop a month. If I want to watch/record more than 3 shows at once (which happens occasionally) I'm screwed. And my timer recordings on vacations can get shows maybe 2-3 channels max when the same bank of VCRs&such could record material from 70+ channels before.
If I can find a better option my family will probably cut the cable...
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  #47  
Old 02-18-2019, 05:03 AM
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Telecolor 3007 Telecolor 3007 is offline
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Probably lack of competion... in Romania I never heared of this absurdity!, not even when we had an only land line operator.
It was true that having installed an line connected to an digital exchange was more expensive that getting conected to an analogical one, but there where the thing stoped for home user. It was cheaper to have a party line (only on analogical exchanges you could have one).
There where some subscription where you could only recive calls, not making calls (so called abonamente sociale - social subscriptions, but they only lasted a few years).

The absurdity was on pay (public) phones... calling from one with card was expensive then calling from an coin operated one.
In fact the absurdity was triple: with one coin coin phones (urban or the D.T.M.F. ones which where both urban and interurban you had the cheapest taxation, the rotary dial one with 2 slots had an bigger taxation, and the ones with cards had the highest taxation; I don't if it was so in 1993-1994, but in 1998 was).
Urban: https://etimpu.com/2011/07/11/aminti...-public-t-m-3/
this was an ex-pay phone used by C.F.R. and probably modified on the inside: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mike_t_4_sail/14906764521
Urban + interurban (D.T.M.F.) - the one from the left: https://colnect.com/en/phonecards/ph...ards-Swaziland
Interurban (it's mine): https://etimpu.com/2011/07/11/aminti...110-b-deschis/
One of the card models: https://incainromania.wordpress.com/...p-carousel-408
Oh, only from card operated ones you could call outside Romania...
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Last edited by Telecolor 3007; 02-18-2019 at 05:19 AM.
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  #48  
Old 02-18-2019, 09:45 AM
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KentTeffeteller KentTeffeteller is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007 View Post
I'm curios, is anybody left around here that still use a land (fixed) telephone line?
I still use, but if they going to have the bad ideea of puting me on V.o.I.P., I might quit it... for me the Copper wire is the only true landline.
Big issue, AT&T is wanting to eliminate copper, as does most every other USA telecom company. Fiber replacing it. Aging, expensive to maintain infrastructure is why.
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  #49  
Old 02-18-2019, 01:04 PM
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The should run bankrupt for that! Cheap stakes!
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  #50  
Old 02-18-2019, 01:11 PM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Electronic M View Post
Yup. Sadly it is that way for most tel-com utilities.

A few years ago Spectrum decided to switch off analog cable here. It used to be I had probably 10+ NTSC tuners driving TVs (and several more in VCR's/DVR's/DVD-recorders) for me alone, and if I so wanted I could go to goodwill get 70+ TVs for $0.49 a pop plaster a wall with them and watch every analog channel at once. When they went digital instead of going with unencrypted QAM (which though I'd have to buy new tuners I could BUY and OWN my own tuners in whatever quantity I see fit) they went with encrypted QAM...This meant that only Spectrum issued boxes will tune cable. That wouldn't be so bad if they didn't charge rent (they were free for the first year to help cook us frogs...Er..Um..Customers). So now I have 3 tuners. And each of our 6 boxes is costing ~$6 a pop a month. If I want to watch/record more than 3 shows at once (which happens occasionally) I'm screwed. And my timer recordings on vacations can get shows maybe 2-3 channels max when the same bank of VCRs&such could record material from 70+ channels before.
If I can find a better option my family will probably cut the cable...
There are at least three better options, Tom. Get a Roku box and use it instead of a cable box, go with a standard TV antenna, or use a service like Hulu or YouTube TV. These will give you all your locals; YTTV and Hulu will add some cable channels. This way you can get at the very least your local TV channels, without having to lease a box from your cable company. I have Spectrum (Time Warner) cable (their Spectrum TV Choice package, which gives me all my locals plus ten user-selected cable channels) with a Roku device; my cable bill runs on average $100 a month, but that is the total charge for three services (telephone, Internet and the afore-mentioned Choice TV package).

I don't know exactly what the monthly charge is for the Choice package itself, but I am reasonably sure it is far less than what I would pay if I were renting a box. I would use a TV antenna and cut the cord entirely, but there are reception issues in my area that preclude me from taking that option, namely, I cannot get two important network affiliates OTA because of my location and because both stations transmit on VHF DTV channels that do not reach my area, a small town some 40-45 miles from the TV transmitters.

BTW, Spectrum (TW) and every other US cable operator have ended analog cable, switching to 100 percent digital (encrypted QAM) service. The only way anyone can get cable service from any US cable company these days is by renting a cable box--there are no exceptions whatsoever. This has also put an end to recording TV shows off the air with a VCR, although some services such as Hulu and Youtube TV offer what they call a "cloud DVR", which will allow subscribers to record TV shows for later viewing even if they do not have a standard DVR.
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Last edited by Jeffhs; 02-18-2019 at 01:47 PM.
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  #51  
Old 02-18-2019, 02:10 PM
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Electronic M Electronic M is offline
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Jehffs there's nothing I want to watch that is available OTA...Roku needs a cable subscription to access cable content so all it would do is eliminate a few boxes.

At some point I'm probably going to research PlayStation Vue, but I need to find time for that.
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  #52  
Old 02-21-2019, 10:49 PM
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ChrisW6ATV ChrisW6ATV is offline
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I have a real home phone line fed with copper wire from the AT&T central office, but supplied by a competitive carrier (Sonic.net) that offers superb value and service. I have rotary-dial phones connected and I still use them, it is fun to call someone on a cell phone with a rotary-dial phone. (-:
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  #53  
Old 02-21-2019, 11:14 PM
crt89 crt89 is offline
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We do but it's through the cable modem. Rotary dial phone won't work with it.

The Uniden cordless phones also have a bluetooth link. So I can make either landline calls or cell phone calls from the same cordless handset.

Today's smartphones have horrible call quality, in my experience, the caller sounds like they're underwater or like a high pitch loudspeaker. The tiny mic and speaker is probably the cause I'd guess.

Landline call quality was so much better.
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  #54  
Old 03-04-2019, 05:43 PM
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Telecolor 3007 Telecolor 3007 is offline
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How to make fun of younger generations (man, they are 16-17... they never watched old movies): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHNEzndgiFI&t=38s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Bu8BZBeAg
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  #55  
Old 05-03-2023, 09:30 PM
Dude111 Dude111 is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,406
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV
I have a real home phone line fed with copper wire from the AT&T central office, but supplied by a competitive carrier (Sonic.net) that offers superb value and service. I have rotary-dial phones connected and I still use them, it is fun to call someone on a cell phone with a rotary-dial phone. (-:
I tell ya Chris,I would love getting a reg landline again from the local phone company that still has the same switch they had on it in the 90s! (A DMS Switch)

I think DMS stuff is better then 5 ESS or this even newer 7 ESS...

Much better quality than this digital crap........
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  #56  
Old 05-04-2023, 07:53 AM
n8nagel n8nagel is offline
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My parents dropped theirs and went cellular (they don't have the option of high speed internet where they live, no cable or FiOS or anything) because the land line was so unreliable. Go figure!

In a commercial setting, I have seen a lot of people moving to cellular dialers for monitoring their fire alarm system because everyone is moving away from having any POTS lines.
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  #57  
Old 05-04-2023, 12:49 PM
Electronic M's Avatar
Electronic M Electronic M is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by n8nagel View Post
My parents dropped theirs and went cellular (they don't have the option of high speed internet where they live, no cable or FiOS or anything) because the land line was so unreliable. Go figure!

In a commercial setting, I have seen a lot of people moving to cellular dialers for monitoring their fire alarm system because everyone is moving away from having any POTS lines.
It's not surprising. In my area half the boxes ofr the buried POTs cables are missing their covers and or wrapped in trash bags to mitigate water incursion...15 years ago when we last had POTs sound quality and reliability were abysmal, I'm kinda scared for to know how bad it's gotten since then. Our coax based landline is not the greatest either reliability wise, and add to that the asshole field techs will chop a paying customers buried line off at the ground (forcing it to be reran) at midnight because they sensed noise from ONE bad connection inside the house....Part of me wishes I had noticed him outside and "mistaken him for a burgler" if you catch my drift.
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  #58  
Old 05-04-2023, 09:40 PM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by n8nagel View Post
My parents dropped theirs and went cellular (they don't have the option of high speed internet where they live, no cable or FiOS or anything) because the land line was so unreliable. Go figure!

In a commercial setting, I have seen a lot of people moving to cellular dialers for monitoring their fire alarm system because everyone is moving away from having any POTS lines.
Your parents must live in a very small town far away from any major city, if they do not have high-speed Internet or cable TV. (Do they have any kind of Internet service at all?) I never in my life heard of an area that isolated from modern technology, except in rural areas tens or hunreds of miles from any major city. Do they still have a TV antenna on a tower, as people used to have in small towns years ago? If not, do they at least get one or two TV stations with rabbit ears? Again, I cannot imagine any area in the United States that far away from TV stations that the residents cannot get at least one channel, even in this age of digital TV.

At least your parents are within range of at least one cellular phone tower, which is good because without cellular, they would be completely without reliable phone service. As I said, I cannot begin to imagine how any small town could be that firmly cut off from modern technology (no high-speed Internet, no cable TV) in this day and age. As I said, they must be in a very small town, literally "in the middle of nowhere", as the expression goes.
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Last edited by Jeffhs; 05-06-2023 at 09:06 PM.
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  #59  
Old 05-06-2023, 10:23 AM
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Ed in Tx Ed in Tx is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by n8nagel View Post
I have seen a lot of people moving to cellular dialers for monitoring their fire alarm system because everyone is moving away from having any POTS lines.
Cannot easily disable the phone line with a simple pair of wire cutters, too.
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  #60  
Old 05-09-2023, 12:15 PM
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Charlie Charlie is offline
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Cut the cord!

Last time I posted here, I mentioned that my phone bill was at $70. That was in 2019. Recently, it hit $105, and I finally had enough!

My cel phone is thru Verizon, and I found they had a cellular home phone service for about $25... and I got to port my original AT&T phone number. I am thinking this is the same service that n8nagel mentioned a few posts ago.

I have a little white box that picks up the cel signal, generates a dial tone, and acts just like the copper line. Plug your phone into it and presto! Works great.

I went outside and disconnected the wiring in the AT&T box on the house, and then plugged my white box directly into one of my phone jacks, and it sent the dial tone all throughout the house. So now, even the old phone on the wall works.

The only drawback (which is one I expected) is that I am not able to dial out with my rotary phones... but I have a cordless phone that I can use. My rotary phones ring loud and work great when an incoming call comes in!

There is also a battery in the white box that lasts for several hours if the power goes out.

My old Sony answering machine also works just fine with it.

Considering this is 80 dollars cheaper than what I was previously paying, I think the system works great and I am very satisfied!
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