• thejml@sh.itjust.works
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    3 days ago

    I miss POTS. Copper landlines are a thing of the past. Now it’s just VoIP with a battery that doesn’t last long enough and another bill. (And place for scam/telemarketers/junk calls)

    • PancakesCantKillMe@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      In some areas you can no longer get a landline. I was discussing this with someone who lives rural and the phone company will not serve any of the addresses outside of towns.

      That’s strange to me as I still have a POTS line and have never been without one through my different abodes. I will say that only a few calls come in on it, but I use it for outbound calls quite often. Almost all of the spam calls come in on the cellphone now.

      I remember reading about the last hand-crank phone being removed (As an aside, my memory had this happening 20 years ago. Lol, it was 35!):

      https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/07/13/Remote-Idaho-town-retires-last-crank-call/3557647841600/

      “Smith said with hand-cranked telephones, ‘sometimes the connection cracks up and you only hear every third word.’”

      Hey, just like my cell service!

      • thejml@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        Last I heard, all the providers in the US are in the “we’re not actively canceling them, but we won’t roll out new ones or fix problems.

        • PancakesCantKillMe@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Yes, that seems to be the case. If you do cancel and move, the new owners won’t get a landline. The carrier in this particular area has also contracted out any rural service work.

    • palordrolap@fedia.io
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      3 days ago

      POTS isn’t quite dead in the UK, but it’s very much on the way out. The transition is slated to be complete by the end of January 2027.