4 ms·

> I had more reliable phone service in the 1970s. I've considered getting a landline again, but it would be nothing but spam calls and surveys and scammers.

by Syonyk 5y ago

> I had more reliable phone service in the 1970s. I've considered getting a landline again, but it would be nothing but spam calls and surveys and scammers. I grew up with landlines, and it was possible to have long, nuanced conversations on them without stepping on each other like happens with modern cell phones, and someone pointed out a year or two back that the issue is the latency. Cell phones are high latency, often with some variances in the latency - for everything. Landlines, across town, were both lower latency and far more consistent. Even across the country didn't seem so bad as a modern cell phone to your neighbor. Talking on the phone didn't used to be painful - but it is now.

ghaff 5y ago
I dropped mine last year (along with my cable TV) because it was nothing but junk. I'd have turned off the ringer and just kept it for backup but I don't use the phone a lot and $40/month or so was too much to pay for something I wouldn't really use.
linsomniac 5y ago
I realized a few weeks ago that the house I've lived in for 5 years, I don't even know where a single phone jack is in the house. Except for the one that I tucked up in the attic when I remodeled the kitchen.
- Syonyk 5y ago
  Our house literally doesn't have any. It was built new (manufactured home) in 2016, and I'm not even sure if it was an option in the build - I'd have to look over the list of options again.
  - rootusrootus 5y ago
    In 2012 when our house was built, the builder tried to convince me to drop the RJ11 jacks. I guess I'm old fashioned, I told them to put them in anyway. Haven't used them for anything, oh well. They're not useful for anything more than actual POTS.
    - Rychard 5y ago
      I'd recommend pulling the face-plate and checking the wiring. In my experience, builders use CAT5e for phone jacks (and for other low-voltage systems, like alarms.
      - rootusrootus 5y ago
        Oh I'm sure it's at least cat5, but phone jacks are usually wired in series (in my experience, at least), which puts a damper on what you can do with them for data.
        toast0 5y ago
        It's worth double checking, home running POTS to a central point or at least the demarc got pretty common by 2000 or so. Makes it easier to add lines and what not, for your fax machine or computer modem.
        Rychard 5y ago
        Yes, but they're usually terminated in an accessible panel located somewhere inside the house (I've mostly seem them in closets, look for a metal plate on the wall) Once inside, it's a relatively simple process to cut the CAT5 wires at the punchdown block, and re-terminate them with male/female ethernet connectors, and connect them up to a network switch. If you're lucky, the panel will have a power outlet inside. Lastly, connect one of the LAN ports from your ISP modem/router into the nearest ethernet jack and you should be able to use any other jack in the house for internet, assuming you terminated all the plugs in the panel into a proper switch.
        rootusrootus 5y ago
        Sadly, in my case they definitely did it in series. I documented it during the build and kept the pictures of all my in-wall wiring. It doesn't even terminate inside the house except at the jacks, it runs from jack to jack all the way back to where the electrical meter is, and then out a hole in the side of the house to where it would presumably be connected by Centurylink if I bought landline service from them. One of my great blunders when this house was built was telling the electrician no when he offered to wire the house for ethernet for a few hundred bucks. He wasn't low voltage licensed, but he said he could still run the wire and just coil it up in boxes with blank plates for someone (me) to come along later and finish. I was in a rush that day and said no thanks, we're just going to use WiFi anyway. DOH. I still want to slap myself in the head almost 10 years later when I think of it. The closest I can get to having wired network in the house using existing wiring would be using the coax which is installed to the same plates in every room as the RJ11. That wire does come back to a common point, and only one of those runs gets used for anything. But the gear to convert coax to ethernet is mildly expensive for what it is, and I haven't pulled the trigger.
Animats 5y ago
Talking on the phone didn't used to be painful - but it is now. Indeed. I have a "land line", but it's just VoIP. I miss ISDN voice. Rigidly time-synchronized, no stutter, no transmission noise.
- blincolnmercury 5y ago
  Syonyk >"Talking on the phone didn't used to be painful - but it is now." This. I ceased using a cellphone when I retired. Three days ago was conscripted into a cellphone conversation that had terrible audio and communications drops. If anything, cellphones have grown worse IMO. My landline has ISDN to the local office but the audio quality drops b/c of the other party's cellphone. Good news: it worked through the recent Texas cold weather power blackout. Wishing for the old days, when not only could speech be understood but also the emotions and inflections of the speaker were transmitted. All those nuances are lost "like tears in the rain": "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Blade Runner - Final scene, "Tears in Rain" Monologue (HD): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoAzpa1x7jU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoAzpa1x7jU

by Syonyk 5y ago

ghaff 5y ago

I dropped mine last year (along with my cable TV) because it was nothing but junk. I'd have turned off the ringer and just kept it for backup but I don't use the phone a lot and $40/month or so was too much to pay for something I wouldn't really use.

linsomniac 5y ago

I realized a few weeks ago that the house I've lived in for 5 years, I don't even know where a single phone jack is in the house. Except for the one that I tucked up in the attic when I remodeled the kitchen.

Syonyk 5y ago
Our house literally doesn't have any. It was built new (manufactured home) in 2016, and I'm not even sure if it was an option in the build - I'd have to look over the list of options again.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  In 2012 when our house was built, the builder tried to convince me to drop the RJ11 jacks. I guess I'm old fashioned, I told them to put them in anyway. Haven't used them for anything, oh well. They're not useful for anything more than actual POTS.
  - Rychard 5y ago
    I'd recommend pulling the face-plate and checking the wiring. In my experience, builders use CAT5e for phone jacks (and for other low-voltage systems, like alarms.
    - rootusrootus 5y ago
      Oh I'm sure it's at least cat5, but phone jacks are usually wired in series (in my experience, at least), which puts a damper on what you can do with them for data.
      - toast0 5y ago
        It's worth double checking, home running POTS to a central point or at least the demarc got pretty common by 2000 or so. Makes it easier to add lines and what not, for your fax machine or computer modem.
      - Rychard 5y ago
        Yes, but they're usually terminated in an accessible panel located somewhere inside the house (I've mostly seem them in closets, look for a metal plate on the wall) Once inside, it's a relatively simple process to cut the CAT5 wires at the punchdown block, and re-terminate them with male/female ethernet connectors, and connect them up to a network switch. If you're lucky, the panel will have a power outlet inside. Lastly, connect one of the LAN ports from your ISP modem/router into the nearest ethernet jack and you should be able to use any other jack in the house for internet, assuming you terminated all the plugs in the panel into a proper switch.
        rootusrootus 5y ago
        Sadly, in my case they definitely did it in series. I documented it during the build and kept the pictures of all my in-wall wiring. It doesn't even terminate inside the house except at the jacks, it runs from jack to jack all the way back to where the electrical meter is, and then out a hole in the side of the house to where it would presumably be connected by Centurylink if I bought landline service from them. One of my great blunders when this house was built was telling the electrician no when he offered to wire the house for ethernet for a few hundred bucks. He wasn't low voltage licensed, but he said he could still run the wire and just coil it up in boxes with blank plates for someone (me) to come along later and finish. I was in a rush that day and said no thanks, we're just going to use WiFi anyway. DOH. I still want to slap myself in the head almost 10 years later when I think of it. The closest I can get to having wired network in the house using existing wiring would be using the coax which is installed to the same plates in every room as the RJ11. That wire does come back to a common point, and only one of those runs gets used for anything. But the gear to convert coax to ethernet is mildly expensive for what it is, and I haven't pulled the trigger.

Animats 5y ago

Talking on the phone didn't used to be painful - but it is now. Indeed. I have a "land line", but it's just VoIP. I miss ISDN voice. Rigidly time-synchronized, no stutter, no transmission noise.

blincolnmercury 5y ago
Syonyk >"Talking on the phone didn't used to be painful - but it is now." This. I ceased using a cellphone when I retired. Three days ago was conscripted into a cellphone conversation that had terrible audio and communications drops. If anything, cellphones have grown worse IMO. My landline has ISDN to the local office but the audio quality drops b/c of the other party's cellphone. Good news: it worked through the recent Texas cold weather power blackout. Wishing for the old days, when not only could speech be understood but also the emotions and inflections of the speaker were transmitted. All those nuances are lost "like tears in the rain": "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Blade Runner - Final scene, "Tears in Rain" Monologue (HD): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoAzpa1x7jU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoAzpa1x7jU