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[telecom] When the Landline Is a Lifeline

When the Landline Is a Lifeline

By JON BRODKIN JUNE 4, 2014

AT&T and Verizon are pushing hard to shift traditional landline service, which has mostly operated over copper lines, to a system of Internet-based phones by around 2020. If the Federal Communications Commission approves the switch as is, it could come as a shock to the

96 million Americans who still rely on landlines.

The change itself is inevitable: the old copper lines are aging and expensive to maintain. And the new system is already in use. As of December 2012, 42 million Americans had Internet-based phones. But moving to an all Internet-based network will benefit Americans only if the F.C.C. is able to protect them in the shift.

The new phones have some major technical flaws. They can't hold up during long power failures or connect all emergency phone calls. But there are also regulatory problems: The change in service could free the telecom industry from its obligation to guarantee universal access and fair prices to consumers.

As a result, people in remote or rural areas who rely on landlines could end up paying a lot for a bad deal.

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[moderator pro tem's note: Just that excerpt alone contains a few whoppers, which tells you how confusing this topic is. For one thing, "copper" and "IP" are at different layers and not mutually exclusive. For another, fewer than 15 million Internet phones exist. Most "VoIP" is really Voice *using* IP (VuIP) over cable. That does not touch the Internet at all. Of course the Bells want to keep up the confusion.]
Reply to
Monty Solomon
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While this is technically true, it's effectively irrelevant. The fact is that the phone companies mostly tie the choice of upper-layer protocol to lower-layer technology. You can't connect a POTS phone directly to a fiber-optic cable, you need some kind of conversion device. And the devices that exist are based on VOIP protocols. Yes, you can provide broadband services over copper (that's what DSL is), but providers are generally phasing those services out because of their limitations and costs; so if you want broadband, you pretty much have to get fiber.

FG: They don't have to use VoIP; thre are better ways to run telephone over fiber optics. The point is that layers matter, and they can replace old copper without touching the insecure public Internet.

Now *you* are the one who is conflating things. IP and the Internet are not the same thing. You can use VOIP over the public Internet, as with third-party services like Vonage, or you can do it over a private IP network, as is done by all the broadband providers.

FG> But that's the point I *was* making. The article said 42 milllion American had *Internet-based phones*. But most of that number is private IP (VuIP). That was my point. The Internet frankly sucks for voice.

Reply to
Barry Margolin

They don't HAVE to, but that's how they've decided to do it, because it's most economical for various reasons.

They probably mean "phones lines that come from their Internet provider".

The simple fact is that people outside the industry don't really understand the fine details of this. All they know is POTS versus broadband, and all forms of the latter are conflated. And unless you're an implementor, you don't really need to distinguish it much further.

[moderator pro tem's note: But it does matter. VuIP works much better than VoIP; it handles fax, for instance. Also, it really matters if you're a regulator. They're the ones the telcos are trying to confuse.]
Reply to
Barry Margolin

The main reason is regulatory arbitrage: if they can persuade the regulators that IP == Internet == unregulated, they can get out from all of the requirements of a regluated telco, like providing service even to people where it's unprofitable.

R's, John

Reply to
John Levine

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