VoIP. Is Phone by Wire Nearly Dead?

Thank you Kirit for your explanation of these terms that are bandied around so frequently by product marketing organisations in the hope that 'the general public' will be easily 'taken in' by these 'allegedly' new technologies. I must apologise if my comments appeared to reflect any ignorance on my part. On the contrary, I made the mistake of assuming that many IET Forum Members would realise that I was actually being heavily critical of the very loose use of terminology and the false promises of cost savings alluded to in the TalkTechDaily Advert link posted by Zoomup.


From my own recent experience, of upgrading my broadband from Basic Copper ADSL (10Mbit/s download, 800kbit/s upload) via copper pair cable from my home to the local exchange approx 1 mile away, I was offered a small cost saving, of some £2 per month, fixed for 18 months to upgrade to a much faster Fibre Broadband service, which gives typically 36Mbit/s download and 10 Mbit/s upload speeds. Not that I needed any more than 10Mbit/s download for watching BBC iplayer etc via the WWW, but the much improved upload speed given by this new, mostly optical fibre based service has already proved a bonus when uploading large data files into various 'clouds'.

Dependency on Exchange 48 volt Supply

The observations made by some members regarding the dependency of the user's landline telephone handset on the availability of the nominal 48 volt exchange supply, for correct operation of their 'phone, especially in the event of an emergency, where the local national power grid fails is undoubtedly an important consideration. Indeed it was/is common to see DECT landline handsets supplied with a red warning label that the cordless handset to base station link will not work in the event of a mains power failure (since it is illegal to draw any significant power from the exchange 48 volt supply - it is traditionally only used for 'signalling' when using an old fashioned round dial 'return to zero' handset). Presumably, customers equipped with Fibre to the Home connections to the local exchange via associated electronics will not be supplied with any 48 volt line into their premises. I am not fully up to date with the fine details of these FTTH systems, but assume we are expected to use our mobile phones to make emergency calls in the event of local mains power failure, and hope that the nearest 4G/LTE mobile phone network antenna/mast and associated electronic gear is all fully battery 'backed up' by UPS systems.

Thank you Kirit for your explanation of these terms that are bandied around so frequently by product marketing organisations in the hope that 'the general public' will be easily 'taken in' by these 'allegedly' new technologies. I must apologise if my comments appeared to reflect any ignorance on my part. On the contrary, I made the mistake of assuming that many IET Forum Members would realise that I was actually being heavily critical of the very loose use of terminology and the false promises of cost savings alluded to in the TalkTechDaily Advert link posted by Zoomup.


From my own recent experience, of upgrading my broadband from Basic Copper ADSL (10Mbit/s download, 800kbit/s upload) via copper pair cable from my home to the local exchange approx 1 mile away, I was offered a small cost saving, of some £2 per month, fixed for 18 months to upgrade to a much faster Fibre Broadband service, which gives typically 36Mbit/s download and 10 Mbit/s upload speeds. Not that I needed any more than 10Mbit/s download for watching BBC iplayer etc via the WWW, but the much improved upload speed given by this new, mostly optical fibre based service has already proved a bonus when uploading large data files into various 'clouds'.

Dependency on Exchange 48 volt Supply

The observations made by some members regarding the dependency of the user's landline telephone handset on the availability of the nominal 48 volt exchange supply, for correct operation of their 'phone, especially in the event of an emergency, where the local national power grid fails is undoubtedly an important consideration. Indeed it was/is common to see DECT landline handsets supplied with a red warning label that the cordless handset to base station link will not work in the event of a mains power failure (since it is illegal to draw any significant power from the exchange 48 volt supply - it is traditionally only used for 'signalling' when using an old fashioned round dial 'return to zero' handset). Presumably, customers equipped with Fibre to the Home connections to the local exchange via associated electronics will not be supplied with any 48 volt line into their premises. I am not fully up to date with the fine details of these FTTH systems, but assume we are expected to use our mobile phones to make emergency calls in the event of local mains power failure, and hope that the nearest 4G/LTE mobile phone network antenna/mast and associated electronic gear is all fully battery 'backed up' by UPS systems.