In reply to a post by candlerb:

I think the hospital phone ban was more to do with protecting revenue on the expensive patient service consoles, where you call in and out using a premium rate number, and you also pay for TV by the day.

those crazy systems came in later, weren't at the start of the ban.

. But since planes gained on-board wifi, and more recently micro cells, magically those worries have evaporated.

The change to smart phones is that you can have WiFi and internet services in aircraft with the cellular modem disabled. This wasn't the case with the original feature phones.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Something the pilots do not want during take off and landing - I've been there and heard it many times.

The unmistakable 'chatter' of a GSM phone on an RF system is quite obvious and irritating... especially if the radio auto-squelch and you miss an important transmission.

On final approach to a major European airport, on te flight deck of a B744 when all hell broke loose ... not one but many GSM handsets started breaking through resulting an a go-around and a real snotty AP announcement.

In reply to a post by MHC:

On final approach to a major European airport, on te flight deck of a B744 when all hell broke loose ... not one but many GSM handsets started breaking through resulting an a go-around and a real snotty AP announcement.

Ugh... yeah; general public just doesn't realise what is going on. A local in aircraft cell that the phones connected to would stop this and reduce their transmit power - but not cheap for the airlines to deploy. Cheaper to yell at passengers

Maybe 4G, as 3G is to be phased out by 2033?

3G is already gone in many areas - EE finished its 3G decommissioning nationwide a few months ago, other networks are not far behind.

In reply to a post by sheephouse:

Maybe 4G, as 3G is to be phased out by 2033?

3G is already gone in many areas - EE finished its 3G decommissioning nationwide a few months ago, other networks are not far behind.

Vodafone and EE already turned off 3G. Three is due this year. O2 sometime in 2025.

What will run until 2033 is the small capacity left of 2G (Vodafone, O2, EE) for those industrial usages such as parking meters, and smart meters that aren’t 4G capable.

In reply to a post by pluralist:

There's no real excuse for this potentially life-saving gear not to be guaranteed to work in the case of power failure.

No technology is guaranteed to work forever. The equipment vendors need to update their products and provide a sensible upgrade path to their customers. This happens all the time, nobody had a free new car when 4 STAR leaded petrol ended… there were a few people whom used an additive for a while.

Human society is about change, in every aspect. With sufficient notice adjustments and changes can be made.

I read (on ISP review probably) that Openreach may have a solution for those phone lines that don’t have broadband to assist in this transition. One example was emergency phones in lift shafts.

This isn't very surprising to be honest. First, for the elderly people who aren't technically well advanced they need broadband set-up. This means if they aren't able to set it up for themselves, Openreach or the ISP need to come to set their router up and register their handset(s).

In the event of power outage this is going to be a problem not just for the elderly but for any person in a potentially vulnerable position. Of-course I have my own mobile phone. But imagine if a burglar or gang came to my house/flat and confiscated my phone and turned off the internet and I can't call the police or anyone for help, I'll be completely helpless. I can try to fight back but I may not succeed. It may even be risky to do so. The elderly are in a much more helpless situation. This will result in robberies being committed, rapes and assaults.

Battery back-up must also be included especially for FTTP. Because reliable internet connection without a reliable electricity won't be good enough either. It may be good for people in the big cities that rarely get power outages, but not for the most remote rural areas.

So, turning off PSTN of-course is inevitable but it should happen in a gradual step by step process. Of-course no doubt the newer generation of people won't have to worry much about it because I'm sure 40-50 years from now when I get to 75-80+ years of age things will improve rapidly.

Also, I can't really endorse PSTN switch off even for people on FTTC because not everyone on FTTC has a stable and reliable internet connection. For example, since the 8th of March BT Smart Hub 2 router firmware upgrade, my internet has been dropping out every single night between 1-5am! This seems to be programmed for whatever reason. I have not enquired much about this yet. Though I am thinking of switching to Community Fibre soon anyway. I myself won't care if I lose my home telephone number but there are others who will of-course care since they don't have good mobile phone coverage.

There are also people with cabinets that are up to a thousand meters away from their property. If Openreach can't guarantee a 100% reliable internet connection then such bold move would be incredibly unfair and even dangerous!

There are also people with cabinets that are up to a thousand meters away from their property. If Openreach can't guarantee a 100% reliable internet connection then such bold move would be incredibly unfair and even dangerous!

‘Up to a thousand meters away ?!?!? One kilometre is nothing, 2k is a guideline as to the limit for VDSL, but in practice I’ve seen sync at 2.5, even 2.8 k. Failing that there’s ADSL too.
Remember this thread is discussing a voice solution for panic alarm systems that the suppliers have chosen NOT to upgrade with 10 years notice that the move to VOIP based systems was coming.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

There are also people with cabinets that are up to a thousand meters away from their property. If Openreach can't guarantee a 100% reliable internet connection then such bold move would be incredibly unfair and even dangerous!

‘Up to a thousand meters away ?!?!? One kilometre is nothing, 2k is a guideline as to the limit for VDSL, but in practice I’ve seen sync at 2.5, even 2.8 k. Failing that there’s ADSL too.
Remember this thread is discussing a voice solution for panic alarm systems that the suppliers have chosen NOT to upgrade with 10 years notice that the move to VOIP based systems was coming.

One kilometre is not nothing when it comes to FTTC! You can't get very high sync speed. You have seen posters on these forums with a 1000 metre distance cabinet from their home in some rural areas and they are achieving only around 20Mbps download, some even less. While a few lucky people get around 30Mbps! Those affected, rightfully question, "what was the point of upgrading to FTTC, if the download speeds won't be much better than ADSL"?
You cannot get 50-80Mbps on FTTC with a 1000 meter cabinet. Now I know most people do have shorter distance cabinets but this is just an example that I'm pointing out.

The longer the copper the greater there is risk to line faults, noise and speed re-syncs. This is why Full Fibre is essential especially if you want the connection to be reliable so that the phone service isn't disrupted!

Sure the panic alarm system is going to be a headache for those elderly people but this applies for digital phone services as well. An elderly might need to call the ambulance, GP, police, fire brigade, etc. If their connection drops in the middle of a call or they can't call because of internet outage then they are in trouble. The panic alarm will also not work.

Then some may have dementia/Alzheimer's disease and not remember to turn their handset phone on or know or forgot that they need to charge it. Others won't know where their router is and how to even turn it on! This is an ageing population with single elderly people living in homes, of which many people here don't have close family members to help them or live with them to assist them with things like that.

VOIP is a good thing and is the future but analogue phone service shouldn't be immediately turned off until the service and reliability isn't fully tested, especially when not everyone is upgraded to FTTP yet. Openreach are trying to save maintenance costs by not having to maintain analogue phone network side by side while having a budget to upgrade the country with FTTP. I can understand from an economical perspective this makes perfect sense but this disregards any feelings for the vulnerable people in society during this transition phase.