Should we mourn the end of the landline?

The humble telephone was a staple of 20th century culture and communication.

It provided millions of households with their first direct method of external contact.

However, as with so many obsolete phenomena, the seeds of the landline’s downfall were sown in the 1990s once the World Wide Web took hold.

Within a few years, the landline had become less a method of speaking to people, and more a method of getting online via a dial-up internet connection.

Subsequent developments in WiFi, home broadband and full fibre cable networks meant the landline wasn’t a digital communications artery any longer.

Ofcom reported a fortnight ago that less than half of UK households still have a landline – a startling decline for a technology present in 84 per cent of households just a decade ago.

The UK’s biggest telecommunications companies are working towards a deadline of December 2025 to switch off the country’s copper infrastructure and replace it with internet-based alternatives.

So is this the end of the landline, or are rumours of its demise being greatly exaggerated?

A land long forgotten

It’s important to recognise that the end of the landline (in analogue form, at least) equates to the end of our reliance on archaic technology.

Phone lines are largely unchanged from the 19th century when Alexander Graham Bell invented both the telephone itself and the copper twisted pairs used in phone lines.

The UK’s analogue network of copper phone lines was last updated in the 1980s, and it’s increasingly plagued by faults.

Dwindling reliability is being exacerbated by a lack of replacement parts and a dearth of experienced engineers.

Most households have turned their backs on triple play or quad play connection packages, in favour of separate broadband and mobile phone subscriptions.

The amount of time spent on landline calls halved in the 2010s and has continued to decline in the post-pandemic era.

Switching to an internet-based landline network instead of the old Public Switched Telephone Network promises greater flexibility and – despite some evidence to the contrary – dependability.

Phone bills won’t rise, despite the superior technology involved in distributing ‘landline’ calls over a digital network.

It’s a process many countries have already completed, including Canada, Sweden and Australia.

The case for the defence

While some countries have abandoned PSTN, other nations – notably France and Germany – still have more landlines in use than the UK does.

For many older people, a landline is a trustworthy tool in an increasingly volatile digital world, where emojis and texts are no substitute for vocal inflections and friendly greetings.

Landlines also underpin millions of medical and safety devices – telecare alarms, panic buttons, fire and burglar alarms, even lifts and level crossings.

These will all need to be upgraded to digital. Yet any digital service will be susceptible to power cuts, whereas landlines continue to work even in the absence of an electricity supply.

This has led to understandable concerns in regions prone to flooding, with patchy broadband networks, or where electricity supplies have historically been less than dependable.

Updating landline-reliant services is the responsibility of individual hardware manufacturers and service providers, rather than ISPs.

Virgin Media recently said only a tenth of local authorities were engaging with them regarding telecare switchovers, and telecare providers themselves were even less willing to engage.

I still have a landline. What do I need to do?

In the short-term, nothing.

Landlines themselves aren’t being abolished, just the old analogue cables they used to harness.

It’s been estimated that it’ll be 2067 before the last (digitally powered) UK landlines are no longer in use.

The digital switchover will occur in your region at some point, but it’s already been delayed due to the aforementioned issues with telecare alarms and 999 calls during power cuts or broadband outages.

The current scheduled switch-off date is December 2025, though Openreach are already mooting an extension to January 2027 to provide additional time for telecare switchovers.

You’ll be notified when your landline is due to be switched over, and hopefully there’ll be no service disruption – other than having to type area codes into each number you dial.