I would disagree that use and demand for landline phones have exited this modern world; that these have been abandoned in favor of the cellular phones. Many studies have been conducted on the issue of oust of landline phones and it was proven that the decline in the number of users is not significant. This means that despite having cellular phones, consumers still retain their landline phone number.

A landline phone number is still basic communication medium in homes and offices. Landlines are still very reliable – no signal interruptions and infrequent garbled voice transmission. To be competitive, application for installation of land line phones has become very easy. After approval, your line is installed and the phone company assigns a landline phone number.

But what is a landline number? This is the number assigned to you when you have a land line installed. To install a landline, you will be given by the company wires that will connect your voice transmission to a console. Your voice will be converted into electric signals and the receiving end will be able to hear you. Thus your conversation can start.

Advantages of retaining a landline phone number

1. Reliability of a landline phone number – Instances of problematic transmissions are less than when you use a cellular phone. This lies on the fact that fixed cables transfer calls better than through radio waves. Fixed cables are to landline phones as radio waves are to cellular phones.
2. Stability of connection – With a landline phone number, you transmit and receive clearer calls contrary to the cellular’s garbled calls due to poor signal. With a landline phone number, it is very seldom that you encounter static conversations. The voice transmission is crystal clear.
3. Security of conversation – You are assured of security of conversation because it is harder to intercept through cables than radio waves.
4. Lower cost – Landline phone number is cheaper than the cellular one as far as talk time is concerned.

Although there are many advantages, a landline phone number is not spared of any fault. The major disadvantage is mobility. Unlike the cellular phones, you cannot bring your landline anywhere. This disadvantage however has been resolved lately. The landlines had innovated and introduced the mobile or wireless landline number – with all the efficiency of a wired landline and cellular phones. The new VoIP technology was introduced to the landline phone and hence, mobility is no longer a problem.

Landline phone number is still being used for the advantages it has over the cellular phones. And landline service providers never cease with their research to match whatever features come up with the cellular mobile phones.

 A few years ago, you could count on your fingers the number of companies we call landline providers. The realization of the necessity for a land line and its undying popularity had caused an upward trend in the telephone business and since then landline providers have mushroomed to their present number. With competition among themselves and with the rising demand for cellular phones, the landline telephone business was threatened. But it survived and to the present date, the number of landline subscribers had not gone down considerably.

There are thousands of service providers – local, national or international. There are landline service providers, cellular phone service providers and internet service providers. The company that carries the business of telephone communication is called the service provider. The basic service is to provide a telephone line and a corresponding phone number. If the service provider is local, then the telephone connections can be just within the locality. But since competition has been very high, the service providers deemed it important to widen their service coverage; they went internationally. They provided local calls, NDD (national direct dialing) and IDD (international direct dialing) services. The direct dialing functions eventually lessened the need for operator assistance. That was not even the halt – landline providers included in their scope the role of cellular phone providers and much later to the present day, they are likewise internet providers.

From the original local, national and international facilities, the landlline providers, in their desire to capture a huge chunk of the telecommunication market, began to include other extra services. The purpose is not only to have more subscribers, but also to add have more income through the charges. Each extra service can cost additional fee. Aside from the basic local and long distance calling, the other features are caller ID, call forwarding, call waiting, voicemail, call blocking, three way calling and emergency calling to 911.

With the introduction of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology, you can expect the landline providers to include a VoIP phone in their package. This is the current trend in communication which is being utilized primarily because of ease and less cost. This allows for flexibility in the previous limited use of landlines. As long as you have internet, all will run smoothly. And with the VoIP, the new concentration in communication technology, expect more enhancements in it.

Offering of VoIP by providers won’t cost the company much. They would not need additional lines – just the internet. It is cheaper investment on the part of landline provider and the technology will surely have a high appeal on subscribers. Both landline providers cum VoIP and customers will benefit through the use of this new technology.

Voice communication in this modern technology will always be prioritized. It is true that major concentration was placed on electronic devices; but the efforts of the landline providers to cope with the evolving changes are worthy of commendation. Businesses will continue to flourish and adapting to the changes is inevitable. 

Basic Landline Service Is Not Enough – Add More Features To Your Landline Telephone

 Landline telephones had been used for hundreds of years ago. It was then a sleeping industry so much so that its function had been the very basic landline service – that of enabling one person to talk to another distant person through cable lines. But the world of electronics and technology made breakthroughs and from then on, technological innovations never stopped. Competition emerged, aggravated by the entry into the communication market of the cellular phones. The stiff rivalry among different service providers sent the signal that radical change in landline service is called for.

 Basic landline service

This basic service is labeled remote call, emanating from the urgent need for audio communication. Initially for local calls only, the landline telephones became national and with the industry progressing endlessly, the landline phones went global. That time, national and international calls were coursed through an operator. We owe a lot to competition and technology. Gone are the days of operator assisted calls – emerged the national direct dialing (NDD) and international direct dialing (IDD). Thus the basic service embraced these additional features.

Added calling features

1. Voice mail – This is also called the voice box. In your absence, the landline telephone answers your incoming calls. This feature includes storage capacity up to 30 minutes, provides remote access to any message left during the incoming call.
2. Caller ID – This is a feature where the telephone number or the name of the calling party registers while the phone is ringing. This enables you to identify prank calls.
3. Call waiting – This allows you to hold existing call and take another incoming call.
4. Anonymous Call Rejection – This feature redirects calls of any number or name that you would not like to answer. The facility will make a pre-set announcement of your decline of the call.
5. Call blocking – Your telephone will block other telephone numbers to call your assigned number. A maximum of 6 phone numbers can be blocked.
6. Call forwarding – This feature redirects any incoming call to another telephone number.
7. Last call connect – This is an automatic feature where the last number calling you will be dialed.
8. My cav tel bill viewer – This allows you to view your statement of account; then you can make your payments using the provider’s on-line services. From this feature, you can also make changes in your telephone features through on-line facilities.
9. Remote call forwarding – This allows you to change anywhere and anytime your call forwarding.

10.  Repeat dialing – This is the reverse of your call connect feature. Here, an automatic call to the last number you called will be dialed.

11.  Speed dial – You can dial automatically any number in the list of 8 frequently called numbers.

12.  Three way calling – This is a three in one feature where with a single call, you can task with 3 people.

 Another service offered by telephone providers is the telephone bundle with an internet connection. The monthly quotation is dependent on the speed of the internet connection. The modem to be used is usually provided by the company. And with the new milestone – VoIP, expect the telephone companies to be offering this facility soon.

 Every telephone company offers other telephone features aside from the very basic landline service of connecting two people through cables. It is the discretion of the subscriber to add one or more features. But since most companies, out of competition, offer additional features for free, many telephone numbers enjoy additional services without additional cost. 

Are you fond of communicating via telephone? The first medium of calling a person stationed in a far away location was through landline phones.

When it was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, people at the time were filled with amazement. Then, we had pagers. The mobile (cellular) phones became a fad, which to date still is. And intelligent communication engineers now came up with a more sophisticated communication medium – the best. Voip is more wonderful! But how to find the best Voip service?

To an ordinary person, this sounds Greek! So the concept needs to be understood to be appreciated. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a kind of voice transmission where the voice signal is delivered through IP networks. The IP networks we have today are the internet and packet-switched networks. You might encounter the terms telephony or voice over broadband (VoBB), they are just the same as VoIP. So let us stick to the original term – VoIP.

Understanding the function of the VoIP

This is an innovation in communication technology where a telephone call is made and the voice signal transmitted through a broadband internet connection, instead of the traditional underground analog landline. Different providers allow you to avail of different services. For instance, you are allowed only to call persons having the same provider. Others will allow you to call any other person who has a telephone number. So with this latter option, you can also make local, national and international calls via landline or cellular phones. There are still some providers that allow, through an adapter, voice transmission over the internet. VoIP indeed has done many wonders again to make the modern life more fast-paced.

As we have transformed every electronic device from the analog to the digital, this was also introduced to the communication arena. When you use the VoIP, your voice is digitalized through the data packets before they are sent and eventually reconverted again to the voice destination. Thus you can make conversation via the internet. The digitalized method is easier to control than the analog and as such, the voice transmission is quieter – they are tolerant of noise and other unrelated sound.

Compare PSTN with VoIP

PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) is the old communication network we were using. It was then analog in form but the system was also innovated and is now digitalized. In PSTN, you pay for the time you use – which means that the longer conversation you have over the phone, the higher is the pay charge. Then with this communication, you are allowed to speak to only one person at a time. This is traditional telephone (landline or cellular) that we had and we still use today as an alternative or in conjunction with VoIP.

The VoIP on the other hand allows unlimited time to talk and you can have conference conversation (talk with many people at a give time). Since the conversation is made through the internet, your charge will depend on your broadband package. This facility was the main reason why a lot of people contract unlimited internet usage.

The world is changing – the metamorphosis of the communication industry has undergone immeasurable steps. Letter writing was replaced by text messaging and electronic mails (emails). Voice communication from the landline telephones evolved into the cellular phones and now the VoIP phones. With the continuing changes in technology, a great pressure is applied on the industry of landline telephones. Will this line of communication be ultimately phased out or not?

Traditionally, landline phones were the most common version of voice communication. This allows one person to connect with another, regardless of the distance between them. With the advent of cellular phones, the utility of the landline phones seems to diminish. Then the internet contributed to the downward trend in its applicability. This seems to be the major consensus – but are the people giving this negative feedback on landline phones right?

Landline phones had continued its patronage despite the many innovations in different voice communications. Many homes and businesses never dropped their landline telephone in favor of the cellular. The landline telephone continued to be a permanent fixture at home and in the office. Cellular phones are just addition to their communication need. Surveys had been made and the result indicated no sign of landline telephones phase-out.
 
Reasons why landline telephones are not given-up

For those who just need basic means to voice communicate, the landline telephone is the most practical.  Cost of maintenance of the service is minimal compared to the fees charged by a cellular telephone. Monthly fees are lower and the per-minute call is similarly lower. Furthermore, the cost of long distance calls via the landline telephone is cheaper than with the cellular phones.

 Another factor is the reliability of telephone lines. Power failures do not affect its utility since the calls are made through cable lines. Signal is never a problem thus; there is crystal clear clarity of voice conversation. Signals of cellular phones in differing areas are also variable hence, transmission of voice calls are affected.

One very important feature of the landline telephone that is very useful to housewives is the embodiment of an emergency call. With landline telephones, calling the 911 emergency line is always feasible.

The landline telephone does not give you the hassle of charging the phone’s battery. Even without power, you can always be sure that the telephone line will be functional.

For businesses, landline telephones cannot be eliminated. For one, landline telephone companies have provision of telephone directories. Directory advertisements are essential in marketing the products of several businesses. This is also practical for home use. A glimpse in the directory can give you the telephone number of a person you want to call (but unfortunately you do not have the number). Although many remain unlisted, still there is a great chance (than none) to spot the phone number.

Although it is true that landline telephones do not allow the flexibility of cellular phones, the benefits to some people of having this line of communication are still vital. And the final assessment is: landline telephones are here to stay! 

Telephones have been a major fixture in every home. From the time of its (debatable) inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, the utility of this means of communication had consistently and increasingly gained acceptance. Landline telephones make communications fast and easy. Landlines are the most sought after type of telephones. They have never been disregarded as one important gadget to carry on daily activities. In work places, the landline phone is indispensable. Personal or business communications profit from this invention. The economy likewise benefits from them in terms of gross national product and employment. Even with the current trend of cellular phones, the landline phone is here to stay. Why?

 Landline phones have very many uses

1. It is very reliable, even more reliable than cell phones. As landline phones are transmitted through cables, the reception using this as communication is better. Your conversation with the receiver is clearer and more audible. You do not encounter choppy conversations because it does not have problem on signal. You are not bothered by issue on low battery –  that needs to be recharged from time to time.
2. Landline phones give the user great security. Eavesdropping on telephone conversations is almost impossible.
3. Landline phones are easy to maintain, so long there is the cable wire, you will not have problem in continuously using it.
4. Landline phones are easy to install and once installed it is there until you want the service.
5. You have no problem when emergency or crisis arises. It is always ready to be used. Very important is its immediate availability to a 9-1-1 call that can save your life or the life of the members of your household. 
6. Your safety is even more enhanced because with landlines, the operator can easily track down your location. So in cases of emergency, even without completing your call to inform your place, you can be tracked down. This is location tracking.
7. Your calls, national and international cost less.
8. Connection with overseas calls and inter-country calls are easy especially with the direct dialing function of the landline phone.
9. With the present technology, you can have other added landline functions like call waiting and call barring.
10. You can also have your landline phone installed with the caller id. So prank calls can be avoided.
11. Landline phones are no different now with cellular phones, they also carry text messaging function.
12. Today, landline phones can be carried anywhere, mobile – just like cellular phones.
13. Landline phones connect you better to the internet.
14. There are many companies for landline phones and you can always choose the best.

Statistics show that even with the advent of cellular phones, the landline phones had continuously flourished. If ever there is a drop in number of users, the drop is very minimal. Why? Because even if people are equipped with cellular phones, they never have their landline phones disconnected. So – in essence, it is a fact that landline phones are here to stay.