TECHNO

2025 will see the end of an era. The analogue phone system that has kept us all in touch for more than a century will be switched off and telephone calls will be routed over the internet instead. Chris Partridge reports

End of the line

Why will the phone as we know it, not be part of the future? The aim is mainly to save costs, and the cost of maintaining the vast network of copper wires to every business and home in the country is vast. And users are already voting with their wallets and disconnecting their landlines in favour of internet telephony or their mobile phones. The analogue system is dying.

When the great switch-off happens, most people will barely notice. Their phone number will stay the same. All they will have to do is unplug the phone from the old landline and transfer it to a gadget called an analogue telephone adaptor (ATA) attached to the broadband router. New routers and wifi hubs are coming out with an ATA built in, so all you have to do is plug the old phone into the BT-style socket at the back.

Clear advantages

Many will want to take full advantage of the benefits of digital telephony, including low call costs, easy integration of phone calls with business software and the magical ability to have the same number on multiple devices, such as your mobile, your home and your laptop – anywhere you can get an internet connection. You will never miss a call again.

This will probably involve investing

in a new VOIP (voice over internet protocol) exchange, or perhaps getting a hosted service such as Vonage or BT Cloud Voice, which takes the hassle away.

Of course, switching off a system as large as the analogue phone network (officially known as the PSTN or public switched telephone network) needs a lot of preparation and that has already started.

What happens now?

The first steps will be to take analogue phones off the market and encourage (and then compel) people renewing their contracts to switch to broadband only. This will start happening within the next year or so. Then there will be a publicity blitz, especially targeting the elderly and other vulnerable groups. The aim is to have everyone on digital before the switch-off.

There are, however, some devices on the analogue network that perform important functions in the background and are easily overlooked, such as door entry alarms, payment terminals and fire alarms. If you have any of these – and retailers most certainly do – it is worth ensuring they can be moved to digital.

Another casualty of the switch-off will be ISDN, which is still in use by some services.

One disadvantage of the move to digital is that, unlike analogue phones, digital phones need electricity to work. If there is a power cut, your phones will go down. Of course, now we all have mobiles this need not be a disaster, but it is worth thinking about.

An interesting possible solution from phone suppliers Andrews & Arnold is a special sim card that allows a mobile phone to pose as a regular extension on a landline but using the cellular network. If the power goes down, your mobile will still allow you to take calls to your ‘proper’ number.

It is always worth reviewing your phone system and looking at the many benefits and savings a digital system can provide, and now is probably a good time to do it.

GADGET OF THE MONTH: NOKIA T20 TABLET

In the last issue, I wrote about the resurgence of the tablet after years of sluggish sales, and right on cue a new one has been launched by Nokia, a brand better known for phones.

The T20 is a quality 10” tablet at a budget price that is expected to do very well in commercial applications, including retail, where good battery life, robust construction and good value score above fripperies like fancy cameras. It looks like a good option for sales staff – a case in strong flexible plastic is also available to protect it in the event of the inevitable drops.

Stand-out features are a bright 2K screen, a beefy (8200mAh) battery giving about 15 hours of surfing, or seven hours of binge video watching, and a stylish body in sand-blasted aluminium. Built-in memory is a less-than-generous 64GB but there is a card slot supporting up to 512GB which should be enough for anyone.

It comes it two versions, one intended for home or office use with Wifi only, the other with 4G data and GPS for mobile users.

The T20’s forward-facing camera is a very basic 8MP unit, but the only real use for a camera in a tablet is to scan documents and QR codes, and it is perfectly fine for that. The selfie camera has a resolution of 5MP which is good for video calls and Zoom meetings.

The charger in the box delivers a decent 10W but the tablet supports 15W charging for a much faster fill.

A somewhat surprising omission is a fingerprint sensor, which means you either have to use a PIN or pattern to unlock, which is fiddly, or facial recognition which is not very secure. If the tablet is shared between staff, however, each one should log on with a PIN or pattern.

Other omissions are near field communication (NFC - used for contactless payments) and support for a stylus, but neither of these technologies are likely to be used by a tablet used by a sales assistant.

Some of the most attractive features are intangible, however. Nokia promises to upgrade the OS for two years, which should take you up to Android 13, and to update the security systems monthly for three years. Nokia uses a ‘pure’ version of Android so new versions can come through quickly - the current Android 11 should be updated to Android 12 in the next few months.

And all of this for a mere £180 (£200 for the 4G version.) That is excellent value for money.