When will we bury the Public Switched Telephone Network?
That question is at the heart of a recent article at Webtorials, entitled “Can the PSTN be Shut Down?”
Wireless and broadband connections proliferate while the old copper pair connections offered by the Telcos are turned off, as many as 700,000 lines per month. The trend is all downhill for the PSTN and its legacy operation.
Interconnection, numbering, free calling areas, regulation: all of these are based on the primacy of classical public switched telephony networks dating back 130 years.
There are now more mobile lines than land phones in virtually every country in the world. Most corporations have long abandoned analog telephony and many are using integrated IP platforms.
The paper raises interesting questions that merit examination. Are we prepared to shut down the PSTN?
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I think they ask the wrong question.
The cost for voice communications is quickly trending toward zero. The result will be that Bell, et al, can no longer afford to maintain their antique systems. The question is better framed:
“How long until the PSTN is shut down?” or “Should we spend public money support buggy whip manufacturing?”