On Sun, 14 Dec 2014 12:47:18 -0500, Wolf K wrote:

On 2014-12-14 8:29 AM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
[...]
Yes, but if it's not twisted pair, it's not usually referred to as
"landline". So in _my_ understanding, you have landline (PSTN), cable
(originally coax, now including fibre), wireless, or satellite. Yes, the
cable is a line running over (or under) land, and the PSTN could be
referred to as a cable, but in this particular context, the terms mean
what they do, not what their roots say they do. [...]

Usage here in Ontario, AFAIK in the RoC also:

Cable: coaxial, originally used to deliver analog TV signals, now used
to deliver digital signals, usually a combination of TV and internet,
with phone also available. Cable was originally set up by individuals
and small companies to serve communities in fringe areas, with the
receiving antenna somewhere high, and the cable distributing its signal
to the subscribers. When cable companies consolidated, they used a
combination of cable and microwave to link the network into a single system.

Landline (or land line): twisted pair, originally for analog telephone,
now for digital signals. Voice and internet carried at a different
frequencies, filter required at every phone plug. Voice has been digital
in Canada for at least 40 years. Good local distribution of broadband
signals, up to about 1.5km from a "node".

I suppose this discussion now belongs in alt.usage.english, rather than here.

I've now realised that some people have been using "landline" to mean
something different from I mean by it, so having cleared up that confusion it
becomes a matter of English usage rather than one of communications
technology.

In my English "landline" means signals carried overland by electrical wires,
or cables, or optical fibre cables that are on the ground, under the ground,
or carried above the ground on poles. As opposed to "wireless", which to me
also means "cableless".

To me "cable" means a multistrand wire, or miltistand optical fibres, whether
coaxial, or used to support the weight of a cable car.

There used to be a firm called "Cable and wireless", and the "Cable" in their
name referred to messages sent via the PSTN. In my youth "cable" was quite
often used as a synonym for "telegram", again sent over the PSTN, especially
if it was longer than a single page, as in a press report.

So I would be interested in knowing how widespread is the idea that "landline"
excludes "cable", because to me "cable" is included in the more general term
"landline", and the opposite of "landline" is not "cable", but "wireless" (and
"wireless" includes "satellite").






Glass fibre, glass, fibre, Fibe (TM): Glass fibre cable for digital
signals. Carries everything.

Satellite: for digital signals, even in the analog TV age, carrying TV.
Internet and phone service also available. Most people refer only to TV
services with this term, e.g., see Netflix as different from "regular"
TV only for choice and price.

Microwave: originally used to replace buried or pole-hung wires/cables
in sparsely settled areas (Canada is big ;-)), thus reducing maintenance
work. Carry phone and TV. I believe they were digital from the beginning.

Cell: microwave spectrum used for cellular (mobile) phones.

GPS: digital satellite signals used by GPS (Satnav) devices.

FWIW, in mid-northern Ontario you will see groups of towers festooned
with a dozen or more antennas each.

AFAICT, most people think more in terms of the devices than the means
used to deliver the signals.

Footnote: The first cable operators used splitters and amplifiers to
share their own antenna's signals with neighbours, then all or parts of
small communities. The TV networks of course were livid at this "theft"
of their signals, and tried to horn in. Eventually, litigation and
legislation regularised the cable business.

Then the telecoms bought up the cable operators, with the result we have
now: a de facto monopoly of the three major telecoms, who offer basic
services at "international" rates, and charge for every add-on to the
point where most households pay $100 to $200 per month for their
combination TV, Internet, and cell and/or landline phones. Eg, the
landline bill includes a "network access fee" and a "touch tone fee".
Really.

In the last 10-15 years, the telecoms have bought content providers and
producers, as well as sport teams and such, so that we have the most
thoroughly integrated information/entertainment system in the world.

Have a good day,

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk