In article ,
Steve Hayes wrote:

[snip discussion in another group]

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

"Here" is aue. [This could be a discussion of the terms needed if we get
time travel.]

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".

Landline for me omits "cable" which is coaxial cable (single carrier
surrounded by a "shield" of braided wires). It refers to the telephone
twisted pairs brought into the house by the telephone company.

However, reading your discussion I now see that this is outdated
probably and can be used for any wire/cable that isn't part of a
wireless (OTA, supported by distribution by antennas) network.

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

Me too, but context is necessary for the 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.

PSTN? cable as telegram is ok with me, but I think of a cable as
something slightly different, possibly associated with ships(?).

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").

I exclude it, but see that technology is moving on, and the cable I
thought of as only a supplier of television shows can now deliver other
information. Since it is tethered to the ground, it can be a landline as
well.

Wireless also includes satellite, thought the method of transmission is
"invisible" to my use of the word.

--
charles






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,