Emergency 911 technology struggles to keep up with the times

High school students hiding from the gunman in Parkland, Florida, were forced to whisper in calls to 911 for fear of tipping off their location. Others texted friends and family who then relayed information to emergency dispatchers ...

How landline phones made us happy and connected

Smartphones and the internet have revolutionised society, commerce, and politics, reshaping how we work and play, and how our brains are wired. They have even revolutionised how revolutions are made.

Majority of Americans back FBI in battle with Apple

A majority of Americans support the US government's efforts to force Apple to help unlock an iPhone in the probe of last year's deadly San Bernardino attacks, a poll showed Monday.

Email, Internet remain top workplace tools: study

Americans see email and the Internet as the most important tools for productivity at work, and still prefer landlines over cellphones for the office, a study showed Tuesday.

500Mbps G.fast gets ITU first stage approval

(Phys.org) —G.fast, the 500Mbps successor to DSL and alternative to fiber has passed first stage approval from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The move paves the way for hardware companies to finalize equipment ...

Feds get closer look at fake mobile bill charges

(AP)—When a mysterious, unauthorized fee appears on your cellphone bill, it's called "cramming" and consumer advocates and regulators worry it's emerging as a significant problem as people increasingly ditch their landlines ...

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Landline

A landline (or land line) was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline (or land phone or main line or fixed-line) refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves. In 2003, the CIA reported approximately 1.263 billion main telephone lines worldwide. China had more than any other country, at 350 million, and the United States was second with 268 million. In 2008 there were 1.27 billion fixed line subscribers in the world.

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