Perhaps a more accurate title would be: The end of circuit switched telephony
@jeroenV1982
Be aware that in the UK and, I would guess other countries, analogue telephony is being phased out. In the UK it is due to all be gone in or by 2025. If you really need an analogue line then use an analogue terminal adaptor (ATA) on a SIP trunk, or buy an old PABX with analogue ports and use that (I can probably supply a Samsung OfficeServ 7030 with the latest firmware).
But I think they will make available emulators which provide the DC and AC signalling conditions required by old-fashioned phones (and other equipment), in order to interface them to the new VoIP system.
Sorry, no, the 'old' service is going completely. In the UK you can now order a line that only has broadband on it, no dial tone. The equipment that provides analogue telephony is up to 40 years old and is going. There will be no equipment able to provide dial tone on the network end of a connection.
I wonder how long it will take for the US to go that route.
It was using the ranchers' and farmers' barbed-wire fences for telephone cable that made telephony popular in the West. And there are still wide swaths of land that don't have cell coverage (I frequently drop a call just walking from my house to the main road), so my guess is that it will be a while.
By no means whatsoever is wired "telephony" being deprecated. Its reliability is absolutely critical to business. What is happening is that instead of the telephone handset - or PABX - being connected directly to the exchange by the line, it connects to the VoIP interface of the VDSL (or preferably, fibre) modem which emulates the exchange, including (lower) loop voltage and dial tones.
Actually I don't think that's entirely true. I believe BT do want to dump System X and System Y when it becomes technically feasible. Moving domestic telephony to VoIP is the first step. Also, it releases exchange hardware for use as spares for the remaining lines, as spare parts are hard to source for a 40-year-old technology.
I am saying that Openreach (I do not know about Virgin) are closing their now ancient telephone exchanges by 2025 (January? December?) so you won't be able to order an analogue line, as in a pair of wires with dial tone. You probably can't order one now in some areas, not sure. You now order SOGEA (single order general Ethernet access), which means you get a connection to the internet presented as an Ethernet connection, which you connect to your router. In areas where FTTP (fibre to the premises) is available it will be delivered over fibre all the way into your property, otherwise it will be delivered over copper. A copper SOGEA connection does not have dial tone, obviously fibre does not.
I do not know what will happen for existing analogue lines. I would expect your service provider to contact you at some point and offer you something. The obvious thing is an ATA linked to a SIP service, which would give you what you need. However, to roll that out to 20 zillion non-technical customers is going to cause difficulties....
Note I am only talking about services provided by Openreach. You might have, for example, Sky broadband and an analogue line from them. AFAIK, and I am by no means sure, Sky provide analogue telephony from their own equipment, which I think is IP based so not part of the program to switch off the network. I don't know what Virgin are doing, their network is separate.
It depends what you mean by 'wired telephony'. A rectangular box on your desk with some buttons and a handle thing you press to your face to talk into and listen through is not being deprecated. Circuit switched telephony, presented as either an analogue connection or ISDN is on its way out and being replaced by VoIP based services. If you still just want a simple analogue connection for a traditional analogue phone then you need an ATA.
All but the cheapest telephone systems supplied recently, by which I mean maybe the last 10 years, are fully capable of using SIP trunks (IP based lines) for their connection to the external telephone network. I mentioned Samsung because until recently I supplied and installed their products. Samsung OfficeServ systems can use SIP trunks. Older systems like DCS can I think but I've never seen any IP telephony on DCS and I would not bother trying to make it work.
In the UK Openreach are installing fibre to the premises (FTTP) everywhere, I eagerly awaiting it where I live. I think everyone on this forum is capable of realising that a DC feed, analogue speech and ringing current don't work too well down a piece of very thin glass.
In the UK all telephone infra structure is supplied by Openreach. Other companies that offer telephone service rent the use of the Openreach hardware, and resell it to its customers.
Virgin have a physically separate network, including cables in the street in their own ducts, nothing to do with Openreach. Virgin have their own buildings, street cabinets, everything. What they don't have is access to every premises in the UK using their own infrastructure.
Some providers, such as Sky and Talk Talk, rent space in Openreach buildings and have their own equipment in Openreach buildings, they rent copper pairs from Openreach to deliver service to their customers. Sky's telephone network is separate from Openreach's, it just occupies the same buildings. This arrangement is called LLU, local loop unbundling.
Other providers are completely or partly dependent on Openreach equipment.
Virgin can provide telephony to customer using entirely their own equipment and infrastructure in areas where they have installed CATV cabling, they are not dependent on OR in those areas for anything.
No if they want to ring my phone they will have to use the Openreach network to get to me, because I have a land line and there is no other way to get to me.