How much longer do you think we need telephone numbers?

[Softdreamer]

Whilst doing some coursework, I realised that there is not much need now for telephone numbers, and that VoiP is taking over pretty much all communications, so my question is this..

How much longer do you think the telephone system will remain? 5 years? 50 years?

Ive noticed a growing trend of webpages using 'facebook' to log you in, will we soon have a standardized contact system connected to our virtual ID? will we just call a person by name or contact ID, instead of looking up a number? Surely it would free up alot of bandwidth.

[Arkady Renko]

I suppose that landline telephony will be phased out relatively soon (5-10 years) in urban areas of the industrialized nations, but in rural areas and emerging or thrid world countries, it'll be around for much longer. Same goes for mobile phones: phone numbers are a handy and unique identifier, much better than nicknames or real names (e.g. sexydude1234 or John Smith). maybe the structures will change and the distinction between mobile phones, landlines and VoIP will be obsolete eventually, but only in parts of the market.

[AntZ]

I forget if I read the story or heard it, in the U.S., a while back some 5 to 10 years ago? There was talk about removing ALL land lines and just using cellular for all connections, both mobile and home. I don't know if it was a real plan that's in the works right now, or just an idea for the future?

[Muddy]

Dont you still have a phone number on VOIP?

[Softdreamer]

Dont you still have a phone number on VOIP?

"Voice Over Internet Protocol".. you have a username attached to an IP address, but you can log in on different PC's and have different IP addresses for the same username.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Whilst doing some coursework, I realised that there is not much need now for telephone numbers, and that VoiP is taking over pretty much all communications, so my question is this..

How much longer do you think the telephone system will remain? 5 years? 50 years?

Ive noticed a growing trend of webpages using 'facebook' to log you in, will we soon have a standardized contact system connected to our virtual ID? will we just call a person by name or contact ID, instead of looking up a number? Surely it would free up alot of bandwidth.

I'll never be on Facebook

And whether you are using a screen name, nick name, or a phone number, it's still just a unique code used to identify someone. Not sure how it would free up bandwidth if you wanted to talk to someone on their cell phone and used a nickname instead of a phone number?

[Softdreamer]

alot of bandwidth on telephone lines is left for audio capability, restricting adsl to certain frequencies not audio more room for adsl..

Although i may be wrong ???

[Noilly Pratt]

Hmmm...I bet this is how future "phoning" will be

I pick up my VOIP phone and to get free calling anywhere, and there's an add to listen to first. No thanks. I have a VOIP phone from Vonage for work, and my home phone is with my internet provider, which means it too is VOIP.

I've no intention on being on Facebook either, Lance. This site (and a couple of others) are the only cyber-networking I do. I have a twitter account just to get interesting tweets from my nephew who's doing cool things with his company. I don't tweet out.

I do not want the world at large knowing my business...my life is relatively dull, but at least it's mine and I get to choose what I share out there in the world. The phone, when not tapped or intercepted, is a 2 way telecommunications device and is my primary, preferred way to talk to friends.