A communications cable, as one used to transmit telephone or telegraph signals.
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A communications cable, as one used to transmit telephone or telegraph signals.
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A landline, main line or fixed-line is a telephone line which
travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or
In 2003, the CIA reported approximately 1263 million main telephone lines worldwide. China had more than any other country, at 350 million, and the United States was second with 268 million - this compared with 219.4 million cellular telephones, a number which is expected to exceed the landline number within a few years.
The term landline is also used to describe a connection between two or more points that consists of a dedicated physical cable, as opposed to an always-available private link that is actually implemented as a circuit in a wider switched system (usually the public switched telephone network). So-called leased lines are invariably of the latter type; the implication of a landline in this context is one of security and especially of survivability. For example, a military headquarters might be linked to front-line units "by landline" to ensure that communication remains possible even if the conventional telephone network is damaged or destroyed. This was the case in the Second World War, in which the RAF Fighter Command had its radar stations and aerodromes connected to headquarters by land lines; its more mobile opponent, the German Luftwaffe, used radio - and so its commands were deciphered by the British (see Ultra).
This usage is (obviously) much older than the use of "landline" to indicate a non-mobile telephone, and older than its similar use in CB slang. Engineers and other telecommunications experts have at times seen the more popular use as a misuse of the word. As a consequence, in professional contexts "fixed line" or "wireline" are more commonly used words than "landline", although even in these contexts the use is becoming more common and "landline" will likely be the dominant word before too long .
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Nederlands (Dutch)
telecommunicatie- verbinding over land
Français (French)
n. - (Télécom) ligne de terre
Deutsch (German)
n. - Landkabel
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - εναέριο καλώδιο επικοινωνιών
Italiano (Italian)
telcomunicazioni terrestri
Português (Portuguese)
n. - linha (f) de comunicação por terra (Rád.)
Русский (Russian)
наземная линия связи
Español (Spanish)
n. - línea de comunicación por tierra
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - landkabel
中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
输送路线, 地平线, 地上通讯线
中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 輸送路線, 地平線, 地上通訊線
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) خط تلفون أرضي
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - קו החוף, קו הנוף, קו חשמל/תקשורת על-קרקעי
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Copyrights:
![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Landline". Read more | |
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