Editing Landline (section)

{{Short description|Physical telephone connection}}
{{Redirect|Fixed line|the mountaineering technique|fixed rope|other uses|Landline (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Barack Obama makes a telephone call.jpg|thumb|A [[Corded telephone|corded]] landline telephone being used to [[Telephone call|place a call]] by [[President Barack Obama]]]]

A '''landline'''{{efn|Also '''land line''', '''land-line''', '''main line''', '''fixed-line''', and '''wireline'''.}} is a physical [[telephone]] connection that uses [[Metal wire|metal wires]] or [[optical fiber]] from the subscriber's premises to the network. It is also referred to as [[plain old telephone service]] (POTS), [[twisted pair]], [[telephone line]], or [[public switched telephone network]] (PSTN). 

Landline services are traditionally provided via an analogue [[copper wire]] to a [[telephone exchange]]. ''Landline service'' is usually distinguished from more modern forms of telephone services which use [[Internet Protocol]] based services over [[optical fiber]] ([[FTTX|Fiber-to-the-x]]), or other [[broadband]] services ([[VDSL]]/[[Cable Internet access|Cable]]) using [[Voice over IP]]. However, sometimes modern fixed phone services delivered over a fixed internet connection are referred to as a "landline" (i.e., non-cellular service).<ref>{{cite web |title=The World Factbook:REFERENCES :: DEFINITIONS AND NOTES |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/notesanddefs.html?fieldkey=2150&term=Telephones%20-%20fixed%20lines |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905114714/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/notesanddefs.html?fieldkey=2150&term=Telephones%20-%20fixed%20lines |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |website=cia.gov |access-date=11 November 2018 |language=en}}</ref>