Landline: What Is It?

The physical, wired phone line a traditional fax machine dials out on, and why Fax.Plus skips it.

Sarah Mitchell

Pubblicato il

September 9, 2026

Ultimo aggiornamento il

September 11, 2026

A landline is a physical, wired telephone line, historically the connection a traditional fax machine dialed out on.
Landlines are billed and maintained separately from an internet connection, an ongoing cost many offices keep paying purely for occasional faxing.
Fax.Plus sends and receives faxes over the internet, so no landline, phone jack, or dial tone is required at any point.

What Is a Landline?

A landline is a physical, wired telephone line, the connection a traditional fax machine or desk phone dials out on. It's the original phone infrastructure most offices grew up with, running over copper wiring maintained by a local phone provider, distinct from an ISDN line's digital circuit.

The Landline, POTS, and PSTN Relationship

A landline is the everyday name for a connection running on a POTS line's copper wiring, which in turn connects into the wider PSTN, the larger switched network that routes the call to its destination. These three terms describe the same underlying phone system from three different angles: the everyday connection, the technical service type, and the network it plugs into.

Do You Still Need a Landline to Fax?

No. Fax.Plus sends and receives faxes over an internet connection, so no landline, phone jack, or dial tone is required anywhere in the process. For more on how that shift plays out across the industry, see whether landlines are being phased out entirely.

A Common Case: Retiring a Landline Kept Only for Fax

A small business supplies company in Washington State keeps a single landline active purely to receive the occasional signed purchase order by fax, long after switching every other phone call to a mobile or VoIP line. Moving that number to Fax.Plus lets the same signed orders arrive by email, and the landline gets cancelled along with its monthly charge.

Domande frequenti

Do I need a landline to send a fax?

No. A landline was required for a traditional fax machine, but an internet fax service sends and receives faxes over an internet connection instead, so no landline or dial tone is needed.