Editing X.25 (section)

=== Worldwide public data networks ===
{{Main|Public data network}}
Publicly accessible X.25 networks, commonly called [[Public data network|public data networks]], were set up in many countries during the late 1970s and 1980s to lower the cost of accessing various [[online service]]s. Examples include [[Iberpac]], [[Transpac (network)|TRANSPAC]], [[Compuserve]], [[Tymnet]], [[Telenet]], [[Packet switching#Euronet|Euronet]], [[Packet Switch Stream|PSS]], [[Datapac]], [[Packet-switched network#Datanet 1|Datanet 1]] and [[AUSTPAC]] as well as the [[International Packet Switched Service]]. Their combined network had large global coverage during the 1980s and into the 1990s.<ref name="Schatt 1991 200">{{harv|Schatt|1991|p=200}}.</ref>

Beginning in the early 1990s, in North America, use of X.25 networks (predominated by Telenet and Tymnet)<ref name="Schatt 1991 200" /> started to be replaced by [[Frame Relay]] services offered by national telephone companies.<ref>{{harv|Schatt|1991|p=207}}.</ref> Most systems that required X.25 now use [[TCP/IP]], however it is possible to transport X.25 over TCP/IP when necessary.<ref>{{cite web |date=1 February 2001 |title=Running X.25 over TCP/IP on Cisco routers |url=http://www.techrepublic.com/article/running-x25-over-tcpip-on-cisco-routers/1056023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121002501/http://www.techrepublic.com/article/running-x25-over-tcpip-on-cisco-routers/1056023 |archive-date=21 January 2012}}</ref>

X.25 networks are still in use throughout the world. A variant called [[AX.25]] is used widely by [[amateur radio|amateur]] [[packet radio]]. [[Racal]] Paknet, now known as Widanet, remains in operation in many regions of the world, running on an X.25 protocol base. In some countries, like the Netherlands or Germany, it is possible to use a stripped version of X.25 via the [[Integrated Services Digital Network#Bearer channel|D-channel]] of an [[ISDN]]-2 (or [[basic rate interface|ISDN BRI]]) connection for low-volume applications such as [[point-of-sale]] terminals; but, the future of this service in the Netherlands is uncertain.

X.25 is still used in the aeronautical business (especially in Asia) even though a transition to modern protocols is increasingly important as X.25 hardware becomes increasingly rare and costly.{{Clarify|date=April 2013}} As recently as March 2006,<!-- still used?--> the United States National Airspace Data Interchange Network has used X.25 to interconnect remote airfields with [[air route traffic control center]]s.

France was one of the last remaining countries where commercial end-user service based on X.25 operated. Known as [[Minitel]] it was based on [[Videotex]], itself running on X.25. In 2002, [[Minitel]] had about 9 million users, and in 2011 it accounted for about 2 million users in France when France Télécom announced it would shut down the service by 30 June 2012.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} {{cite news |last=Presse |first=Agence France |date=21 July 2011 |title=Le Minitel disparaîtra en juin 2012 |language=fr |trans-title=Minitel will disappear in June 2012 |newspaper=Le Figaro |url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2011/07/21/97001-20110721FILWWW00446-le-minitel-disparaitra-en-juin-2012.php}}</ref> As planned, service was terminated 30 June 2012. There were 800,000 terminals in operation at the time.<ref>{{in lang|fr}}[http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/minitel-dernier-rappel-arret-definitif-le-30-juin-2012-39769465.htm]</ref> An X.25 service was still purchasable from BT in the United Kingdom in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BT price list: Section 13:BT IP Networking |url=https://www.bt.com/pricing/current/BT_IP_Networking_boo/2-0177_d0e27.htm |access-date=30 May 2019 |website=BT}}</ref>