AT&T.  Verizon.  These are just two of the many traditional POTS line providers who are no longer supporting the copper lines of the PSTN, and instead, transferring consumers to digital ISDN and cellular solutions.  With US and UK telecom providers indicating that the full phase-out will be completed by 2030, many consumers have already been notified that their copper lines will fade into the horizon and they will need to replace POTS lines with the newer digital technology.

Why?  Just two years ago The National Center for Health Statistics stated that up to 54% of all U.S. households depended solely on cell phones for communication needs, up from 16% in 2006.   Furthermore, the National Health Center has found that only 6% of the population are actually using POTS lines.  The physical disintegration of the copper infrastructure has significantly increased the maintenance costs while usage quickly declined and as a result the major telephone providers successfully petitioned to phase out support of the copper infrastructure for the current PSTN.  As recently as October of 2020, Verizon customers received notices for the end of life for their copper solutions and the requirement to transition their internal networks to digital.  There is no denying that the end of the analog era is here and there is an ever-present need to replace existing POTS lines.

The End of the Analog Era 

The prevalence of cellular devices and digital solutions such as Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) has had many benefits to organizations as they embarked on digital transformations.  The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 showed us all how easily these digital solutions could transfer from in-office communications to remote, work-from-home communications.  The flexibility and agility of digital communications can only be described as an asset, so this should all be good news, right?  Let’s take a look.

Faxing – many businesses like yours, especially if you are in a highly regulated industry such as medical care, pharmaceutical and legal, still rely heavily on fax machines to send and receive information.  But these devices are notoriously susceptible to noise and fluctuations in the communications lines and a lack of adoption for e-fax solutions caused manufacturers to choose not to modernize.  As a result, fax machines are still operating as they have for decades, with no sign that these devices will be updated to work efficiently on VoIP solutions.

Alarms for elevators, fire, burglar, and emergency systems  –   These systems must be 100% dependable, and the technology did not translate well to the digital solutions.  Regulations require these technologies for many of us but if there is no digital solution available, how can you maintain compliance?

Do you have a back-up plan?

Whether you have begun the process of phasing out your internal analog lines or not, it’s clear that soon, you won’t have a choice.  The fees for analog copper lines will continue to grow significantly before being phased out entirely.  If you haven’t yet, you need to make a back-up plan for how you will continue to communicate after the copper line retirement.

POTS IN A BOX ® – Wireless Solutions for POTS Line Replacement

Fortunately, the solution is surprisingly simple.  One device can convert your analog POTS line devices, such as fax machines, elevator alarms, fire and burglar alarms,  to enable the signals to be sent via digital technologies.  How?

POTS IN A BOX® is an LTE/Cellular/Wi-Fi/PSTN/FirstNet-capable router that can enable many combinations of legacy analog wireline in-band Voice, M2M, Data, DTMF, Analog Data Modem Tones, Fax and Alarm System Signals. These functions – which were historically supported by POTS Lines – can now be delivered via POTS IN A BOX® and carried over LAN or WAN internet connections such as fiber optics or cable connections.  Now you can keep the systems and devices you have invested in so thoroughly over the past years and still enter into the digital era, all by plugging in one simple device to bridge the digital divide.  Contact us today to see how you can begin the process of POTS Line Replacement and move your communications to fiber or cable solutions.