Many devices rely on traditional copper POTS lines, from office phones and POS systems to burglar alarms, elevator call boxes, and fire alarms. However, if the line fails, these systems can be expensive to repair and maintain. Enterprises can replace traditional POTS lines with digital solutions to reduce downtime and maintenance costs.
Reduced Network Downtime
A rip-and-replace approach to the solution will be difficult for organizations that use POTS lines for mission-critical services like fire alarms, elevator phones, and legacy fax machines. These devices are designed for reliability and must stay online in an emergency. This is why the right solution is essential to reducing the risk and impact of downtime from a switch to a digital alternative.
The first step in any POTS replacement project is conducting an inventory assessment to determine what hardware relies on these copper connections and how the failure of a single line could affect your business. This will help you prepare a transition plan and identify other options that can provide the same level of service.
Once you have determined what needs to be replaced, look for a provider that offers an all-inclusive solution that includes the equipment, software, and service. This will simplify the process and reduce the time and resources needed to ensure that all systems are functional during a network outage.
Whether you want to eliminate your existing copper lines or seek a more nuanced break, the time to make a change is now. Rising costs and declining service reliability have made it increasingly impractical for organizations to continue using these legacy services. You can expect major savings, greater reliability, and improved network performance by switching to a digital alternative.
Improved Voice Quality
In a world where business communications are increasingly based on cloud-based unified communication platforms, copper lines have fallen out of favor with the big telecom companies. Rising costs have been the primary driver for this, but it is also due to the infrastructure’s terminal decline.
Service reliability is decreasing as the big telcos move towards decommissioning copper networks. This is exacerbated by a need for more resources to maintain the copper network. As a result, POTS lines are experiencing increasing outages. These outages can cause loss of access to phones, the internet, and other services.
For businesses relying on POTS lines for critical functions, this is a major problem. When a fire alarm or elevator line goes down, your employees are in danger, and customers may be unable to contact you. Important documents are not being sent when fax lines go down, and authorization letters cannot be received.
While many organizations have moved away from copper lines by moving to VoIP or cellular/LTE, some have held onto their analog lines for devices like fax, e-911, and point of sale. A digital POTS replacement can support these legacy devices by providing redundancy, reducing the risk of downtime, and allowing owners to monitor their networks for issues actively.
Reduced Costs
While cost is a primary driver for IT and telecom leaders to move away from POTS, facilities and property managers face more complex challenges. They must balance the need to reduce risk while keeping mission-critical endpoints in place.
For example, many fire and safety devices, like alarm panels, fax machines, and elevators, rely on copper analog phone lines. If these devices are not moved to a new system, they may fail to operate properly. This could result in costly repairs or even life-threatening consequences.
To make matters worse, major telecommunications carriers are no longer obligated to service these old copper lines. This means they will shut off your lines or increase existing services’ prices automatically. These increases can sometimes be more than $100 per line a month!
The good news is that several vendors offer a POTS replacement solution that will help your organization save money while protecting your equipment.
Reduced Risk
The aging copper infrastructure of traditional POTS lines is prone to degradation over time. As a result, it can become prone to corrosion that causes outages and requires costly repairs. Shortly, carriers are reducing their support of POTS lines as they focus on digital telecommunications technologies. Maintaining complex last-century equipment is no longer cost-effective for carriers, who must also devote resources to upgrading their networks.
As a result, POTS service prices are skyrocketing, and many providers are removing pricing caps to encourage businesses to abandon the aging technology. For organizations with mission-critical devices like fire alarms, security cameras, and elevator emergency phones that rely on POTS lines, finding a reliable replacement solution is essential before the shutoff date. Failure to do so can put businesses at risk of fines and loss of operational continuity. Fortunately, reliable options are available to replace POTS lines that meet the unique communication needs of different industries. For example, a wireless POTS replacement solution incorporating failover cellular connectivity can offer the reliability and regulatory compliance required by life-safety systems like fire alarms. In addition, the low usage of these devices can result in a lower per-end-point pricing structure compared to typical mobile rates. This can help organizations to offset the costs of switching from copper lines to a reliable wireless solution.