POTS line replacement for an office starts with knowing what each copper phone line carries. It doesn’t start with picking phones. POTS is plain old telephone service, the traditional copper landline. Take stock of every line the office pays for: the main numbers, a fax, an alarm panel, a card terminal, anything else on a phone jack. Confirm with the device’s maker or servicing company that it works on the replacement. Give anything that must work in an outage backup power. Then move each line on the office’s schedule, before the phone provider’s timetable decides it.
A copper line can carry more than the main number. A fax, an alarm panel or a card terminal may sit on one. An office that moves its phones and forgets those lines, or that replaces a line without backup power, may find a device isn’t working when it’s needed.
What Is a POTS Line, and Why Is the Copper Going?
A POTS line is a traditional copper phone line, run from the phone company to a jack in the building. Voice service is moving off copper and onto other networks where a replacement is available. An office can still have one or more copper lines even after its main phone system changed.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says telephone and internet providers will retire aging copper-line networks used for voice service. That applies in areas where modern fiber, mobile and fixed wireless, and satellite services are available as a replacement. Before a provider discontinues copper voice service, the FCC’s tech transition guide says, “providers must ensure an adequate replacement service is available to the impacted homes and small businesses.”
The FCC also says providers must notify customers and obtain FCC approval before they discontinue a service. A telephone company may stop signing up customers for an older voice service and keep it for existing customers for a period, until it discontinues the service for good. In plain terms, a copper line can keep working for a while. The time to sort out what sits on it is before the notice, not after.
Which Office Lines Are Still on Copper?
Start with a list of every line the office pays for and what’s plugged into each one. The main numbers are the easy part. The rest takes a walk around the building and a careful look at the phone bill. Match each line to a device, and write down what you find.
- Main phone numbers. The lines customers call. These can move with the phone system.
- A fax line. If the office still sends or receives faxes, the fax machine may sit on its own copper line.
- The alarm panel. A security or fire alarm panel may use a phone line to report to the alarm monitoring company.
- The card terminal. A credit card machine may use a phone line to process payments.
- Anything else on a phone jack. An elevator phone, a door or gate entry phone or an old modem can sit on a line nobody thinks about.
To find them, compare the count of lines on the phone bill with the devices you can name. Then follow the cords. Each jack leads to something, or to nothing at all. A Florida office can be paying for a line nobody can match to a device, and that line is a question for the phone provider.
The lines and the devices on them belong on the office’s IT record, and O&O Systems’ IT Asset Management team establishes a clear record of every IT asset, from hardware to software, so nothing gets missed.
What Should You Ask Before a Line Moves?
Two sets of questions. One set goes to the phone provider, about the service itself. The other goes to the company behind each device on a line, whether that’s its maker or the company that services it. Ask both sets before anything moves, and the rest of the work gets simpler.
The FCC’s guide suggests a first step: contact the telephone and internet provider. Confirm what type of service each line is. Ask whether any upgrades are planned, and whether the office would need different equipment. Those answers tell you which lines are copper and which have already moved.
The FCC also tells customers to check with manufacturers and service providers whether other systems and devices are compatible with the replacement network. Its list names medical monitoring systems, security and alarm systems, fax machines and credit card machines. So the device questions go to the companies that make and service those devices.
- Ask the alarm monitoring company whether the panel works on the replacement line, and how it will reach the monitoring company if that line changes.
- Ask the payment processor whether the card terminal can run on the replacement, or whether it needs another kind of connection.
- Ask the fax machine’s maker or the company that services it whether the machine works on the replacement line. Then decide whether the office still needs a fax line at all.
- Ask whoever services the elevator or entry phone what that phone needs before its line changes.
Write each answer down next to its line. When every line has a name, a device and a confirmed answer, the office can move them in whatever order suits the business.
What Has to Keep Working in a Power Outage?
Anything that has to work when the power is out needs a backup power plan before its copper line goes. A replacement may not carry its own power the way a copper line can. So decide which devices matter in an outage, then ask what will keep each of them running.
In what the FCC tells state and local officials, the agency puts it plainly: “Traditional copper landline service typically works during power outages, but modern alternatives usually need backup power to keep operating during a power outage.”
The FCC’s guide adds that network upgrades may mean the phone won’t work during a power outage without a backup power source. It suggests asking the phone company whether it offers backup batteries. It also says a backup battery has to be tested, monitored and maintained as the provider or the maker instructs. Put a name next to the battery, so someone checks it.
If a replacement line rides on the office’s internet connection, that connection and its equipment need power too. A second connection is its own decision: see what a backup connection has to keep running.
O&O Systems’ Network and Wi-Fi team keeps offices online during outages with failover solutions and backup connections.
Moving the Phones Themselves
The main numbers can move to a VoIP phone system. Number porting is its own step. The emergency-address setup and the cutover are their own steps too: see moving the office phones to VoIP.
O&O Systems’ VoIP Phones team designs, deploys and manages VoIP phone systems tailored to the way an office works.
Internet-based calling can cut landline fees, and lines can be added or removed as the business changes without major infrastructure work. So the office can set its line count by what it uses, not by what’s still on the bill.
Frequently Asked Questions About POTS Line Replacement
What is a POTS line?
POTS stands for plain old telephone service. It’s a traditional copper phone line, running from the phone company to a jack in the building. An office may still keep one for a fax machine, an alarm panel or a card terminal, even after the main phones moved.
Do I have to replace my POTS lines?
Not until the provider discontinues the service. The FCC says providers must notify customers and obtain FCC approval before discontinuing a service, and that a telephone company may keep an older voice service for existing customers for a period. When the company permanently discontinues it, those customers lose the service too. Planning before that point keeps the timing with the office.
Can an alarm panel or fax machine move off a copper line?
It depends on the device. The FCC lists security and alarm systems and fax machines among the devices to check with their makers and service providers. Ask the alarm monitoring company about the panel, and the fax machine’s maker about the fax, before the line changes.
What happens if we do nothing?
The line may keep working for a while, as an older service kept for existing customers. Once the provider discontinues it, whatever sits on that line may stop working unless it’s been moved. Doing nothing leaves the timing to the provider instead of the office.
Know What Every Line Carries
A copper line is easy to forget. It doesn’t ask for attention. It sits behind a jack and keeps working, bill after bill. An office that knows what each line carries gets to pick the order and the pace.
Start with the inventory, then the questions, then the moves. If POTS line replacement is on the office’s list, ask O&O Systems to take stock of your phone lines before anything moves.
