How to Choose the Right POTS Line Replacement Solution for Your Business
Many organizations rely on copper POTS lines for devices like fire alarms, elevator emergency phones, and security systems. However, these copper analog lines can be expensive and unreliable.
What’s worse, major carriers are sunsetting these lines, which means your monthly bill will likely increase. It’s time to find a POTS line replacement options that saves your organization money and improves network reliability.
Cost
Most companies have legacy devices that rely on copper analog phone lines, including fax machines, fire alarms, security systems, elevator phones, and Point of Sale (PoS). As major carriers sunset POTS line service, organizations must migrate these to a digital solution.
The cost of maintaining these older devices has been high for business owners. The aging infrastructure requires regular maintenance and is vulnerable to failure, impacting productivity and cost. Moreover, the workforce that understands these lines is dwindling, and repairs can take up to 120 days.
As a result, businesses are choosing to replace traditional copper POTS lines with a unified communications platform or cellular data line. This is more cost effective and provides greater flexibility and scalability. A unified communications platform can monitor endpoints in real-time and ensure network integrity. It is important to work with a partner that offers these services and can offer volume pricing, especially when you have multiple locations.
Additionally, it is important to consider a centralized management model. Many large enterprises have their traditional POTS lines billed by different carriers, which can add to the administrative costs. A centralized management solution can lower these costs by consolidating billing and providing a single point of contact for all POTS lines. This can significantly reduce the cost of managing your enterprise’s POTS line inventory.
Reliability
If your organization relies on copper POTS lines to power devices like fax machines, security systems, and elevator call boxes, it could cost you thousands in lost productivity every month if those lines go down. And the longer you wait to find a solution, the more expensive it will become.
Choosing the right connectivity solution can help you cut costs and future-proof your technology infrastructure. These solutions often operate over wireless or cellular networks instead of traditional copper POTS lines. They can be managed from a cloud-based portal, which gives you more control and visibility.
Another benefit of a digital solution is that it’s more reliable than copper lines, which can be susceptible to damage from weather and other environmental factors. Copper line failures can result in downtime that affects everyone from the sales team that can’t fax authorization letters to clients to the building staff who can’t contact their supervisors for support.
A compliant POTS replacement system also offers battery backup in case of an extended power outage. This is a critical feature for life safety systems, which regulations like the National Fire Performance Association (NFPA) require to be powered via dedicated communication providers and not internet connections or cellular services that can bounce around the network. A digital solution can also offer code-compliant network handoff for existing fire and security panels or support elevators, blue light, and metering applications.
Scalability
While many organizations focus on the rising cost of POTS phone line infrastructure, other costs and outcomes related to mission-critical communications should also be considered. These include compliance and human safety risks.
Regarding a compliant POTS line replacement solution, the right solution should provide redundancy for critical life safety systems like fire alarms, security devices, and business appliances like POS systems. This can be done by integrating the solution with a cellular network and using a digital platform that monitors all endpoints in real time.
Another key feature of a compliant POTS line replacement solution is the ability to scale up or down as needed easily. This is important because it allows enterprises to avoid overpaying for services they don’t use, which can save them money in the long run. Additionally, enterprises can further reduce their costs by removing lines that are no longer in use or can be replaced by cheaper alternatives.
Choosing the best POTS line replacement solution for your organization will help you future-proof your telecommunications and eliminate costly infrastructure investments that are no longer necessary. By switching to a digital solution that combines VoIP with cellular, you can keep all your critical systems running reliably while saving on your infrastructure costs.
Security
Many businesses have been moving to cloud-based unified communications platforms for phone systems. Still, POTS lines are used for other essential tools like fax machines, elevator emergency phones, and security alarms. It’s important to map out what devices still rely on copper lines so that everything works as it should when you switch.
A POTS line replacement solution that uses a router to transfer data via wireless networks and cellular data will give your organization the reliability it needs without paying for hardwired copper lines. Many of these solutions also provide active monitoring to ensure all endpoints function properly. This can be especially useful for life safety equipment, which typically requires redundant connectivity, to ensure your team can respond in an emergency.
It’s important to note that replacing POTS lines is not a do-it-yourself project. Depending on the type of device and its needs, it may require the assistance of a professional to ensure the transition is seamless and the devices are configured correctly. For example, most elevator emergency phones are configured to call 911 if disconnected from their hook, and you don’t want to risk that by replacing the POTS line with a digital solution that doesn’t have built-in redundancy. It’s best to work with a partner that offers full project support capabilities and managed services.