POTS Replacement to LTE

I recently listened in on a webinar on how POTS lines are going the way of the dodo bird. In our modern age, one would assume that new products routinely snuff out their predecessors. You would be right in thinking so, but POTS or plain old telephone service were quite stubborn and have persisted for nearly 100 years. This has created a conundrum in that almost every existing infrastructure in the US is built on copper, meaning that you can’t simply rip all this out overnight even if you have a new technology. What do you do to solve such a problem?

“POTS systems were built a long time ago and are now an aging infrastructure,”

Before we answer that question, a quick bit of information. POTS systems were built a long time ago and are now an aging infrastructure. High maintenance costs and highly unpredictable costs on providers like AT&T and XO is driving the desire to shut these down. There are currently 36 million active POTS lines in the U.S. with an average cost of $65 to $100 a month per line. Most of these lines are used in emergency services like alarms, security gates, and elevators. Many businesses outside of Healthcare are also on POTS like fax machines, ATMs, retail, oil and gas, and Education. In a scenario where carriers completely moved off of POTS, there would be chaos.

An earlier blog on Conectrix’s site touched on ways that various companies have moved around this copper wire replacement without outright replacing copper. Coax Cable, Ethernet, Ethernet over copper, and fiber are all options that have had their own different levels of success. Ethernet over fiber may be the steadiest replacement method and is arguable offers the fastest internet speeds on the market. The problem with this solution is that it is pricy and requires a lot of new installation if your region does not already have a fiber network.

LTE is the wireless solution to aging POTS systems that is both effective and cost affordable. Developed by Broad Sky and their partners at Intelisys, LTE tackles and overcomes the problem I prompted at the beginning of this blog. Businesses and consumers are in a hurry to find an alternative to copper since their providers are moving off of POTS, but they don’t have the money or resources to install a new fiber system or dedicate any more time away from their core business objectives. LTE is thus immediately available, offers easy installation and transition, and its pricing is simple and standardized.

“LTE is the wireless solution to aging POTS systems that is both effective and cost affordable,”

Here are some fast facts to back up LTE: At the rate carriers are going, people can probably hold onto copper for no more than 2 years. The standard installation of LTE (which does not involve the full-blown removal of copper lines) is usually 2 hours. Finally, Broad Sky has recorded an average of 35% in savings in monthly phone line payments when businesses switch over from POTS to LTE.

LTE is one of the newly devolved solutions like Coax Cable and Fiber, but it is unique in its low-stress installation and money-saving monthly payments. Copper is going out of fashion but don’t let the replacement of POTS be painful on you or your business. If your business is considering leveraging LTE, reach out to Conectrix today and see how we can help.