Replacing The Copper POTS Lines Powering Your Fire Alarm Panels
How organizations utilize cellular technology
to cut the copper
The Overview
Most Fire Alarm Systems utilize a technology called plain old telephone service (POTS) lines for connectivity. These lines enable communication by utilizing traditional analog signal transmissions made over copper loops and they’re a relic of the dial-up era infrastructure. At this point, POTS technology is over 100 years old. It’s past time for a new solution.
Telecom providers view these analog phone lines as obsolete, which is why the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reported that POTS telephone lines aren’t sustainable and has issued a mandate restricting new lines from being deployed. With services starting to discontinue in 2022, support from service providers is lacking and monthly costs are continuing to rise.
With every organization relying on 24/7 uptime in these fire alarm systems – and with the exorbitant costs of upgrading equipment and wiring infrastructure – organizations need smart solutions.
The goal of replacing your
current POTS system:
-
Provide 24/7/365 visibility of your fire alarm systems
-
Improve reliability with a proven solution
-
Reduce your operating costs
Long Term Benefits
The Cost of Copper POTS Lines
is Continually Rising
The monthly cost of maintaining copper POTS lines is continually rising with very little reliable support from service providers. Replacing your POTS system is a modern, secure, and proven way to save, receive better support, and future-proof your technology.
Currently, it costs anywhere between $50-$100 every month to maintain just one POTS line used in a fire alarm panel. Organizations with multiple locations know that this is an expense that can quickly multiply.
Demystifying the FCC’s
Technology Transition Rules
August 2, 2022 is the current deadline set by the FCC in which connectivity providers no longer required to support copper POTS lines. After this point, the phase-out of existing lines is solely in the hands of the provider. These providers each have their own incentive to phase out lines, which will likely show in:
- Rising prices
- A lack of support
- Hard shutoff dates
- Any combination of the above
August 2, 2022 is the current deadline set by the FCC in which connectivity providers are no longer required to support copper POTS lines.
What to Know About POTS Line Replacement
Gain Access to a
Cloud Management platform
A major benefit of switching to a modern POTS Replacement Solution is that the gives you access to a Network Operations Center (NOC) that utilizes a cloud management platform for better visibility and monitoring.
This NOC in conjunction with the platform delivers the management tools and dashboard controls needed to view systems remotely from anywhere since it remains always connected. Additionally, instant notifications via text or email alerts can be assigned which enables alerts based on necessary alerting protocols.
User management is also available as an added layer of security and protection. For example, by setting up user accounts, the RTech NOC views dashboards and receives alerts securely.
RTECH POTS over LTE Solution gives you 24/7/365 access to your connected lines and notifies you instantly when a connection is lost. It gives you control over your system in an easy-to-navigate and safe way. With remote monitoring, you no longer need field checks and inspections can be completed in a quick, efficient, and remote way. Efficient inspections mean more cost savings in the long term.
Convert Existing POTS Lines
To a VOIP Solution
When looking at a modern solution, there are several different routes that any given solution can take. Some solutions require removing the existing lines, which can be a challenge for locations that are on a time crunch or feature challenging infrastructure.
Other solutions take a more ‘plug and play’ approach by adding a device to the access line of each individual blue light unit. While this method solves the time crunch and is minimally invasive, hardware costs can quickly rise, and signal strength is going to vary wildly by location and building material.
The last solution takes the ‘plug-and-play’ approach and improves on it. This has the solution connect to the network’s existing 66 block (“on the way out the door”), giving you a fast and reliable LTE connection using your existing infrastructure and hardware.
What to Look for in a POTS Line Replacement
POTS Line Support
Here at RTECH, we have 3 main channels of remote visibility that we use to identify, fix, and solve any potential issues before they become a problem. First, we’ll log into the router contained within our solution to view system traffic and look for anything out of place. Second, we plug into your each blue line unit’s phone line data to check signal health. Lastly, if you’re using RTech Data, we can log into the Cloud Data Platform to look at the path that your data is taking to identify any potential roadblocks there.
The best part is that this can be accomplished remotely, often before you even realize there was even a potential issue in the first place.
POTS Line Benefits
- Fixed, Low Monthly Cost
- Industry-Leading Hardware
- All Major U.S. Carriers Supported
- 24 / 7 / 365 Managed Data Support
- Cross-Carrier Data Pooling for Coverage
- Optimal Carrier Location Matching
- One Simple Bill for All Carriers
- Data Usage Analytics & Reporting
- Dual SIM and Static IP Options Available
- Managed Device & Data Services
About RTech Solutions
RTech Solutions is a single-source provider for LTE & 5G all-in-one solutions-as-a-service. RTech delivers customers turnkey cellular services backed by secure cloud-managed, cross-carrier pooled data. RTech’s bundled services combine best-in-class hardware, major U.S. carrier data, world-class tech support, and cloud management platforms for one low, fixed monthly cost. Popular services include solutions for converting POTS lines to operate over LTE networks, backup wireless internet, out-of-band management, and more. RTech is headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., and has been making it easy for businesses to get connected since 2018.
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