Challenges with POTS Lines

Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) is the traditional analog voice transmission telephone service. It has been the baseline telephone service in most parts of the world since the 19th century. Before digital alternatives like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), POTS was the primary phone connectivity. Analog phones and FAX are commonly used in large commercial occasions.

There is no doubt that POTS lines will retire, and the replacement option is not just an issue about cost, but also service reliability. As copper lines age, it is getting harder and harder to maintain and the service outage risk is rising. Compared with digital solutions which can monitor status and be repaired remotely, once copper line service outages happen, it will cost more and take longer time to restore the service.

Cellular Network, A Booster to VoIP Technology

We should not hesitate to the newer technology, major unified communications have proved that VoIP works well in digital phone calls and video calls. VoIP offers better technology for transmitting voice over IP networks. While replacing the POTS line, it still requires physical media to solve the last mile of access.

The cellular network is undoubtedly the most suitable choice. With telecom providers like AT&T, Verizon has focused primarily on new transmission technologies such as Fiber and Cellular, it provides wide coverage with mature communication technology. Cellular providers in the United States provide 4G LTE and 5G access services. In general, the connection of a cellular base station is very stable, the occurrence of some areas dropping off is considered a major accident, and the probability of occurrence is extremely low.

Flyingvoice product supports dual SIM card backup and Ethernet interface as the backup interface to achieve Internet access redundancy protection. Therefore, we believe that VoIP + cellular is the best answer for POTS replacement. Now let's look at how to smoothly transfer voice & FAX to new technology.

Flyingvoice LM150 Dual SIM 4G-LTE Router

Transitioning to VoIP Technology

Moving an analog phone to digital VoIP is not complex, you could replace it with an IP-based phone or keep your analog phone by using an analog telephone adapter (ATA, also known as FXS gateway) which connects to cloud-based voice service.

Compared with POTS lines, VoIP phones could provide more advanced features, for example, POTS lines do not support features such as voicemail, call forwarding, or video calling. Additionally, the transmission of analog signals can result in lower call quality compared to digital alternatives.

Flyingvoice P2X Series VoIP Phone

FAX Compatibility with VoIP

Moving the FAX machine to VoIP technology is another topic and requires specified protocol compatibility. One advantage of VoIP is compression. You can combine data, voice, and video, break into packets, and transfer them over a SIP network in compressed form — to save bandwidth and, usually, still maintain acceptable quality. however, FAX cannot be compressed because it distorts the signal from the FAX machine so that it can’t be understood. And VoIP can delay or drop a packet here and there, by design. But even a 1% packet loss can kill the entire FAX transmission.

In the Flyingvoice FAX solution, we provide standard protocol support for T.38. If the other end can also support the T.38 protocol, then FAX communication is guaranteed to be reliable in VoIP networks.

For greater FAX flexibility, we also support the T.37 FAX protocol, which is widely used in online FAX store & forwarder applications. Based on this protocol, Flyingvoice provides unique cloud service services. You no longer need to send and receive FAXes through emails, keep the traditional way with your FAX machine. Like traditional FAX sending and receiving, users do not need to change their operating habits, which is the best solution from Flyingvoice.

For more information please get in touch with us and check our POTS replacement solution.