If your business still has a few old analog phone lines, you probably don’t think about them much. They sit in a closet connected to the fire alarm panel, the elevator phone, a fax machine or a gate call box, and they just work.
That’s exactly why they’re easy to overlook. And that’s why the end of copper phone service catches so many businesses off guard.
POTS, short for “plain old telephone service,” is the traditional analog line delivered over copper wire. The major carriers are moving away from it, and the regulatory path to retire it keeps getting shorter. Here’s what’s happening, what’s affected, and how to plan a POTS line replacement without putting life-safety systems at risk.
What’s changing, in plain English
This has been building for years:
- 2019: In Order FCC 19-72, the FCC relieved large incumbent phone companies of a 1996-era requirement to lease analog copper loops to competing carriers at regulated rates, and of a requirement to offer legacy services for resale at regulated rates. Competitors and their customers got a three-year transition period. The order itself didn’t shut off anyone’s line, but it removed a major reason for carriers to keep maintaining copper. (Full order text.)
- 2026: On March 26, 2026, the FCC adopted new rules to streamline how carriers retire copper and discontinue legacy services, including blanket authority to “grandfather” legacy voice service (stop selling it to new customers) and a faster process for discontinuing it.
- Carrier plans: AT&T, for example, has said it plans to shut down copper-based services across most of its U.S. footprint, outside California, by the end of 2029, according to Light Reading. The same report puts AT&T’s direct cost of running its copper network at about $6 billion a year.
Timing depends on your carrier and your specific location. Some businesses will get a discontinuance notice next month; others won’t for years. But the direction is clear: copper is a legacy network, and the carriers that own it would rather not keep paying to run it. Expect fewer repair options and less incentive to keep pricing low on whatever copper lines remain.
Which devices are affected
The voice phones on people’s desks are usually the easy part; many businesses moved those to VoIP or UCaaS long ago. The harder part is everything else that quietly depends on an analog line:
- Fire alarm panels that report to a monitoring center using a dialer (often called a DACT)
- Burglar and intrusion alarms
- Elevator emergency phones
- Fax machines, especially in healthcare, legal, insurance and government work
- Gate, door and parking call boxes
- Point-of-sale terminals and ATMs on dial-up backup
- Building automation, utility meters and remote monitoring equipment
- Emergency phones in parking garages, pool areas or stairwells
- Modems for legacy equipment or remote access
Many of these were installed by different vendors at different times. It’s common to find lines nobody can identify, and lines still billed for equipment removed years ago.
Your replacement options
There isn’t one right answer for every line. The common options:
POTS-in-a-box (LTE or multi-path devices)
A purpose-built device that presents an analog dial tone to your equipment but carries the traffic over cellular (LTE/5G), often with broadband as a second path. Many include battery backup and remote monitoring. These are popular for alarms, elevators and call boxes because the device can be managed as a service, and some products are specifically listed for life-safety use.
VoIP with an analog telephone adapter (ATA)
An ATA converts an analog device to run over your internet connection. It’s inexpensive and works well for ordinary voice lines and some fax use. It’s usually not the right choice for life-safety equipment on its own, because it depends on your internet connection and on-site power, and alarm signaling and fax can be sensitive to compression and timing on IP networks.
Dedicated or replacement solutions
Sometimes the better move is to replace the device, not the line:
- Fire alarm panels can often be fitted with a listed cellular or IP communicator, eliminating the phone line entirely.
- Fax can move to a cloud fax service that sends and receives through email or an app, which also helps with record-keeping.
- Carrier replacement products. Carriers offer their own POTS replacement services. AT&T, for instance, markets a product that runs over its fiber or wireless networks and supports alarms and fax, per the same Light Reading report.
The right mix usually depends on the device, the building, and how much each line matters.
Life-safety lines need extra care
Fire alarm and elevator lines aren’t just a telecom decision. They’re governed by codes and enforced locally by your Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), usually the fire marshal or the state or local elevator inspector.
- Fire alarms. The national fire alarm code, NFPA 72, allows communication methods beyond traditional copper lines, but it sets specific requirements for how signals are transmitted and supervised. Recent NFPA 72 committee work has specifically addressed alarm dialers running on replacement “emulated” phone lines (NFPA committee document). Which edition applies, and what your AHJ will accept, varies by jurisdiction.
- Elevators. The elevator safety code, ASME A17.1, requires two-way emergency communication to a staffed location and, in the 2019 edition, includes requirements such as backup power for the communication means and regular verification that the line works (code excerpt). Again, the edition your jurisdiction enforces matters.
My advice is simple: before you change anything connected to a fire alarm or elevator, talk to your alarm company, your elevator contractor and your AHJ. Make sure the replacement is listed for the use, and plan for any required inspection or acceptance testing. Don’t let a phone bill decision become a code issue.
POTS line inventory checklist
Start here before you pick any replacement:
- Pull your phone bills and list every analog line and phone number, by location
- Walk each site and trace each line to the device it serves (look for labels at the demarc and phone closet)
- Note the device type: fire alarm, burglar alarm, elevator, fax, call box, POS, meter, modem, other
- Mark which lines are life-safety or code-required
- Identify lines with no device attached, and confirm before canceling
- Record the alarm monitoring company and elevator service contractor for each site
- Note any carrier notices about grandfathering or discontinuance, and their dates
- Check power: what happens to each replacement option when the building loses power?
- Contact your AHJ before changing fire alarm or elevator communications
- Get quotes for the replacement options that fit each line, and compare total monthly cost
- Schedule cutovers with testing, and keep the old line active until the new path is verified
How we can help
At Versutia Solutions, we help businesses sort out exactly this kind of mixed bag. We’re vendor-agnostic and work with 400+ suppliers, so we can match each line to the right type of solution instead of forcing everything into one product. We’ll help you inventory your lines, compare providers and negotiate terms, and coordinate with the alarm and elevator vendors you already have. If the project turns into a broader phone upgrade, we can also walk you through business phone and UCaaS options and internet and backup connectivity.
Start with a free review
If you’re not sure how many copper lines you still have, that’s the best reason to look now, before a carrier notice sets the timeline for you. Schedule a free consultation and we’ll help you build the inventory and a plan.
Clem Thomas, Versutia Solutions
