Do POTS Price Increases Mean You Should Move to the Cloud?
Sometimes, it just seems easier to stay with what you already have, regardless of limitations, instead of investing in state-of-the-art upgrades.
Plain old telephone service, or POTS, is like an old, beloved, classic car. It's still running, but it may have certain downsides because it lacks the benefits of today's technology. And keeping that old car going is undoubtedly more expensive than a modern vehicle.
With cloud platforms now the norm rather than the exception, do POTS price increases mean you should move?
To answer that question for your business, consider this:
Regulatory Changes End Competitive Rates for Analog Phone Service
Some organizations utilize legacy telephony systems that might include analog lines for things like elevator phones, alarm systems, or other endpoints, whether operational or not. But recent FCC regulatory changes mean that doing so may become cost prohibitive.
Why? This new ruling removes the requirement to provide analog POTS at competitive rates and eliminates the requirement to provide retail services at wholesale prices to competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs). Additionally, on October 27, 2023, incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) are released from the remaining cost requirements.
According to No Jitter, "These orders have allowed carriers to plan the decommissioning of outdated lines, with many looking to end all PSTN lines by 2030...some enterprises have already seen rates on a single line increase to over $1,000, and several reported new lines costing as high as $1,300 per line."
To boil that down, POTS lines are no longer protected when it comes to pricing. Providers can charge you whatever they want.
POTS Line Maintenance and Repair Challenges
Now let's think about older technology in terms of housing, maintenance, and repair. For example, we'll use a VCR (a video cassette recorder) where your parents or grandparents could record TV on tape.
The last VCR was made ten years ago, but we know a few people who still use one. Just like the VCR, analog phone lines:
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Take up lots of space. The hardware and lines need to be housed somewhere as opposed to cloud telephony which doesn't live on-prem and takes up no space.
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Are challenging to maintain. Because the technology is outdated, its reliability is hit and miss. Preserving outdated systems as they age can be difficult as manufacturers phase out software support.
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May not be able to be repaired. If you find someone (and the parts needed) to do the work, they might charge more because POTS lines are becoming obsolete.
Plain Old Telephone Line Limitations
With the rise of hybrid and remote work, no one wants to be tied to a desk phone. POTS lines are wired and therefore provide limited mobility.
VoIP lines use the internet, which is more reliable and typically less expensive than their wired counterparts. Unified communications platforms offer multiple ways to interact (phone, messaging, video, webinar, etc.) from any device with an internet connection.
POTS limits communication and collaboration between staff, customers, and anyone else who comes into contact with your business to one channel.
Furthermore, system administration is more involved for POTS lines than cloud-based telephony. For instance, adding and deleting users on a cloud platform typically takes a few keystrokes using an app on your dashboard.
Conversely, adding a new physical phone in an office location may require additional wiring and connections, not to mention the phone itself.
So, should you move? That's something you'll need to consider carefully, weighing the pros and cons as on-prem POTS line technology becomes more and more outdated.
Would you like more information on moving from your on-prem system to the cloud? We'd love to help. Contact us, and let's chat.
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