POTS stands for Plain Old Telephone Service — the traditional analog phone line delivered over copper wires. It's the technology behind classic landlines, and the network carriers are now retiring.

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Copper POTS lines are being retired — and the timeline just got shorter

The FCC no longer requires carriers to maintain copper phone lines, and required customer notice before retirement has been cut to as little as 90 days. AT&T stopped accepting new copper orders in late 2025 and has begun decommissioning wire centers in 2026, targeting full copper retirement by 2029. Other carriers are following. If your business still has analog lines, the question is when — and on whose schedule.

POTS Line Replacement

POTS Line Replacement for Business — Before Your Carrier Sets the Deadline

Q: Do I have to replace my POTS lines by a specific date?

There is no single national deadline — retirement happens carrier by carrier with as little as 90 days' notice. AT&T has publicly targeted retiring most of its copper network by 2029 and began decommissioning wire centers in 2026.

Q: Will my elevator phone or fire alarm stay code-compliant?

Yes — compliant replacements include battery backup and monitoring, and Phonewire coordinates with your elevator company or alarm monitoring provider so the line is never left dead during the changeover.

POTS lines (Plain Old Telephone Service — traditional copper landlines) quietly run more than phones: elevator emergency phones, fire alarm panels, fax machines, security and gate systems, and plenty of main business lines. As carriers retire copper, those lines are getting dramatically more expensive — and eventually, disconnected.

Phonewire replaces POTS lines the way it should be done: a technician audits what every copper line in your building actually does, replaces each one with the right technology — digital POTS replacement, cellular, or a full VoIP system — and tests everything before leaving. On your schedule, not the carrier’s.

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Keep the equipment, replace the line

Elevator phones, fire alarm panels, fax machines, and gate phones often work fine — only the copper behind them has to go. A digital POTS replacement or cellular unit swaps the line while your existing equipment stays, including battery backup for code compliance.

See emergency & elevator line replacement →

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Replace aging lines and the phone system together

If your main business lines are still copper, this is the moment to modernize once instead of patching twice. A Phonewire system ports every number, reuses your existing wiring — even old Cat 3 — and adds cellular data failover so the new system is more reliable than the copper it replaces.

Get a free line audit & quote →

Why Businesses Are Replacing POTS Lines Now

The bills keep climbing. Carriers discourage remaining copper customers with steep rate increases — many businesses now pay several times what the same line cost a few years ago, often hundreds of dollars a month per line.

The notice window shrank. Carriers can now retire copper with as little as 90 days’ customer notice. Businesses that wait for the letter end up scrambling — and compliance lines like elevators and fire alarms can’t afford a gap.

Repairs are already winding down. With no obligation to maintain copper, outages on remaining lines can take longer to fix — a real risk when the line is an elevator phone or alarm dialer.

The replacements are simply better. Modern replacements include battery backup, monitoring, and — on Phonewire systems — cellular data failover, so the replacement is more outage-resistant than the copper ever was.

What’s Still Running on Your Copper Lines

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Elevator emergency phones — code requires monitored two-way communication with battery backup. Phonewire replaces elevator phone lines with compliant digital POTS or cellular service.

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Fire alarm panels & area of refuge stations — replaced with compliant cellular communicators, coordinated with your monitoring company so nothing goes unmonitored during cutover.

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Fax, security, gate & door phones, point-of-sale lines — each gets matched to the right replacement technology rather than a one-size-fits-all box.

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Main business lines — ported to a modern system with your numbers kept, your existing wiring reused, and desk phones programmed for your team. See small business phone systems.

How POTS Replacement Works with Phonewire

Line audit. We inventory every copper line in the building and identify what each one actually does — businesses are routinely surprised by lines they’re paying for that do nothing.

Replacement plan. Each line gets the right replacement — digital POTS unit, cellular communicator, or migration onto your phone system — with compliance requirements documented for elevators and alarms.

On-site installation. A local technician installs and tests everything in one coordinated visit. Monitored lines are cut over without a monitoring gap.

Verification & support. Every replaced line is tested end-to-end, and U.S.-based support knows your installation afterward — answered in about 3 rings.

POTS Replacement Questions, Answered

What is a POTS line?

POTS stands for Plain Old Telephone Service — the traditional analog phone line delivered over copper wires, largely unchanged for decades. It’s the technology behind classic landlines, and the network that carriers are now retiring.

What is POTS line replacement?

POTS replacement swaps the copper line for a modern connection — typically a digital POTS device or cellular unit that presents a standard analog jack to your existing equipment, or a full VoIP migration for business lines. Done correctly, your elevator phone, alarm panel, or fax machine doesn’t know anything changed.

Do I have to replace my POTS lines by a specific date?

There’s no single national deadline — retirement happens carrier by carrier and area by area, with as little as 90 days’ notice. AT&T has publicly targeted retiring most of its copper network by 2029 and began decommissioning wire centers in 2026. The safe assumption: your copper lines are on borrowed time, and replacing them on your schedule is cheaper and calmer than replacing them on the carrier’s.

Will my elevator phone or fire alarm stay code-compliant?

Yes — that’s the point of doing it properly. Compliant replacements include battery backup and monitoring, and Phonewire coordinates with your elevator company or alarm monitoring provider so the line is never left dead during the changeover.

Is a cheap analog-to-cellular box from the internet good enough?

Sometimes — and sometimes it creates a compliance problem with no battery backup, no monitoring, and nobody accountable when it fails. The honest answer depends on what the line does. A free line audit tells you which of your lines need a compliant solution and which just need a simple swap.

What does POTS replacement cost?

Typically far less per month than what carriers now charge for the copper line it replaces — which is exactly why carriers are raising copper rates. Phonewire provides an all-in quote after the line audit, with installation and testing included.

Find out what’s on your copper before the carrier decides for you. Free line audit, honest recommendations, compliant replacements — installed on-site, nationwide.

(800) 857-1517

Get a Free POTS Line Audit

Tell us about your building and what’s still on copper — main lines, elevator, fire alarm, fax, gate. A Phonewire expert will map out compliant replacements and exact pricing.