(Plain Old Telephone Service)
POTS Lines Are Going Away
Facts About Satellite POTS
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POTS lines go back to the late 1800s, but the US government has decided that they no longer make sense for ANYONE!
Fortunately, satellite POTS is here to take its place.
All across the country, copper POTS lines are being replaced using modern technology, such as VoIP, 5G, and satellite. They all work. The primary difference is that satellite POTS lines do not rely on any traditional terrestrial infrastructure, making them immune to the frailties of copper lines, cable, and fiber.
Over the past 15 years, the cost of satellite phone technology has become more affordable than ever. While traditional POTS line service has continued to climb in price, satellite has dropped in half.
One of the biggest advantage of Satellite lines is that they are immune from telephone network congestion, which is too many people communicating at once. Network congestion can cause all landlines and cellular lines to fail, but do not affect satellite lines.
Historical Costs
In the last four years the advantages, flexibility, and security of satellite connectivity has increased 10 fold. In that same time frame, costs have plummeted.
Advantages of Our Service
Three options are available. A few of the copper POTS line replacement providers utilize more than one of the available options.
Here is a brief summary of these options:
a) VoIP POTS lines: This type of line uses your regular internet connection to get calls in and out. It is the most inexpensive POTS alternative. You can add one line or 1,000 lines. The quality is as good as your internet connection. You need to have on-site equipment to convert analog to digital signaling. Incoming calls can be routed to a hosted PBX, where you have access to log in and change things around. VoIP POTS lines are usually in the $20-$50 per line per month range.
b) 4G-5G POTS Lines: this type of line uses a wireless cellular signal to get calls in and out. The quality is as good as VoIP unless you have a weak cellular signal. You can add one line or 1,000 lines. You need to have onsite equipment to convert analog to cellular signaling. Incoming calls can be routed to a hosted PBX where you have access to log in and change things around. Some providers allow both Internet VoIP and 4G-5G calls on the equipment they install. 4G-5G POTS lines are usually in the $40-$70 per line per month range.
c) Satellite POTS lines: this type of line uses a satellite signal to get calls, text messages, and emails in and out, and you have limited internet access. Typically the quality is only 95% as good as a VoIP or a 4G-5G connection, the reason is the latency or signal delay. Typically you can not tell the difference in a voice call over a satellite connection. Satellite POTS lines require a satellite dish to be installed at a facility or campus, another piece of equipment needs to be installed that compresses the analog signal specifically for satellite. It is typically not cost-effective if there are less than eight satellite POTS lines.
The advantage of satellite POTS lines is that compared to Internet VoIP and 4G-5G, they are indestructible. You could have a natural disaster that causes the terrestrial infrastructure to fail for 100 miles in every direction. Your satellite POTS lines will work normally. The other advantage is that in a local or regional emergency, the satellite POTS lines bypass all local or regional telephone network congestion because your satellite signal terminates hundreds of miles away.
The satellite advantage is that you can also convert some cell phones over to satellite phones. This can be a real advantage because if someone is expecting a call on a cell phone, it will ring in on their cell phone just like usual. As usual, you can also send text messages and emails over mobile devices. Keep in mind that cellular voice calls in and out are different than satellite POTS calls, the POTS calls are highly compressed, so you can carry on many more conversations at the same time.
You can convert over one hundred cell phones to satellite phones; the problem is that you are limited due to satellite bandwidth in how many voice calls can be made at the same time. Let me explain, when you convert cell phones to satellite phones each call uses 100k in continuous bandwidth. When you make a satellite POTS line call you only use 10k. You have enough bandwidth for 20 to 40 cell over satellite voice calls, or 200 to 400 calls on satellite POTS lines. Keep in mind that a one minute voice call uses as much bandwidth as 500 texts or emails.You need to come up with a plan on how to best utilize the limited bandwidth.
First, look at your organization. How many people need connectivity in an emergency or disaster.
If you have a rural urgent care facility with 10 staff, 10 nurses and 5 doctors. You can get by with a single satellite dish and no red phones. This will meet all federal requirements for redundancy.
If you have a 1,000 bed hospital, here is one option to consider. Three satellite dishes, if possible three satellite providers. Satellite dish one is connected to analog (or even digital) phones. These satellite POTS lines are always on and always working. Satellite dish two is connected to some critical computers or systems to share crucial information. This connection should be completely separate from your data network to avoid cyber threats. Satellite dish three could be used for converting cell phones to satellite phones, primarily for hospital staff to receive incoming calls from other facilities, family and acquaintances. This group of 50 to 500 people need to be continuously trained on how to best utilize the limited satellite bandwidth in an emergency or disaster.
The example above goes from one extreme to the other. Keep in mind that there are any number of other possible configurations.
The PROOF OF CONCEPT (POC) is our way of speeding the sales cycle along. Our sales cycle with large enterprises and the government is lengthy. We will make an offer to any approved prospect, where we will install our equipment at our expense and provide 3-4 weeks of service free of charge if our prospect executes an agreement at the end of the POC.
Yes and no, the satellite POTS lines themselves are actually full-time working phone numbers. Cell Over Satellite pays for usage and fees on these numbers when they are used. Each account has an allowance of 1,000 minutes of usage each month. If the allowance is exceeded, there is a per-minute charge, typically $0.11 per minute. However, cell phones converted to satellite phones have no usage charges. The mobile service provider may charge the device’s owner if the phone is on a minute-based plan.
No. You are ready to go. We still need to install a dish and some equipment.
Yes, we just port them over.
Maybe. You need to be aware that Cell Over Satellite is satellite provider agnostic. We are selecting a satellite provider that will meet our requirements. The number ONE requirement is geographical redundancy. For example, here in Utah, we have a good number of Starlink locations. One month ago, Starlink made a network change and moved the space-to-earth data route from Denver to Salt Lake. We had 900 miles of redundancy last month, and this month, we have only 10 miles. If there is a disaster or an emergency in Utah, our satellite service is subject to network congestion and very likely to fail.
Yes. You have full control of where any number rings or if a call is sent to an auto attendant.
At each facility, we place two uptime monitoring devices (UMDs) next to the satellite modem. TheUMDs send out a heartbeat to our cloud-based server. If both devices fail to send the heartbeat, we know there is an issue. Our system will continually monitor the site. If the site stays down, we check the satellite network in your area to see if there are any issues. If there are no issues, we will send you a notification of simple steps to take like “Push this black button.”
Transitioning from copper POTS to any of the new POTS solutions using today’s technology is a move in the right direction, not to mention that copper POTS lines are being decommissioned.
Any of the new technologies used 4G-5G, VolP over the internet, or VolP over satellite, all cost less, and now they have lots of c features, unavailable with the old analog service.
Yesterday, if you had a backup emergency phone line, there was always a chance that it would not work when you needed it. Today several providers monitor these lines, and if they ever fail, you are notified.
If the geographical redundancy doesn’t meet our criteria, we will pay to swap out the satellite provider and install a new dish and modem. That is why we trace the route of all the heartbeat signals sent out by the UMDs, and it is also why we know which satellite provider is or is not a good fit for any specific location.
Yes, if you follow the instructions on limiting the number of end users who make or receive voice calls at a single time.
Yes. You have full control of where any number rings or if a call is sent to an auto attendant.
POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) copper lines, which have been the backbone of traditional telecommunication for decades, are being phased out due to advancements in digital technology. Many service providers are moving towards more modern and efficient communication infrastructures, rendering POTS lines obsolete in the coming years.