What is a POTS line?
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A brief explanation of “Plain Old Telephone Service” and what lies for ahead in the future.
A POTS line gets its name from the acronym for “Plain Old Telephone Service”. Prior to the 1970′s, POTS was the ONLY type of service you could get for voice communication. But, when the emergence of T-1, TDM (Time Division Multiplexing), Satellite, ISDN, Fibre, WATS, VOIP, and others, offered us other voice alternatives, this acronym was used by the industry to specify standard loop-start telephone service delivered via copper wire.
While the proliferation of POTS service is beginning to shrink in the past decade, it is still widely in use. It is a very versatile and generally accepted standard that makes it compatible with modems, alarms, faxes, cordless phones, and other devices which require dial-out or dial-in service.
But, the POTS pricing model is becoming less competitive. The major phone companies (i.e. Bell, Telus, Rogers) can’t afford to charge any less than they do now because the aging copper wire system is maintenance intensive and not very profitable.
Alternatively, VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is starting to replace many POTS lines now. It offers all the same features of POTS, plus many other features such as conferencing, forwarding, Caller ID and Long Distance which are usually included in one flat price. VOIP is often cheaper than POTS service when you consider the Long Distance charges. VOIP is improving and is getting closer to the point where it is becoming as reliable as POTS. One important thing to consider when looking at VOLP products is to make sure you have an adequate network in place normally termed bandwidth. If we can be of any help with this matter don’t hesitate to contact Teldisco.