" Is basic American telephone service in a death spiral? " 1

[lvNortel]

Interesting article, I was just talking about this with someone.

What do you guys think about the future of POTS in America?

http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ask_this.view&askthisid=443

"A phone is a phone and not a computer workstation".

 

[phoneguy610]

It's done

Verizon is completely ditching their copper everything is going to be sip converted to something within the next few years. In our area traditional copper is basically gone already

ddcommllc.com
Avaya/Toshiba/SyntelSolutions

ACIS

"Will work for stars

 

[rclarke250]

In a word, yes. With better cell coverage and technology, and Voip being as affordable as it is. I see no way that Pots makes it to the next decade in any capacity that matters. I haven't had it at my house for 5 years, and my company is looking at replacing it at my office this year. Just like gas lamps were replaced by electricity, this is a dying technology.

 

[Dexman]

POTS lines will continue to exist for the near future. In New England, Verizon is ending the expansion of FiOS. The company will install the service where it is permitted to do so.....and roll out the service in areas where it has started the legal process. But keep in mind that Verizon does NOT provide 100% coverage in areas where it offers the service. "Dark Zones" abound. Rumor has it that Verizon wants to ditch wire-line delivery all together and go with some sort of wireless system to carry voice, tv and Internet services.

I "FEATURE 00"

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7n25t/

 

[lvNortel]

How do you guys think this will effect the business side of the industry and vendors like us and the equipment we provide. Will the telcos try to take back the equipment side of business customers again?

"A phone is a phone and not a computer workstation".

 

[Dexman]

Equipment manufacturers have already begun the transition from digital to pure or hybrid IP systems. In some situations, Avaya does have technicians based out of LEC central offices (Avaya is the modern incarnation of the Bell System's commercial telephone division). Rumor also has that Avaya would like to end manufacturing Telecom hardware and just produce software that is used to run equipment made by other manufacturers. Would LECS make a push to become CPE Installers again? I don't know. But the trend in Telecom is to do much more with the fewest number of people as possible.

I "FEATURE 00"

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7n25t/

 

[lvNortel]

Cox here is now installing customer equipment and the product name is called IP Centrex. I have not seen any of their handsets yet. My sources have told me that they are very understaffed for the number of customers requesting they install systems and I personally have spoken to the customer trainer. This woman had a thick accent that I could hardly understand her and she was so disorganized I was shocked that she is the head department and customer trainer for this product. Some other vendor and some Cox employees have mentioned how unqualified she is for this new position.

I don't know what Century Link here has in mind. They are still maintaining installed BCM 50's they have dropped all MICS and CICS unless they are under an existing maintenance contract and they are installing some other Avaya products.

I go back 35 years to the old Bell System days when they had full and professional customer training departments for the equipment they rented. I just don't see any of these local companies being able to return to such efficiency in training and customer support like they use to have in the good ol days!

Most of the times these days it is "your new phone system is installed... here is the user manual and have a good day".

"A phone is a phone and not a computer workstation".

 

[Westi]

seeing the size of the country it will need analog lines for a while longer because not everybody has high speed access.
I for myself have 3 SIP lines and my analog line is always going to be there until they cut me off because they don't sell it any more.
But I like my analog lines power outage capability even though I have 5 UPS' running in my house. I remember Aug. 14th 2003 when it was all dark here but my analog line worked fine

Joe W.

FHandw, ACSS (SME), ACIS (SME)

http://convergednetworks.ca

Give a tech a solution and he will be back tomorrow to ask you the next question, teach a tech how to read the manual and he will be able to solve the problems for a life time.

 

[lvNortel]

Who s going to pay for all of the fiber retrofitting in the country?

"A phone is a phone and not a computer workstation".

 

[phoneguy610]

obama phones of course

ddcommllc.com
Avaya/Toshiba/SyntelSolutions

ACIS

"Will work for stars

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

I have my EMetrotel UCX and Nortel BCM and soon a CS1000 all running on SIP trunks from VOIP.MS, BUT I do have one analog line from AT&T as well, otherwise, I'd be paying through the roof for a dry loop DSL connection. I have the one analog running through my BCM, but I can always plug a phone directly into the analog connection during a power outage.

I do see desk phones being around for quite a while though, but running on Digital and IP technology. Major complaints I've heard in offices that rely on cell phones for all communications is:

-lack of features
-compressed cell phone voice quality
-the lack of ability to hang up the phone when you are angry, lol




"Keep the Peace, Use RLS"

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[rclarke250]

The question was what do you think about the future of "pots" not about whether Voip or some other service would continue to use the same copper lines. They aren't going to come along and rip out those lines for a long time, but "plain old telephone service as it has existed for the last century, is basically done.

 

[lvNortel]

how about cell phone business style service that would actually provide dial tone for a key system or PBX but the service is all wireless cell service.

"A phone is a phone and not a computer workstation".

 

[Dexman]

Thats what Verizon is rumored to be interested in doing. Probably less costly than copper and fiber. Not sure how dependable such an arrangement would be.

I "FEATURE 00"

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7n25t/

 

[lvNortel]

Yes I would be concerned about faxing and credit card machines and just the normal cell related problems that we all have gotten use to working around such as the famous "Can you hear me now"!

The cell comapnies would have to come up with an Enterprise Class service that is just as reliable as copper, fiber and Coax telephone service. But I can see how this type of service could be quick and easy to set up at the Demarc. It could even be built into the PBX.

One of these telcos are going to set a high standard and the rest will have to try to keep up with them.

"A phone is a phone and not a computer workstation".

 

[Dexman]

Fax transmissions are in decline. Nowadays documents are scanned and sent as an Email attachment.

I "FEATURE 00"

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7n25t/

 

[lvNortel]

My international customers still use fax a lot and so do my real estate customers.

"A phone is a phone and not a computer workstation".

 

[Sympology]

Fax is no issue we do it all the time. t.38 took care of that some time ago, credit card machines are bit more of a pain, but no reason SIP_ ones with TLS couldn't work.

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

http://alvechurchlounge.org.uk

 

[rclarke250]

Most places I work on EBT (electronic banking terminals) use them over the internet, not through a phone system, some have phone modem backup, but not very many. And the stores call a 1-800 # to verify if the internet is having a problem, or their server is down. Fax can be handled the same way, You can use a service like faxfree.com, or Something like Fax over IP, is a software based system that leverages a companies existing VoIP system to fax. It won't be cell technology, A lot of businesses, use high speed internet, it will all just be extensions to systems already in place.

 

[orypecos]

People said that radio was dead when TV came out, and people said that TV was dead when video rental and cable started. But of course those predictions were wrong. And people are still saying the TV networks are due to die, but that isn't going to happen either.
Just because many people have abandoned POTS doesn't mean that the majority have. There are millions of people that don't even own a computer or cell phone. And most of them it isn't because of lack of money! And they still have POTS!