CopperExit · Business analog line replacement
Get off analog before the analog sunset costs you plenty.
The copper sunset has started. Your alarm, elevator and fax lines are on it.
Carriers are retiring the analog phone lines that businesses still depend on, with as little as 90 days’ notice and bills that climb every year. We replace those lines with a modern digital solution, often keeping your existing numbers and equipment, so nothing critical goes dark.
No cost, no obligation. We inventory your lines and tell you what needs to move, and when.
Service retirement notice
Status board
Analog line retirement, by carrier
AT&T
No new POTS orders, moves, adds or changes. Wire-center discontinuance filed in 18 states (Dec 2025).
Retiring
Verizon
Decommissioned areas in NY and MA in 2024. Shifting all customers to fiber from 2026, 5M+ lines.
Retiring
Lumen
No POTS moves, adds or changes in 14 legacy CenturyLink states since May 1, 2025.
Frozen
FCC
Retirement notice period cut from 180 days to 90 days in 2025.
90-day notice
Full copper decommissioning targeted by end of 2029, with many regions already under way.
Service retirement notice
Carriers can retire lines with almost no lead time, leaving businesses scrambling.
Rising costs
POTS lines are increasing in cost by more than 30% per year, even as reliability declines.
Safety risks
Alarms and elevators may stop working if copper is retired before you have a plan.
Compliance concerns
Unreplaced copper lines can put you out of alignment with safety regulations and industry standards.
No repair guarantees
Providers are likely to push you to upgrade or simply say “this isn’t supported anymore.” Don’t get stranded.
Step one: know what's on copper
Residential landlines are rare. Business POTS lines are everywhere.
Analog lines quietly power far more than phone calls. Tick every system in your building that still plugs into a phone jack, and we’ll pre-fill your assessment.
These will fail or degrade once copper is retired at your address.
Status board
The cost of waiting
Holding on to POTS gets more expensive every month, and the service gets worse.
For businesses that try to keep their analog lines, the reality is harsh. Carriers are de-emphasizing copper, and the price and the risk both move in one direction.
30%+
annual rate increases
POTS charges are rising by more than 30% per year even as reliability declines.
$2,700
per line in some states
AT&T tariffed rates have already passed $2,700 per line in certain states; $200 to $500+ per line is common elsewhere.
90 days
to migrate after notice
In 2025 the FCC cut the carrier notice period from 180 days to 90, so the clock is short once a notice lands.
Exploding costs
Rates keep climbing until you move. Modern replacement lines typically cost a fraction of a legacy copper circuit.
Declining support
As carriers withdraw resources, repair times lengthen and service quality falls. A trouble ticket can go unanswered for weeks.
Regulatory and safety exposure
Without functioning emergency lines on fire panels and elevators, a business can lose its Certificate of Occupancy and be forced to close until compliance is restored.
Key dates and what's happening
A decade of decisions, all pointing the same way.
Since 2015 the FCC has steadily lowered the barriers to retiring copper. Carriers are now acting on that permission with real dates in real markets.
2015
FCC
Technology Transitions Order (FCC 15-97)
Carriers allowed to retire copper infrastructure with minimal notice requirements. Stand-alone voice replacement no longer required when discontinuing; a bundled alternative is sufficient.
2019
FCC
Forbearance Order 19-72A1
Marks the end-of-life for traditional analog POTS systems. Carriers are relieved of the obligation to support analog lines; costly notice requirements are waived.
Aug 2, 2022
FCC
Transition deadline for next-generation services
Carriers required to replace POTS with next-generation services such as VoIP and LTE. Rules have been updated since to move faster.
2024
VERIZON
Decommissioning begins in New York and Massachusetts
Dozens of areas decommissioned. Formal retirement notices warn customers they may need to migrate well before the stated dates.
May 1, 2025
LUMEN / CENTURYLINK
No more POTS moves, adds or changes
Applies across 14 legacy CenturyLink states, with full network decommissioning targeted by end of 2029.
2025
FCC
Notice period cut from 180 to 90 days
Businesses now have as little as 90 days to migrate once a discontinuance notice is issued.
Dec 1, 2025
AT&T
Discontinuance filed for wire centers in 18 states
About 90,000 customers affected. AT&T no longer accepts new orders, moves, adds or changes for POTS anywhere on its network, years ahead of the expected 2029 sunset.
2026 · now
VERIZON
All customers shift to fiber
Over 5 million lines affected. Customers on POTS, DSL and analog fax lines must migrate to a digital solution to keep service.
2029
AT&T · LUMEN
Copper network exit
Target for complete retirement of legacy copper. Individual regions are being decommissioned well ahead of this date.
Check your carrier
Where AT&T, Verizon and Lumen stand on copper retirement
Verizon
Active retirement
- Started in 2024, decommissioning dozens of areas in New York and Massachusetts.
- From 2026, shifting all customers to fiber, affecting over 5 million lines.
- POTS, DSL and analog fax customers must migrate to avoid interruption.
AT&T
Active retirement
- Dec 1, 2025: FCC application to discontinue service at wire centers serving about 90,000 customers in 18 states.
- No new orders, moves, adds or changes for POTS across the network.
- Decommissioning under way in many regions, ahead of the 2029 sunset.
Lumen / CenturyLink
Orders frozen
- No POTS move, add or change orders in legacy CenturyLink areas (14 states) since May 1, 2025.
- Full network decommissioning targeted by end of 2029.
- State-by-state copper retirement disclosures are published online.
How we help
A POTS line replacement partner that understands what your lines actually do.
Reliable service is table stakes. Analog lines carry phone calls and a tangle of safety and business systems, and every building is different. We bring telecommunications and network connectivity expertise, and we map the replacement to your requirements, not a one-size box.
Inventory and carrier check
We identify every POTS-backed circuit at each address and check the carrier notices that apply to it, so you know your real deadline.
Code-compliant life safety
Fire panels move to UL-listed IP or cellular communicators meeting NFPA 72 and your AHJ’s edition. Elevators move to solutions meeting ASME A17.1 / CSA B44 two-way comms requirements.
Everything else, digital
Voice, fax, entry systems, monitoring and POS move to SIP/VoIP, LTE/5G POTS-replacement gateways, or direct IP where supported, with battery backup where it matters.
Keep your numbers. Keep your handsets. Keep your panels.
In most cases the replacement plugs in where the copper did: your existing phone numbers port over, your alarm and elevator equipment keeps working, and your building control panels stay in service without a rip-and-replace.
Recommended next steps · 60 to 90 days
A four-step plan that fits inside one carrier notice window.
Step 1
Inventory every POTS circuit
Alarms, elevators, fax and POS, modems, gates, SCADA and voice. If it plugs into an RJ11 jack, it goes on the list.
Step 2
Check carrier notices for your addresses
Verizon’s public disclosures and Lumen’s network disclosures list retirement dates by market. We pull these for every site.
Step 3
Plan replacements by use case
- Fire / life safety → UL-listed IP or cellular communicators (NFPA 72)
- Elevators → ASME A17.1 / CSA B44 compliant two-way comms
- Everything else → SIP/VoIP, LTE/5G, or direct IP
Step 4
Budget now
Model the run-rate savings from retiring high-cost POTS against the risk reduction of modern, monitored connectivity. Retirements are proceeding with 2025 to 2029 milestones.
Questions we hear every week
POTS line replacement, explained
Plain Old Telephone Service is the original analog phone line system used to make and receive calls. Businesses traditionally relied on POTS to talk with customers and partners. These analog lines are falling out of use as organizations move to unified communications built on VoIP for voice, video and messaging.
Solutions that replace legacy copper analog lines with modern digital or wireless alternatives, typically VoIP delivered over broadband, LTE or 5G, with an adapter that presents a standard analog port to your existing equipment.
Traditional copper landlines are being phased out. Carriers are retiring copper because of high maintenance costs, and FCC Forbearance Order 19-72A1 removed their obligation to support analog lines. Most copper lines will move to digital or VoIP services, and you will need to upgrade to avoid service interruption.
Life-safety devices can go offline, creating code violations, service outages and liability exposure for fire alarms, elevators and emergency phones. In the worst case, a building can lose its Certificate of Occupancy until compliance is restored.
Common endpoints include fire alarm panels, elevator phones, emergency blue-light phones, fax machines, point-of-sale terminals, security systems, building entry intercoms and monitoring equipment.
Older analog technology is getting less reliable and more expensive to maintain, and PSTN and ISDN cannot support the speed and scalability today’s communications need.
The technology behind the wall plug is changing, but your service doesn’t have to. You won’t be forced to switch on day one, but you may experience interruption once copper is retired in your area, so plan now to migrate every analog service to digital.
Free line assessment
Tell us what's on copper. We'll tell you what to do about it.
Within one business day you’ll get a call from a line-replacement specialist with a site-by-site view of your exposure.
- Inventory of your analog circuits and what each one does
- Carrier retirement status for each of your addresses
- Code-compliant replacement options for fire, elevator and safety lines
- A cost comparison against your current POTS bill
We’ll only use this to schedule your assessment. No spam, no resale.