If you're still paying for analog phone lines — POTS, plain old telephone service — your bill has probably tripled in the last few years and you're not imagining it. The FCC effectively let carriers stop maintaining copper. AT&T, Verizon, Lumen, and the rest are pushing customers off, and the prices reflect it. Here's the actual math for moving to VoIP, with real numbers, plus what to do about the awkward lines (alarms, elevators, fax) that everyone gets stuck on.
What POTS lines cost in 2026
A POTS line that used to be $40–$60/mo five years ago now lands in the $75–$200/mo range, depending on geography and carrier. Some specialty lines (alarm panels, elevator phones, fax) bill even higher because the carriers know you can't easily move them. We've seen invoices with single elevator lines billing $250/mo.
The drivers:
- FCC Order 19-72A1 (2019) — carriers no longer have to maintain copper at the old service levels. Maintenance got expensive; carriers pass it on.
- Tariff repricing — incumbent carriers re-tariffed analog services as "non-regulated" and raised rates aggressively.
- End-of-life infrastructure — the central office switches are 30+ years old. Parts and techs are scarce.
- Forced migrations — some carriers send notice of service discontinuation in specific exchanges. Once your exchange is on the list, you're on a clock.
A small business with 4 POTS lines that used to pay $200/mo is now paying $400–$800/mo for the same service. Worse, the service quality often dropped — noise, static, dropped calls — because the underlying copper isn't being maintained. We've taken calls from customers whose POTS line was so noisy their alarm panel kept false-triggering.
How to read your POTS bill
Pull a current bill and look for line items per number. There's usually a "line charge" or "local exchange access" plus surcharges (E911, FUSF, state regulatory fees) that can add 30–50% on top. Also check long-distance per-minute charges, which still exist on many POTS plans. Add it all up. That's the number to compare against VoIP.
The hidden surcharges
Carriers love line-item surcharges. "Carrier cost recovery," "property tax," "administrative fee," "network access charge" — these are real money. On a $75 nominal line, surcharges can push the actual bill to $110. Sum them all when you're doing the migration math.
What VoIP costs to replace it
On our phone service:
- Per-Minute plan: $15/user/mo + $0.025/min. Good for low call volume — under ~600 outbound minutes per user per month.
- All-Inclusive plan: $32/user/mo with unlimited U.S. calling. Good for everyone else.
A 4-user business on All-Inclusive: $128/mo. Same business on 4 POTS lines: $400–$800/mo. That's $3,200–$8,000/year back in the business.
For alarm panels, elevators, and fax — the things people get stuck on when migrating off POTS — we have specific answers:
- Fax: vFAX at $25, $35, or $49/mo depending on volume. Sends and receives via email or web. Replaces a fax line outright.
- Alarm panels and elevators: these often need an analog adapter (ATA) plus a cellular backup, or a dedicated POTS-replacement appliance. We spec these case-by-case — not every panel is happy on VoIP.
- Call center / high-volume: SIP trunking at $15/channel/mo + $0.015 outbound, $0.005 inbound usually beats POTS by 70–90%.
Alarm panels: the awkward truth
Alarm panels designed for POTS often use specific tones and protocols (SIA, Contact ID) that don't transmit cleanly over VoIP. Three options: replace the panel's communicator with a cellular or IP module (the alarm company usually has one available, ~$200–$400 plus a small monthly), use a POTS-replacement appliance from companies like Ooma POTS or AT&T Phone for Business that emulates a copper line over cellular, or keep one POTS line just for the panel until the panel is replaced. The right answer depends on the panel age and the alarm company's recommendations.
Elevator phones
Elevator phones are regulated under ASME A17.1 — they must reach a 24/7 monitored line and identify the car. Most VoIP setups can satisfy this with an ATA, the right routing, and a backup path (typically cellular). Coordinate with the elevator service company and the AHJ (authority having jurisdiction) before cutting the POTS line. Don't just rip it out — that's a code violation.
Fax that actually has to be fax
Most fax can move to vFAX (email-based), but some regulated workflows — certain healthcare and legal documents — require true T.38 fax transmission over a phone line. We support T.38 over SIP trunking for those cases. It's not exotic, just needs the right configuration. We'll tell you if your use case actually requires it or if email-based fax is fine.
What you actually keep
The fear with switching is losing something. Honest list of what carries over:
- Your numbers. Ported at $15/number, 7–14 business days. Main line, fax line, alarm line — all portable.
- 911. E911 is provisioned with the service address you tell us. Misdial fee on emergency tests is $150 — don't dial 911 to "test the line."
- Caller ID, voicemail, hold music, call forwarding. All standard.
- Call quality. Equal or better, assuming your internet has enough headroom. We do a bandwidth check before we deploy.
What you give up
- Power outage tolerance. POTS used to work when the power was out because the carrier powered the line. VoIP doesn't. Mitigation: UPS on the router and switch (~$150 hardware), or simultaneous ring to cell phones, or LTE failover on the router.
- Old fax workflows that depend on dialing pulses. Rare in 2026 but real. We migrate these to vFAX.
- Direct copper to alarm/elevator panels. Replaced with ATA + cellular backup, which is generally as reliable but is a different topology.
Migration playbook
The order that works:
- Inventory. List every POTS line, the device on it, and the cost. Don't miss the back-room fax or the elevator phone.
- Categorize. Voice (port to VoIP), fax (move to vFAX), alarm (work with alarm company), elevator (work with elevator company), other (case by case).
- Spec the network. Bandwidth check, router check, UPS check, QoS check. Don't migrate until the network is ready.
- Port voice numbers in batches. Main line first, then DIDs. Each port is 7–14 days.
- Replace fax with vFAX. Old fax number ports just like a voice number.
- Handle alarm and elevator. These take coordination but can run in parallel with the voice migration.
- Cancel POTS. Only after every dependent device is moved and tested. Verify the alarm panel works for a week before cutting copper.
Phasing the cutover
For a multi-line business, we usually do voice first, fax second, alarm and elevator last. Voice is the highest-value, lowest-risk leg. Alarm and elevator carry the most regulatory risk and need coordinated testing. Don't try to do all of it on the same week.
When to move
If your POTS bill has gone up in the last two years, you're past the point where staying is cheaper. The carriers aren't reversing this. The window for an unhurried migration is closing — once your specific exchange goes on the discontinuation list, you'll be on someone else's schedule, not yours.
Real-world savings
A dental practice in central Florida we migrated last year had 6 POTS lines billing $912/mo total (with surcharges). We moved them to 8 user seats on All-Inclusive at $256/mo, plus vFAX at $35/mo. The alarm panel kept its POTS line for six months while the alarm company swapped in a cellular communicator, then we cut the last copper. Net monthly savings after migration: about $620. ROI on the migration cost in under three months.
Common mistakes
- Canceling POTS before testing the replacement. Especially with alarm panels. Run parallel for at least a week.
- Forgetting the elevator phone. AHJ issues are expensive.
- Underestimating bandwidth. 4 POTS lines becomes 4 concurrent calls — about 400 kbps — plus the rest of your business traffic. Check your upload speed.
- No UPS on the router. First power blink, phones die. Buy a UPS.
- Forgetting fax-only DIDs. They're easy to miss because nobody calls them.
- Trying to keep one cheap POTS line "for emergencies." The carrier will raise the price on that line too. The fixed-cost-per-line POTS world is gone.
What to ask before migrating
- Can my current POTS bill show me every line and its monthly cost?
- What devices are on each line — voice, fax, alarm, elevator, modem, paging?
- What's my upload bandwidth and is it enough for X concurrent calls plus everything else?
- Who owns the alarm and elevator service contracts, and what do they recommend?
- What's my contract end date with the POTS carrier?
- Are there any state or federal regulations that require certain lines to stay analog?
What we don't do
We don't promise that every POTS device works perfectly on VoIP — alarm and elevator setups are case-by-case. We don't sell POTS-emulation appliances; we'll point you at the right one if you need it. We don't pressure you into an all-at-once cutover. Most customers migrate in phases. And we don't tell you the migration is free of risk — it isn't, and the risk is mostly in the specialty lines, not the voice lines.
Other devices that ride on POTS
Voice, fax, alarm, and elevator are the obvious four. There are a handful more we run into:
- Postage meters — used to dial out for rate updates. Most modern meters (Pitney Bowes, Quadient) support IP or cellular. If your meter still dials a POTS line, talk to your meter vendor about upgrading.
- Old credit-card terminals — pre-EMV terminals sometimes dial out. Replace the terminal; payment processors no longer support dial-up auth on PCI grounds in most cases.
- Fire panel notifiers — separate from burglar alarms, regulated under NFPA 72. Same dance as burglar alarms: work with the fire-alarm company to swap in a cellular or IP communicator. Don't cut the line yourself.
- Modem-based remote-access lines — old industrial equipment with dial-in support. Rare in 2026 but real. Usually requires a modem-replacement appliance or a hardware refresh.
- Gate intercoms and intercom call buttons — at gated communities, parking garages. Modern units run on IP or cellular; older ones don't. Replacement is often cheaper than the ongoing POTS bill within a year.
The full audit
Before you commit to a migration date, walk the building and identify every cable that goes to a phone jack. Each one is a device you have to account for. A surprising number of POTS lines we discover during onboarding are connected to devices nobody on staff actively uses but nobody is sure they can disconnect either. Map them all before you cut anything.
POTS replacement appliances: when they make sense
Companies like Ooma, AT&T, and a handful of others sell a small box that emulates a POTS line over cellular or IP. You plug your alarm panel or fax machine into the box, the box presents a dial tone, and the panel doesn't know anything changed. These run roughly $30–$60/mo per line, often with hardware fees.
When they're the right answer:
- The device is hard to replace and you have no plan to retire it.
- You need a fast migration and the device replacement takes longer than you have.
- The device is regulated (alarm, elevator, fire panel) and you don't want to disrupt the certification chain.
When they're not:
- The device is a fax machine. Use vFAX instead.
- The device is a primary voice phone. Use real VoIP instead.
- The savings versus POTS are real but not huge, and you're going to replace the device in 6 months anyway. Wait it out.
Regulatory and compliance notes
A few callouts depending on industry:
- Healthcare: HIPAA doesn't require POTS, but it does require secure transmission. Our VoIP service supports the controls; the HIPAA add-on at $49/mo on top of the relevant plan handles the BAA and signed compliance documentation. See healthcare practice phone system.
- Financial services: some regulated workflows require call recording with specific retention. Our phone service supports this; spec the retention requirements before migration.
- Government/critical infrastructure: some contracts require POTS or equivalent reliability. Read the contract before assuming VoIP qualifies.
- State 911 rules: E911 requirements vary slightly by state. We provision E911 to the service address you provide; misdialed test calls incur a $150 fee from our public safety partner.
Where to start
Send us your current phone bill. We'll show you the exact line-by-line replacement and the monthly savings. See pricing or get started for the full build. If you have alarms, elevators, or other specialty lines, contact us first so we can plan the migration without surprises. The bill review is free and we'll send you a side-by-side cost comparison within 24 hours.